The Mistel was an unconventional attempt to fill the Luftwaffe's need for a long-range bomber, by converting a medium bomber into a pilotless missile, flown to the target by an attached fighter. The theory (based on the proven pre-war success of the Short Mayo flying boat combination) was that a medium bomber, which did not have to make a return journey, could expend all its fuel on the outwards journey, doubling its range, and the fighter it carried would only need to make the return journey, also doubling its range. In practice, this was not quite the case, but the combination did have potential to operate at ranges beyond that of conventional bombers in the inventory.The very first model was a simple modification of a war-weary Ju88A-4 and an obsolescent Bf109F. Flight trials of the first conversion in 1943 involved using a manned Ju88, with a special two-man cockpit bolted on in place of the planned warhead. The success of this led to 15 Mistel ("Mistletoe") conversions being requested, using Bf109F-4s as the upper component and expired Ju88A-4s as the lower component. The Ju88 crew area was replaced by the bolted-on two-man cockpit for delivery and training purposes, and this could be quickly replaced by the warhead when needed. The fighter aircraft was carried on struts above the wing centre section with just enough clearance for the propellor. Electrical cables to allow the pilot of the fighter to control the bomber were simply taped to these struts, and plugged into sockets on the fighter's underside.The warhead itself was a 3800kg (over 8000lb) shaped-charge. The fuse was carried on the end of a long probe which jutted out in front of the aircraft to maximise its effect. In tests, this was able to penetrate 26 feet of steel, or 66 feet of concrete, with ease! In use, some examples also carried external bombs to increase their explosive power.In May 1944, KG101 received the first operational examples, and their target was intended to be Scapa Flow. However, the first five operational examples were used against ships suuporting the Normandy landings instead. One aborted due to mechanical failure, but the other four all made successful attacks under the cover of darkness, although none of the four ships that were hit were sunk.This was enough to prompt the Luftwaffe to ask for an advanced version. The Jumo-engined Ju88A-4 and the Daimler-Benz powered Bf109F-4s used different fuel grades, and this limited the combination to the short range of the Bf109. The narrow 109 cockpit was also a less than ideal place to put two extra sets of controls and gauges for the bomb's engines! The Mistel 2 solved this by combining the BMW-powered Ju88G-1 model with a BMW-powered FW190A-8. The latter could draw on the former's fuel on the outward journey, increasing its effective range to double its normal endurance.Plans were made for 60 of these to make a night attack on the Home Fleet in Scapa Flow. The required number of weapons, now all part of KG200, were ready by December 1944, but inclement weather over their bases prevented them from taking off as planned.By this time aviation spirit was a precious commodity in the Third Reich. A long-range mission by, essentially, 120 aircraft was no small undertaking under the circumstances. That such an attack was contemplated shows that the Mistel was regarded as a legitimate stategic weapon by the Luftwaffe, and not the mad gamble it it sometimes looked upon in the history books. However, by December 1944, the planned target no longer had any significance. When originally planned, the strike was intended to cripple the Home Fleet and allow the Tirpitz to sail, but since then it had been first badly damaged, then sunk - without ever firing its guns at an enemy vessel! The planned attack on Scapa was finally cancelled.The Mistels' next planned operation, "Eisenhammer", was to be an attack by 100 Mistels on factories and power stations around Moscow, to take place in March 1945. The take-off bases in East Prussia were overrun before enough Mistels were available, as BMW-powered Ju88s were then becoming hard to find, and a number of completed examples were destroyed on the ground by an American air raid.The final developments of the concept used new-build Ju88G-10 and H-4 airframes from the production lines. The Jumo-engined G-10, intended as a long-range Zerstorer, was paired with the FW190A-8, which used overwing long-range fuel tanks to extend its range, the combination becoming the Mistel 3C. The use of the stretched BMW-engined H-4 long-range bomber was the most ambitious, as this was intended to be used as a manned pathfinder, carrying its own parasite escort fighter for launch when needed (a concept revived by the FiCon program many years later), although the latter still required the use of overwing fuel tanks. However it did not see service, nor did other experimental combinations of components, including the use of Ta152s in place of the FW190s.Ultimately, the Mistel, conceived as a massed long-range strategic weapon, but never used as such, was used in the final months of the war in penny packets as a tactical bomber, attacking bridges in an attempt to slow the advancing armies, and having some success. Ironically, the original short-ranged Mistel 1s were used on many of these missions. In spite of operating mostly at night, and with escorts, Mistel losses were still high due to their poor performance, and the need to fly straight and steady at the target during the attack run to set the gyro-contolled autopilot of the bomb, offering a perfect target to enemy aircraft and AA gunners alike.(used without any permission what so ever from
http://users.bigpond.net.au/mantis/FW/mistel.htm )TX-Deck out.
