Emergency Fighter Program The Emergency Fighter Program ( , literally " Fighter Emergency Program " ) was the program that resulted from a decision taken on July 3 , 1944 by the Luftwaffe regarding the German aircraft manufacturing companies during the last years of the Third Reich . This project was one of the products of the latter part of 1944 , when the Luftwaffe High Command saw that there was a dire need to put up a strong defense against the devastating Allied bombing raids . Although opposed by important figures such as Luftwaffe fighter force leader Adolf Galland , the project went ahead owing to the resolute backing of Marshall of the Reich Hermann Göring . Most of the designs of the Emergency Fighter Program never proceeded past the project stage . History . In the Emergency Fighter Program emphasis was laid in shifting production to defensive interceptor / fighters . A number of new aircraft design competition programmes were launched to provide new jet fighters . Production of the Messerschmitt Me 262 A fighter versions continued , as well as the development of advanced piston - engined fighters such as the Dornier Do 335 as per Hitler ' s personal request on May 23 , 1944 , before the July 3rd announcement of the program . Bombers , however , were severely curtailed , the only bombers allowed to continue in production after the edict was issued were those powered by jets , such as the Arado Ar 234 . Newer jet bomber designs such as the Junkers Ju 287 and Heinkel He 343 were worked on fitfully as lower priority projects in the last months of the war . Towards the end of the war some of the fighter designs , such as the Bachem Ba 349 " Natter " , the Heinkel P . 1077 " Julia " , the Blohm & Voss BV 40 or the Arado E . 381 " Kleinstjäger " – " smallest fighter " were designed with the pilot flying the aircraft in a prone position . The first two were expected to climb to their ceiling at vertical or near vertical angles , while the latter was a parasite aircraft that needed to be carried by a " mother " plane . These small interceptors had fuel for only a few minutes for combat action and landing was rough , for instead of a proper undercarriage they had only a fixed skid . Such simplified and dangerous planes were the products of the last phase of the Third Reich , when the lack of materials and the dire need to put up a strong defense against the allied bombing raids required such craft to be built as quickly as possible in underground factories . In the design of the planes little thought was given to the safety and comfort of the pilots who were mostly young Nazis motivated by fanaticism . Those were dire years in which Nazi authorities even considered to use " selbstopfer " ( suicide ) planes such as the Messerschmitt Me 328 and the " Reichenberg " ( a manned version of the V - 1 flying bomb ) . Peoples ' Fighter Project . In August 1944 , a requirement led to the " Volksjäger " ( " Peoples ' Fighter " ) aircraft design competition , to create a lightweight high - speed fighter / interceptor using a single turbojet engine , intended for rapid mass - production while using minimal resources . The " Volksjäger " was intended to be essentially disposable , with damaged aircraft being discarded rather than repaired , while it was to be flown by pilots , including members of the Hitler Youth , hastily trained on gliders . After a hurried design competition involving almost all of Germany ' s aircraft companies , including Zeppelin with its " Fliegende Panzerfaust " , Heinkel ' s He 162 proposal was selected as the winning " Volksjäger " airframe design . The first prototype of the He 162 " Spatz " ( Sparrow ) , erroneously known as the " Salamander " jet fighter flew in December 1944 . Other designs submitted to the Peoples ' Fighter Programme , such as the Blohm & Voss P . 211 , were allegedly superior , but never proceeded past the project stage . Miniature Fighter Project . In November 1944 , a programme for an even simpler fighter , the so - called " Miniaturjägerprogramm " ( " Miniature Fighter Program " ) was launched . The aim was to develop and mass - produce a very small interceptor for the absolute minimum cost in strategic materials . The aim was to produce them cheaply and in large numbers so as to overwhelm the Allied bomber formations that flew daily over Germany ' s skies . The " Miniaturjäger " would be powered by one Argus As 014 pulsejet engine per unit , as this engine required far fewer construction man - hours than a turbojet . The various German aircraft designers showed less interest in this new enterprise than in the Peoples ' Fighter Project for the imminent He 162 program would swallow up most of what was left of the country ' s available — and rapidly diminishing — production capacity . Furthermore , it was already well known by the time the " Miniaturjäger " competition was announced that , as they didn ' t produce enough power at low speeds for takeoff , the Argus pulsejets were unsuitable for manned aircraft that would have to takeoff unassisted . Since additional launch schemes would had to be added to the project , such as towplane s , catapults or rocket booster s , the goal of the program would be defeated and expenses would be far higher . Thus the " Miniaturjäger " project never saw mass - production , being scrapped already in December 1944 . Even so , aircraft manufacturers Heinkel , Blohm & Voss and Junkers came up with light fighter designs using a strict minimum of materials before that date . The resulting planes were small , spartan creations , with no radio and almost no electrical equipment , Heinkel would use a He 162 air frame powered by a pulse jet , Blohm & Voss designed the BV P . 213 and Junkers would submit the Ju EF 126 " Elli " project . Finally the only Miniature Fighter aircraft that got beyond blueprint status was Junkers EF 126 ' Lilli ' . Although unbuilt during the war , five prototypes were built in the Dessau Junkers plant in the area occupied by the Soviet Union . One of the prototypes was destroyed during unpowered testing in 1946 , killing the pilot . Other projects . At the beginning of 1945 a further programme was launched by the OKL in order to replace the He 162 " Volksjäger " . The new aircraft was intended to have superior performance in order to deal with high altitude threats such as the B - 29 Superfortress ( though this American bomber was never used in Europe ) . To meet this requirement , power was to be a single Heinkel HeS 011 turbojet , of which only 19 examples were ever produced , solely for development testing . The designs of the Messerschmitt P . 1110 , Heinkel P . 1078 , Focke - Wulf Ta 183 , Blohm & Voss P 212 as well as the official winner of the competition , the Junkers EF 128 , were submitted by February 1945 . This more advanced fighter had attracted more interest than the austere " Miniaturjäger " , particularly from Focke - Wulf and Messerschmitt , but construction of the prototypes had not started by the end of the war . Messerschmitt continued development of one of its designs , the Messerschmitt P . 1101 , with one prototype being 80 % complete when captured at the end of the war , being taken to America and used as the basis of the Bell X - 5 variable geometry research aircraft .