Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg

The Fieseler Fi 103R, code-named Reichenberg, was a German manned version of the V-1 flying bomb, developed late in the Second World War as a human-guided bomb for suicidal attacks. Development started in 1944, when Germany expected a major Allied naval landing in western Europe, and the aircraft was to carry about 900 kilograms of explosives against targets such as shipping, with the pilot meant to bail out just before impact. A squadron of Kampfgeschwader 200, the Leonidas Squadron, was formed for the attacks. The project was chosen over the rival Messerschmitt Me 328 because of that aircraft pulsejet difficulties. The first flight in September 1944 ended in a crash, as did a second the next day, and development was shelved on the order of Hitler a month later.