Messerschmitt P.1079

The Messerschmitt P.1079 was a series of pulsejet-powered fighter projects begun in May 1941, after it became clear that the BMW turbojets planned for the Me 262 were not yet available and that pulsejets, the type used in the V-1 flying bomb, were simpler and cheaper to build. The variants, including the P.1079/1, /2, /10c, /13b, /15 and /16, were all small aircraft with retractable landing skids, powered by one or two Argus-Schmidt SR 500 or Schmidt pulsejets. The pulsejets produced too little power at low speed for an unassisted take-off, so towplanes, catapults or rocket boosters would have been needed, which defeated the purpose of the program. A so-called P.1079 18 Schwalbe that appears in some publications is a widely publicized hoax and not a real Messerschmitt project.