Liquid Rocket Propulsion Applied To Manned Aircraft – In Historical Perspective

C. M. Ehresman. (1993), JBIS, 46, pp.255-268

Refcode: 1993.46.255

Abstract:

Liquid rocket applications to improve the flight performance of manned aircraft began in the 1930s in Germany and Russia with very little effort in the United States until the years of World War II in the early 1940s. The most heavily documented work was done in Germany which led to the development of the Me 163 aircraft which was to become the first and only operational solely liquid rocket propelled aircraft. Many historians and surviving pilots might argue the fact that it had reached a state of development that would qualify it as “operational”.