1-TL-Jäger
Messerschmitt believed it was onto a winner with its advanced and flexible P.1101 entry for the 1-TL-Jäger competition. It was to be sadly disappointed. Art by Ronnie Olsthoorn
The future of fighters 1-TL-Jäger (July 1944)
The summer of 1944 saw the limitations of the Me 262 becoming readily apparent. The basic design predated the war, it was heavy and expensive, and it required two precious jet engines. A cheap high-performance replacement was needed that could make do with just one…
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requirement for a new single-jet highperformance fighter, known as the 1-TL-Jäger, was issued in July 1944 and Germany’s aircraft manufacturers were quick to realise that this was potentially the most important competition in which they had so far had the opportunity to participate. Designing a successful single-seat fighter carried a huge amount of prestige and the most famous fighter firms – Messerschmitt, FockeWulf and Heinkel – jumped at the chance to create the successor to not only the Me 262 but perhaps also the Bf 109 and Fw 190 too. The general staff of the Luftwaffe set out ambitious performance goals for the new fighter in the requirements of the contest. It needed to have a top speed of 1000kph (621mph), an endurance of one hour at 7000m (23,000ft), armour protection for the pilot and standard fighter equipment such as gunsight and radio. The engine was to be a Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet, armament was to be two MK 108 30mm cannon and the companies, including Blohm & Voss to make a total of four, were allowed two months to prepare their first designs. 048
Luftwaffe: Secret Jets of the Third Reich
These were presented at a meeting at Messerschmitt’s Oberammergau facility on September 8-10, 1944, and although a Blohm & Voss representative attended, the company deferred presentation of its design since it was apparently not yet ready. It is not known precisely which designs were presented by Messerschmitt and Heinkel, though it is likely that these were one of the earliest versions of the former’s P.1101, and the latter’s P.1073 or a variation of it. Focke-Wulf put forward a twin-boom design it had been working on since the start of the year. During the meeting it became clear that the three companies that had made presentations had each used a different set of calculations to work out the performance of their proposed machine. It was therefore decided that a single formula should be used in the assessment of all the designs. However, the details of this formula could not be agreed. It was agreed, however, that Junkers should also be allowed to submit a tender for the requirement.
On the last day of the meeting, a new requirement was suddenly, and for the most part unexpectedly, issued for what would become the Volksjäger – full details of which are given elsewhere in this publication. This urgent demand for new single-jet fighter designs that could be built in a hurry from low grade non-strategic materials effectively stalled work on the 1-TL-Jäger competition for several months, particularly since Blohm & Voss, Focke-Wulf, Heinkel and Junkers all hastily drafted entries for the Volksjäger contest. With Heinkel’s P.1073 having been chosen for as new Volksjäger, a second presentation of designs took place on December 15 with Heinkel now fielding a new and more complex design, the P.1078, and Messerschmitt replacing its P.1101 with what it regarded as the more advanced P.1106 and P.1110. Still no agreement could be reached on a formula to assess performance so it was decided that the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (the German Aviation Research Establishment, the DVL) should compose it.