Curiosities 28 - The German Mistel

João Henrique Barboza Jorgetto • Mar 14, 2024

Indeed, the Second World War was a time when technology advanced rapidly. Both the Allies and the Axis forces achieved incredible feats in engineering. Some, however, are weird.

One of them is the Mistel, a weapon invented by the Germans. The almost imminent defeat led the Germans to look for emergency solutions, but the result was not always good or at least adequate. Mistel is there in the middle of last-minute inventions.

Its first appearance was in 1944 when the astonished eyes of the sailors of HMS Nith could not believe what hit them. A BF-109, with the modification, carried a Junker JU-88 converted into a flying bomb with more than 3 tons of explosives. The image of an aircraft detaching itself from part of its body and this "other plane" flying straight towards the ship was the last sight of 10 sailors. During that same period, three other planes would still be hit by Mistel, confusing allied troops.

Without long-range strategic bombers, the Mistel was a way to produce something capable of damaging heavy targets such as ships or bridges. The few bombers that the Germans still had did not have enough flight range or defenses to try to turn the tide at that point in the war. The Mistel took off with the "lower plane" engines and continued until the target, where the upper plane separated and began to fly with its engines. This guaranteed fuel savings for the "parasite" plane, increasing the available flight time. The flying bomb was controlled by rods and cables accompanying the fighter's controls and attached to three points on the fuselage.

The Mistel's major operation was precisely in 1945, in the defense of Berlin. The German generals decided to use it as a last alternative to hinder the Soviet advance, which was very close to the capital of the Reich. The targets would be all the bridges that entered the city. Executing an attack with this device was highly complicated and demanded much from the pilot. The bomb and the aircraft were separated 1,000 meters from the target amid enemy artillery fire at a speed of 600 km/h during the fighter's dive.

Bomb at the moment after being separated from the fighter

The attack destroyed bridges across the Oder and Neisse rivers, forcing the Soviets to change routes and delaying their entry into the city of Berlin. 75 Mistel were used in this desperate attack that resulted in the retreat of Soviet troops for a measly two days.

The Mistel was assembled using both BF-109 and FW-190 fighters, and the name comes from the word "Mistletoe," a parasitic plant. Estimates indicate that 250 Mistels were made, and there were projects for new aircraft combinations, even using ME-262 jets. But none of this was done as the war ended. Fortunately.