This motor is now owned by the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, USA.

A Komet/Walter fan from North America, Jimmy Ray, alerted me to this motor, supplying the first pictures for me, which he took when visiting the Champlin Fighter Museum in Arizona in the Autumn of 2000. Then, the motor was displayed alongside a Focke Wulf Fw 190 and a Messerschmitt Me 109.

Known History.

The Fighter Museum's Director originally explained that the motor was on long term loan and was acquired from a private collector in the United States.

How it came to the USA is not yet clear, but in common with the Chino example, it may have been amongst the cargo aboard HMS Reaper, from which the other US, ex-Luftwaffe exhibits have been drawn. The CIOS (Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee) teams working across Europe at the latter stages of the war, looking for German technical innovations, were targeting German rocket devices. They would have been evaluating as many captured examples as possible. Colonel Harold Watson was entrusted with the task of bringing a number of Luftwaffe aircraft and ancilliary equipment back to the US for test, and amongst the shipment of pieces were several Messerschmitt Me. 163 airframes and accessories.

Now, it may not be possible to tell whether this motor was originally fitted to one of the airframes which were evaluated, or whether it was a stand-alone example. It may once have been complete, or it may be from the collection of spares which were gathered with the intention of flying an Me.163 under power.

However, since then, the Fighter Museum's collection has been acquired by the Museum of Flight in Seattle. There, the parts have undergone some conservation work in the Seattle museum's workshops. Because of the age of the parts, and their condition, the disassembly took some work, but the exhibit may now be preserved against corrosion for some years.

Description.

The photographs show that this is only a partial motor. There is the thrust plate, thrust tube, combustion chamber, steam generator, fuel filter, fuel control valve, and fuel flow pressure equalising unit, and piping. Although the bulk of the piping and the distinctive box frame are missing, this is a good motor to study, because it shows the parts in isolation.

The original condition of the parts seemed to show no heavy overpainting, and most of the colours match other well-preserved and original motors. The aluminium of the fuel control systems was a little corroded.

There isn't much of the motor to go on, but I think we can be certain that the placing of the steam generator makes this model most likely an "A" series motor.

Photographs © Jimmy Ray - used with kind permission -

Although the motor is not complete, this shot shows the structure and relationships of the fuel flow/pressure equalising unit, and the position of the steam generator.

Seen from the other side, the fuel flow/pressure equalising unit with the prominent T-Stoff pipes.

The silver coloured pipes are those carrying T-Stoff down to the combustion chamber, through the centre of the thrust tube, whilst the brown coloured pipes on the left carry C-Stoff.

This is the C-Stoff control valve of the fuel flow/pressure equalising unit. C-Stoff enters here from the main pump and is carried forward to the jacket of the combustion chamber.

Returning via the fuel filter in the background, the C-Stoff is then metered out, depending on the position of the pilot's throttle, via the two pipes at the top of the picture (there should be three, but there is one missing) to the combustion chamber burners.

Shown this time from above, the C-Stoff outflow is the pipe in the bottom of the picture. The C-Stoff then comes back via the fuel filter, the cylinder in the top left corner.

The pilot's throttle moves the lever just visible at the bottom of the picture, and C-Stoff is allowed to flow out for combustion. The pressure of this fuel flow is connected to the T-Stoff metering unit at the top right of the picture, and corresponding quantities of that flow down to the combustion chamber burners via the silver pipes in the top of shot.

Still with this motor is the combustion chamber, shown at the end of the thrust tube.

C-Stoff for cooling comes down via the pipe visible in the top of the picture, and returns to the fuel filter in the second. The dump valve which clears cooling C-Stoff from the chamber if the motor stops whilst running, is at the bottom of the picture.

In a close-up of the housing before the combustion chamber you can see the T-Stoff pipes branching out to feed the liquid to the burners in the combustion chamber itself.

By having a number of small burners the fuels can be atomised more effectively for combustion, and the different power settings can be achieved by feeding fuel only to some.

This is one of the latest pictures of the rocket motor parts, undergoing restoration.

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