# Fieseler Fi 103 finally finished!



## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

This is the Tamiya 1/48 scale Fi 103A-1 I built and finished as a side project while working on the Tamiya Irving.

My model has a paint scheme of a Fi 103 that was common in late 1944, the production of the Fi 103 was dispersed and many subcontractors were being used to manufacture parts and quite often they used whatever paints that were available to them so when the parts were brought together for assembly of the missile the results were some wild looking camo schemes.


























































Agentsmith


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Good wood!


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## Ace Airspeed (May 16, 2010)

Excellent work! :thumbsup:

I love your treatment of the wood, and the camoflage is very well executed.

Well done!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks very much John and Ace!

Agentsmith


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

A facinating history on the Fi-103 I just looked up on Wikipedia regarding this "manned V-1"; Oberstleutnant Bombeck was correct in pointing out that the "kamikazi" strategy was not in line with the German warrior tradition. Canceling this project undoubtably postponed and/or prevented the deaths of many Luftwaffe Fliegers.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Seaview,

The manned version of the V-1 was a kooky idea, for a country that was able to develope advanced weapons during the war Germany also had its share of brain farts!
Even the Mistel program was on the border of being a useful weapon, what a waste of resources and airplanes. All effort in the last months of the war should should have been spent on producing greater numbers of jets and the Ta 152, all other aircraft types were outdated and nothing more than target practice for the swarms of P-51's and P-47's.

Agentsmith


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Ah, but, useful or not, the Mistels were crazy-_cool_!


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Good finish and well-researched colour scheme, great work.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

John,
Yes I agree the Mistel were cool! But its still painful to know a good (but used) airplane would be blown to bits even if it did not even make contact with the target.

Thanks Cro-Magnon Man!


Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

Lovely 103 Agentsmith, great photos and research info, as usual, and those wooden cradles-- outstanding! :thumbsup::thumbsup: 

I got a 10 DVD set of DogFights from The History Channel, awhile back (no TV for me ) and the one episode has interviews with a couple Me 109 pilots who each rammed different B-17's and survived. Yes, every interview I've seen with surviving Luftwaffe pilots showed that they pretty much all had absolutely no intention of making any suicide attacks. The one computer generated image-ing of the Me 109 ramming of the B-17, along with the pilots account of it, showed it to be a very deliberately planned attempt of the 109 pilot to survive the impact.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Schwinnster,
Very late in the war there was a special mission which involved volunteers who were to fly stripped down older worn out Bf 109s and the pilots were to ram the bombers. Each pilot had to sign an oath that he would down at least one bomber or die trying. The ramming mission was not a success because there were far too many enemy planes and very few ramming 109s...by the time the 109s made it past the fighter escort there was very few left to attack the bombers so the losses to the bombers were low and afterwards the Allies did not even recognize that the ramming was a form of a special attack and thought the planes that did collide were just combat accidents from low skilled German flyers.

Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

Hey Agentsmith..... yes, I remember now, seeing some of the surviving pilots speaking of that, as well as the narrator of the different programs I've seen on that mission. They had a name for it which I can't remember. Pretty sure they even took the radios out of the stripped down 109s-- at least the capability of the pilots to transmit-- I heard that some, if not all, those pilots in those planes were hearing a message from the ground urging them on, reminding them of their family and friends who had been killed by the bombings. 

Guess I should have clarified that only the pilots who survived such missions, and who were interviewed for the programs that I saw, were the ones who expressed no intention of committing suicide. The one pilot's account of his ramming of a B-17 was, according to his words, very deliberately planned and calculated so that he might be successful-- *and* live. Hindsight I know, but he said it worked exactly as he planned. He rolled his 109 over just before impact, and popped right out of his already unlatched canopy. 

This research is almost more fun than building the models-- thanks
John


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

John,
The name of the unit was Rammkomando Elbe (I know I spelled it wrong) and from what I have read ramming the bombers was the goal of the mission but the suicide part was not...the pilots were to get away if they could as long as a bomber was knocked down. VERY high risk mission for the pilot but not impossible, the ramming part was easy, getting through the fighter escort was not easy and closer to suicide than the actual ramming.

Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

> John,
> The name of the unit was Rammkomando Elbe (I know I spelled it wrong...


Close enough Agentsmith-- sounds very familiar-- I'm going to have to watch that episode again. The CGI- computer generated image-ing is really cool. You can't help but feel for, and wonder at the terror that had to go thru the crews of a B-17 when one of those 109's (literally) sliced thru them. 

John
Oh, and thanks for the additional info on the masking tapes


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## dtran09 (Aug 21, 2012)

Very impressive


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks dtran09!

John,
I did not give the correct name for the ramming unit, I came across it last night but forgot to write it down.


Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

Agentsmith, 

I just wrote it down myself-- *Sonderkommando ELBE*. As I said before, I picked up a 10 DVD set of The History Channel show *DOGFIGHTS*, and the one episode is *LUFTWAFFE'S DEADLIEST MISSION*. Started watching it again last night and I'm pretty sure they interview 3 surviving ELBE pilots-- who were 19 years old when they volunteered for the mission-- indestructable, remember when you were 19? --and as such they didn't think they would die. 

Anyways, for anyone who might want more info on this........ and I don't know if The History Channel has a website--I'm assuming they do-- and if they do, maybe they might have archives of their shows? To that end, here are some 'tag' words/phrases (in *bold* type) you might try to see the CGI footage of the Bf 109s ramming B-24 and B-17 Bombers:

*Sonderkommando ELBE * *Luftwaffe's Deadliest Mission*

*Sack Time* a B-24 rammed and downed by ELBE pilot *Heinrich Henkel*-- incredibly Heinrich and all the crew of Sack Time survived-- the planes did not. 

The episode shows CGI-- computer generated images-- of Bf 109s ramming and taking down two B-24 Liberators, and one B-17, as well as interviews with 3 surviving ELBE pilots, as well as some survivors from the bombers. 

Hope that helps someone


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

There were some plans in the works for specialized "rammjaeger" aircraft - small jet or ramjet planes with hardened noses and wings, designed specifically to ram a bomber in the tail section and cut the vertical fin off. They were designed with bailing out in mind after the impact.
http://www.luft46.com/misc/zrammer.html

There were also definitely "self-sacrifice" kamikaze designs. Piloted bombs meant to be dropped from parent aircraft.

These were "Luft '46" concepts that happily never got built.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Schwinnster,

I have seen that episode of ''Dog Fights'' a couple years ago. Somewhere in my book collection I have a book that covers that ramming mission in great detail, there is a great deal more to that mission then what little the History Channel had the resources to cover but still think they did a great job. 
Many times the History Channel does not really stick to the facts and will tailor the narration in their coverage of the Luftwaffe to match whatever film stock they have.

Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks Agentsmith, and John P,

When I first started amassing my very own styrene Luftwaffe almost 20 years ago-- even had the He 111 Zwilling in 1/72 scale-- _HAD_, I say, -- I remember doing a lot of research thru library books, and buying some reference books thru mail order-- remember that? Then we got cable, and I watched every episode of WINGS on The Discovery Channel that I could. I still remember getting a bit of a sense, seeing some of Hitler's 'super' type weapons found in developmental stages-- that somebody must be making this up! That couldn't be true! I don't know if the Luft 46 concept existed back when I was watching WINGS-- I've only become aware of it recently.
Perhaps 'it' is a part of our having to be 'politically correct'? Really irritated me to see, in the October issue of FLIGHT JOURNAL (yeah, I know, it's August 27...) the speculated airwar, between the Allies and the Axis powers, had WWII continued into 1947. Apparently, according to whoever involved in the creation of the story, and accompanying artwork, a futuristic Luftwaffe inteceptor with balkenkreuz, but --*without swastikas*-- attacking a flying wing bomber-- Hitler must have gotten urgent input from some influential advisors, to stop using the swastika-- gotta be *'politically correct' *ya know, Adolph......

I still enjoy the researching, and buy as many DVD's I can about WWII, specifically anything to do with the air war in the European theater, and sadly, like you say Agentsmith, I _have_ noticed discrepancies in the different "documentary" footage narrations. In these days of PhotoShop type capabilities, one can really start to wonder just what is/was true 'history' anymore. If someone doesn't like some particular bit of 'history'-- well, they'll just 'change' it-- or so they think. The really bad part of that is that it is then taught to others who have no idea that it is not true, nor any reason to believe it isn't.....


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Schwinnster,
Any History Channel or Military Channel shows that have Luftwaffe content are best viewed with the volume turned down because they just repeat the same old myths about the Luftwaffe that have been repeated the past ten years. I still watch any newer programs that they broadcast because sometimes they show some footage that is new to me.
Nat Geo had a program about the Horten Ho 229 that was interesting but also bogus, they called the Ho 229 Hitler's stealth fighter and how it was supposed to sneak past the British radar chain and attack England...oh my, thats a very tall tale compared to the reality of the situation for Germany in 1945.
What is really sad that most people will regard some of these programs as fact...if its on the History Channel or Nat Geo it must be true, right?


Agentsmith


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

looks awesome


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thank you Jafo!


Agentsmith


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