Editing DFS 194 (section)

==Design and development==
The DFS 194 was based on the Alexander Lippisch ''Delta'' series of tailless designs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DFS 194 Prototype rocket powered aircraft |url=https://www.wehrmacht-history.com/luftwaffe/prototypes/dfs-194-prototype.html |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=www.wehrmacht-history.com}}</ref> As originally conceived, it would have been a tailless aircraft similar to his [[DFS 40]], powered by a conventional piston engine driving a [[Pusher configuration|pusher]] propeller. The airframe was completed in this configuration in March 1938.

Lippisch's designs had attracted the attention of the ''[[Reichsluftfahrtministerium]]'' (RLM - Reich Aviation Ministry) who believed that tailless aircraft were the best basis for a rocket-powered fighter. On January 2, 1939, Lippisch and his team were transferred to the [[Messerschmitt]] company to begin work on such an aircraft, under what was known as ''Project X''. The DFS-194 was modified to accept a Walter R I-203 rocket engine designed by [[Hellmuth Walter]], and by October, the aircraft was undergoing engine tests at [[Peenemünde]].

These were followed by glide tests in early 1940 leading to the first powered flight in August with [[Heini Dittmar]] at the controls. The flight went well, the DFS 194 reaching {{convert|550|km/h|abbr=on}}, bettering the speed of the earlier (20 July 1939), Walter rocket powered [[Heinkel He 176]].

The aircraft proved to have excellent flying characteristics and proved safe to fly at nearly twice the anticipated speed. These results paved the way for the next stage of the project, which now received priority status from the RLM. The [[Messerschmitt Me 163]], a considerably refined design along the same basic lines, flew the following year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DFS 194 |url=https://www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com/dfs-194.html |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Nevington War Museum |language=en}}</ref>