WW II Weapon System : Mistel and Vapi

The Luftwaffe engineers thought of an ingenious device that could be lethal as well as creates an element of fear in the Allies camp. They decided on a combination bomber which was referred to as the Mistel and Vapi. In German, it meant father and son. The German engineers used a stripped-down JU-88 and stuffed its nose with high-end explosives. This plane was attached to a German Messerschmitt twin-engine fighter by struts. The plan envisaged flying this contraption towards a target and then releasing the JU-88, which was then guided to its target. The JU -88 was supposed to strike the target and the Germans expected good results.  Unfortunately, the Mistel and Vapi weapon systems were not perfectly tested as after the Battle of Stalingrad, the German armed forces came under pressure.  The weapon system was thus rushed into combat without proper testing and there was no way the system could be fine-tuned.

One drawback was the use of the Messerschmitt 109, which was a slow plane and was a  sitting duck for the enemy fighters.  In case the Germans could have developed the Me 262 the world's first jet fighter earlier, the results could have been better. The Me 262  came only at the fag end of the war when the war was all bust lost.

The Mistel and Vapi was a revolutionary concept and deserves mention as a significant weapon of war. many writers of military history compare it with the Kamikaze fighters of the Japanese. There is however a significant difference as the Kamikaze were suicide planes which the pilots crashed on the US Navy ships, while there was no element of suicide in the Mistel and Vapi.

The Mistels had some success against the advancing Russian armies in 1944 and 45. But their numbers were few and they could not stem the Russian advance.  They were also planned to be used against the Royal Navy base at Scapa Flow, but the sinking of the Tirpitz, the german battleship aborted this plan.

Despite its failure as a weapon system, the Mistel and Vapi is the forerunner of the modern drone and as such its importance as a weapon system cannot be underrated.