For the River in Bavaria, Germany, see Mistel (Red Main).
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A captured example of a Mistel trainer. United States Army personnel examined the aircraft.Ju 88H and Fw 190 combined to form a model 3B Mistel
Mistel (German for "mistletoe", a parasitic plant) was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration developed in Germany during the later stages of World War II. The composite comprised a small piloted control aircraft mounted above a large explosives-carrying drone, the Mistel, and as a whole was referred to as the Huckepack ("Piggyback"), also known as the Beethoven-Gerät ("Beethoven Device") or Vati und Sohn ("Daddy and Son").[1]
The most successful of these used a modified Junkers Ju 88 bomber as the Mistel, with the entire nose-located crew compartment replaced by a specially designed nose filled with a large load of explosives, formed into a shaped charge. The upper component was a fighter aircraft, joined to the Mistel by struts. The combination would be flown to its target by a pilot in the fighter; then the unmanned bomber was released to hit its target and explode, leaving the fighter free to return to base. The first such composite aircraft flew in July 1943 and was promising enough to begin a programme by Luftwaffe test unit KG 200, code-named "Beethoven", eventually entering operational service.
Other Mistel composites included the Ta 154/Fw 190, Ar 234/Fi 103, Do 217K/DFS 228 and Si 204/Lippisch DM-1. Projects included the Ju 287/Me 262 and Ar 234C/Arado E.377.[2]
^Green, William (1970). The warplanes of the Third Reich (1st 1973 reprint ed.). New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0385057822.
^Wood, A.; Gunston, W. (1977). Hitler's Luftwaffe. London: Salamander. p. 241.
Mistel (German for "mistletoe", a parasitic plant) was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration developed in Germany during...
their way to the Pacific war, leaving the Mistels no worthwhile targets in Scapa Flow.[citation needed] All Mistels were placed under the command of KG 200...
1944. Some Ju 88 variants were also used as radio controlled bombs in the Mistel composite aircraft configuration, by coupling a bomber filled with explosive...
the un-manned bomber component of the Mistel V parasite bomber project designed in Germany during 1944. The Mistel V was a composite bomber comprising a...
ground. The Mistel series of fighter/powered bomb composite ground-attack aircraft pre-dated the He 162 by over two years, and the Mistel 5 project study...
is common Germanic (Old High German mistil, Middle High German mistel, Old English mistel, Old Norse mistil). Further etymology is uncertain, but may be...
before the program could mature. The functioning but unsuccessful German Mistel flying bomb was essentially an enormous shaped charge mounted on a repurposed...
facility (in Leningrad) had been heavily damaged. To accomplish the goal Mistel long-range bombers were to be employed. To destroy water turbines, special...
the Second World War some composites saw operational use including the Mistel ("mistletoe"), the larger unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration...
Daddy), nickname of Werner Mölders Vati und Sohn, nickname for the German Mistel aircraft VATI, acronym meaning "vote against the incumbents" Vati-Con scandal...
Drachenhöhle (1944) – aborted attack on Home Fleet at Scapa Flow, using Mistel composite aircraft Drumbeat (1942) – part of "Second Happy Time" (Paukenschlag)...
techniques with Operation Aphrodite, but had few successes; the German Mistel (Mistletoe) "parasite aircraft" was no more effective. The U.S. programs...
USS Los Angeles in flight with attached fighter Project Gremlin of DARPA Mistel – German World War II project in which a piloted fighter aimed, then released...
PGM Henschel Hs 293 air-to-ship, rocket-boosted gliding guided bomb The Mistel composite aircraft configuration was used (with almost no effects) on the...
of KG 200, and quickly opted to shelve the Reichenberg in favour of the Mistel project. By this point, the Allies had consolidated their position in France...
in concept to the World War II Operation Aphrodite. Composite aircraft Mistel "America Almost Had a Nuclear-Armed Drone Bomber". medium.com. 16 December...
the US and was the elder brother of future US President John F. Kennedy. Mistel, a contemporary German drone The explosive was loaded, as 55 lb boxes, in...
were susceptible to bombardment. Nazi Germany, in 1943, also developed the Mistel composite aircraft program, which can be seen as a rudimentary air-launched...
alphabetic order Aktion 24 (1945) — largely unsuccessful attempts to use Mistels and explosive-laden Do 24s to destroy strategic river bridges Aster (1944)...
Retrieved 22 May 2021. Tubeuf, Karl; Neckel, Gustav (1923). Monographie der Mistel. München und Berlin, Oldenbourg. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary...
superiors considered it an unnecessary waste of life and resources. The Mistel composite aircraft was preferred. The establishment of a suicide squadron...
considered for towing winged auxiliary fuel tanks), or carried on a Me 264 in a Mistel type fashion. Three versions of the aircraft were initially proposed: an...
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