Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger "People's Fighter" the TEEN Figter:-)

[Pawelk198604]

Did you heard about HE 162 the fastest jet fighter bulled especially to be operated by teenage HJ Boys It was designed to be operated by young boys as young as 15 years old.

Piloting Jet fighter every teenage boy dream i was certainly dreamed when i was teen to be pilot of jet plane.

[Seret]

Yep, one of several deathtraps dreamed up by an increasingly desperate Third Reich after they realised that conventional fighters weren't making any difference anyway. The Me163 was even worse; it had a rocket engine and no proper landing gear.

[Nibb31]

Did you heard about HE 162 the fastest jet fighter bulled especially to be operated by teenage HJ Boys It was designed to be operated by young boys as young as 15 years old.

Piloting Jet fighter every teenage boy dream i was certainly dreamed when i was teen to be pilot of jet plane.

Hmmm... Dreaming of suicide missions as a fanatized Hitler Youth for a desperate Third Reich?

I'm sorry, but this isn't something to be enthusiastic about.

The reason for using teenage boys was that they were expendable and the luftwaffe was running out of trained pilots. The He 162 was a deathtrap, designed to be cheap and easy to fly, but it wasn't. At this stage of the war, Germany had pretty much lost already. Because they were running short on metal and couldn't afford rivets or screws, it was mainly made of glued wood that fell apart in flight. It was also highly unstable, so only experienced pilots had any chance of flying it successfully, which teenage boys weren't.

In the end, most of them crashed after running out of fuel, losing parts of the airframe, or due to pilot error. If you had volunteered as an inexperienced but fanatized teenager, you would have had a 99% chance of a tragic death the first time you lived your dream. For nothing.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Nibb31

[peadar1987]

Yeah, this doesn't make me excited, it just makes me sad. What a waste.

[lajoswinkler]

Pawel, you should watch Der Untergang to see the tragedy of those kids tricked into death. It's really not a plane, or the side you want to be on.

By the way, that kid is based on a real person.

In addition, it's good to know that kids are the most disgusting soldiers. Their brains aren't developed, so they most oftenly show sadism.

Edited September 2, 2014 by lajoswinkler

[cpast]

Incidentally, it was intended for teens because the adult pilots were dead; it was not actually designed in a way that teens could use it properly, and really required an experienced pilot -- its just that the experienced pilots had been killed or captured, so the Nazis threw children at the war (although it doesn't look like the Hitler Youth actually ended up flying it -- the only operational unit was a preexisting Luftwaffe fighter squadron).

From what I can tell, the He 162 actually was fairly well-designed; it was just late in the war, so production was rushed and they still couldn't get many out, and the experienced pilots who should have flown it were dead.

[Kryten]

There was also no fuel left to fly it with, few actual planes produced due to bombing and lack of materials, and almost no ground crew because they'd been transferred to the army.

[PakledHostage]

Incidentally, it was intended for teens because the adult pilots were dead.

For what it is worth, it wasn't just the adult pilots that were dead or captured. They were running out of suitable conscripts for all sorts of roles. My great uncle was 15 when he was captured at the end of the war. He'd been drafted as a Luftwaffenhelfer and forced to man an anti-aircraft gun.

Edit: I guess that is was Lajos was getting at too with the video he posted... Except in my case, someone who I've known all my life was one of the "boys" manning the anti-aircraft guns.

Edited September 2, 2014 by PakledHostage

[Camacha]

Of course, it is well known that very young soldiers also fought for the allies. I feel it is somewhat suspicious that all these kids volunteered and lied about their age on the winning side, but were forced and last ditch replacements on the losing side.

[PakledHostage]

I feel it is somewhat suspicious that all these kids volunteered and lied about their age on the winning side, but were forced and last ditch replacements on the losing side.

Feel free to read about the history of the Luftwaffehelfers. A small percentage volunteered but most were drafted.

[Camacha]

Feel free to read about the history of the Luftwaffehelfers. A small percentage volunteered but most were drafted.

I am just trying to be careful with the interpretation of the facts as we got to know them, seeing as which side wrote them. I am in no way suggesting all the information we have is false or anything close to that, as a good portion can be checked by looking at surviving records from both sides and such, but it is good to be aware of where the history is coming from. You only need to look at the Ukrainian conflict to see how two sides can tell completely different stories based on the same events.

It seems the British also accepted 17 and 16 year olds, just like the Germans did. For a large part of the war this was true, in the latter stages younger children were employed by the Germans. On both sides kids below the legal age seemed to be eager to join the battle and, not rarely, lied to take part.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Camacha

[Brethern]

I am just trying to be careful with the interpretation of the facts as we got to know them, seeing as which side wrote them. I am in no way suggesting all the information we have is false or anything close to that, as a good portion can be checked by looking at surviving records from both sides and such, but it is good to be aware of where the history is coming from. You only need to look at the Ukrainian conflict to see how two sides can tell completely different stories based on the same events.

It seems the British also accepted 17 and 16 year olds, just like the Germans did. For a large part of the war this was true, in the latter stages younger children were employed by the Germans. On both sides kids below the legal age seemed to be eager to join the battle and, not rarely, lied to take part.

Given what the Russians did when they got to Berlin is it any wonder?

[Wanderfound]

I am just trying to be careful with the interpretation of the facts as we got to know them, seeing as which side wrote them. I am in no way suggesting all the information we have is false or anything close to that, as a good portion can be checked by looking at surviving records from both sides and such, but it is good to be aware of where the history is coming from. You only need to look at the Ukrainian conflict to see how two sides can tell completely different stories based on the same events.

It seems the British also accepted 17 and 16 year olds, just like the Germans did. For a large part of the war this was true, in the latter stages younger children were employed by the Germans. On both sides kids below the legal age seemed to be eager to join the battle and, not rarely, lied to take part.

While it's true that the victors write the history, there is such a thing as false equivalency. All sides did horrible things in WWII, but the Nazis were playing in a different league.

[Camacha]

Given what the Russians did when they got to Berlin is it any wonder?

Where did the Russians Soviets enter the story?

While it's true that the victors write the history, there is such a thing as false equivalency. All sides did horrible things in WWII, but the Nazis were playing in a different league.

I feel it would be tasteless to rank suffering, but I think the fire bombings on German cities, the atom bombs and large scale pillaging and sexual abuse perpetrated by the Soviets (in reaction to) should not be underestimated. All crimes directed at the civilian population. It was a chaos of terrible and horrible things done by every side to every other side.

[Vanamonde]

How did we get from a cool plane to ranking war atrocities?