V1 engines.

[paul.mercer]

Gentlemen,
The German jet aircraft are well documented, but before that did they ever try to propel a manned aircraft with the pulse jet engines from a V1 or were they just too dangerous?

[lwd]

I think I read they at least thought of building a manned version of the V-1 although that may be a myth. The wiki page does give some info that might be of interest:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-1_flying_bomb

Beginning in January 1941, the V-1's pulse jet engine was also tested on a variety of craft, including automobiles[7] and an experimental attack boat known as the "Tornado". The unsuccessful prototype was a version of a Sprengboot, in which a boat loaded with explosives was steered towards a target ship and the pilot would leap out of the back at the last moment. The Tornado was assembled from surplus seaplane hulls connected in catamaran fashion with a small pilot cabin on the cross beams. The Tornado prototype was a noisy underperformer and was abandoned in favour of more conventional piston engined craft.

The engine made its first flight aboard a Gotha Go 145 on 30 April 1941.

This may have been what I was thinking of which would tend to indicate that the manned V-1 was a myth:

A myth arose that early guidance and stabilisation problems were resolved by a daring test flight by Hanna Reitsch in a V-1 modified for manned operation.

But this indicates otherwise:

Late in the war, several air-launched piloted V-1s, known as Reichenbergs, were built, but never used in combat.
...
n 1943, an Argus pulse jet engine was shipped to Japan by German submarine. The Aeronautical Institute of Tokyo Imperial University and the Kawanishi Aircraft Company conducted a joint study of the feasibility of mounting a similar engine on a piloted plane. The resulting design was based on the Fieseler Fi-103 Reichenberg (Fi 103R, a piloted V-1), and was named Baika ("plum blossom").

[tommy303]

It appears the Hanna Reitsch myth actually came from testing being done on a manned version for piloted V1's to be used operationally

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieseler_F ... henberg%29

[RF]

Gentlemen,
The German jet aircraft are well documented, but before that did they ever try to propel a manned aircraft with the pulse jet engines from a V1 or were they just too dangerous?

By its nature the pulse engine I would have thought to be too dangerous and uncontroillable for a conventional plane - also I think such an aircraft would be very short ranged.