Heinkel He 162A-2 VN679

The Heinkel He 162 was a jet fighter used by the German Luftwaffe in the closing stages of the Second World War. Known as the ‘Volksjager’ (People’s Fighter), it was produced in too few numbers to have any effect on the outcome of the war.

The He 162 was designed and built quickly. It took less than 90 days for the design to be approved to its first flight on 6 September 1944. It was made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply and prioritised for other aircraft. While there were 1,000 examples on factory assembly lines, less than 150 were completed and delivered to German airfields. Like most of the German industrial effort in the closing stages of the war, a large number of slave labourers were used in the programme. Most of the completed aircraft never flew, lacking parts, fuel and pilots. The speed of the design and deployment also resulted in several flaws; it was lightly armed, and with enough fuel for just 20 minutes of flight and structural defects there were several crashes. This example was captured by the RAF Regiment at Leck in Germany, near the Danish border, on 6 May 1945.