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3 unusual facts about Heinkel He 162


Heinkel He 162

The main structure of the Volksjäger competing airframe designs would use cheap and unsophisticated parts made of wood and other non-strategic materials and, more importantly, could be assembled by semi- and non-skilled labor, including slave labor.

This was despite the fact that the factory in Wuppertal making Tego film plywood glue — used in a substantial number of late-war German aviation designs whose airframes were meant to be constructed mostly from wood — had been bombed by the Royal Air Force and a replacement had to be quickly substituted, without realizing that the replacement adhesive would turn out to be highly corrosive to the wooden parts it was intended to be fastening.

/JG 1 moved to an airfield at nearby Ludwigslust and, less than a week later, moved again to an airfield at Leck, near the Danish border.


Hinterbrühl

The prisoners there built parts, sub-assemblies and BMW 003 turbojet engines for the He 162 jet fighter in a hastily-converted underground factory during late autumn and spring 1945.

During World War II, a satellite camp of Mauthausen concentration camp was opened inside the caverns, producing parts for the He 162 jet fighter.


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