Selbstopfer

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Selbstopfer (German: "self-sacrifice") was a late-World War II German project to develop a "smart weapon" for attacking high-value targets such as bridges and command centers.^[1] It was proposed by commando-leader Otto Skorzeny and famed test pilot Hanna Reitsch.

Skorzeny and Reitsch suggested that V-1 flying bombs were modified by the addition of manual controls and a tiny cockpit so that pilots could guide them towards targets.^[2] Unlike the related Japanese kamikaze Ohka planes, pilots of the modified V-1 were intended to bail out just prior to impact. In reality, however, this would have been difficult due to the sharp angle of the final dive, the cramped cockpit and its location just below and immediately forward of the pulse jet intake.

Around 175 instances of the modified V-1 – redesignated the Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg – were built and 100 or so pilots drawn from Werner Baumbach's secret bomber unit KG 200 for training. Tests were carried out by KG 200 on several occasions, in which the Fi 103R was dropped from a modified Heinkel He 111 bomber. Reitsch herself piloted an unpowered version equipped with a wooden landing skid.^[3]

The Fi 103R was never used in combat. After several accidents, including one where a modified example came apart in mid-air, the program was stopped due to intervention from Baumbach, who felt that these missions would be a waste of valuable pilots.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Leonidas Squadron, the part of KG 200 formed to fly the bomb.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Fieseler Fi 103 Reichenberg (by Joe Baugher from Aircraft Of The World)
• The 'Aerial Target' and 'Aerial Torpedo' in Germany, Fieseler (The Argus Newspaper, State Library of Victoria).
• U.S. Military Intelligence article on German Kamikazes (June 1946)