Junkers EF 126/127 "Elli"/"Walli" - German Experimental Fighter
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- Files
TLDR: the Das Werk version is a historically inaccurate version based on a plastic model. I made it as a mistake and left it in as a bonus.
Most of the strange prototypes synthesized by Germany's various companies in the closing stages of the war never made it to the air, whether it be because their prototypes were destroyed or never built. The Junkers EF 126, codenamed Elli, was not one of these.
The Emergency Fighter Program of 1944 produced many designs which anyone not in Germany's position - that is, desperate enough to use anything - would look at and ask what the designer was on when they drew up the plans. Comparatively, the EF 126 was a very reasonable design. The initial EF 126 design was constructed of a simple metal fuselage and wooden wings. Propulsion was provided by an Argus 109-44 (essentially an improved As 014, the propulsion of the V1) pulsejet and landing was intended to be fulfilled with actual retractable landing gear, though all prototypes were simply fit with skids, so whether a production vehicle would have ever had this landing gear is dubious. Armament consisted of two MG 151 twenty-millimeter cannons and up to four hundred kilos of bombs beneath the wings. Given as the pulsejet propulsion would decrease in effectiveness at high altitude, the EF 126 was meant as a mid-to-low altitude fighter/light interceptor rather than a bomber killer.
Further designs were less reasonable. There was a proposal for an EF 126 with two engines for... more power, but this was not pursued, so much so that it wasn't given an official designation; I have denoted the twin version with -II. The true evolution of 'Elli' was the Junkers EF 127, codenamed Walli. The 127 did away with the pulsejet and instead was propelled by an unspecified Walter rocket engine. This would have given the 'Walli' a higher operational ceiling for the tradeoff of having a rocket engine, which came with a lot of risks. The 127 had some other changes, such as a conventional tail as opposed to an H-tail.
Unlike most of the Emergency Fighter Program entries, 'Elli' actually did fly, though not with the Luftwaffe; the plans and progressing prototypes were captured by the Soviets in 1945 and the OKB brought one prototype to flying condition. The Soviets, however, did not see much use in the design, and the project was scrapped. The twin-engine design and 'Walli' never saw the light of day.
There is one more file in this pack, the 'Das Werk' EF 126. This was essentially a mistake of mine; I originally based the tail of my 126 off of pictures of the plastic model by Das Werk; only two rather blurry photos exist of the actual prototype in Soviet hands, after all. Upon closer inspection, however, I realized that the Das Werk model had the elevators attached to the tail itself, whereas the real aircraft had its elevators attached to the strut between the fuselage and engine. By this point, I had already printed and painted the incorrect 126. I left it in the files just as a bonus.
Print at 0.1mm layers. Be careful with the tail. That should be all. Happy hunting
Most of the strange prototypes synthesized by Germany's various companies in the closing stages of the war never made it to the air, whether it be because their prototypes were destroyed or never built. The Junkers EF 126, codenamed Elli, was not one of these.
The Emergency Fighter Program of 1944 produced many designs which anyone not in Germany's position - that is, desperate enough to use anything - would look at and ask what the designer was on when they drew up the plans. Comparatively, the EF 126 was a very reasonable design. The initial EF 126 design was constructed of a simple metal fuselage and wooden wings. Propulsion was provided by an Argus 109-44 (essentially an improved As 014, the propulsion of the V1) pulsejet and landing was intended to be fulfilled with actual retractable landing gear, though all prototypes were simply fit with skids, so whether a production vehicle would have ever had this landing gear is dubious. Armament consisted of two MG 151 twenty-millimeter cannons and up to four hundred kilos of bombs beneath the wings. Given as the pulsejet propulsion would decrease in effectiveness at high altitude, the EF 126 was meant as a mid-to-low altitude fighter/light interceptor rather than a bomber killer.
Further designs were less reasonable. There was a proposal for an EF 126 with two engines for... more power, but this was not pursued, so much so that it wasn't given an official designation; I have denoted the twin version with -II. The true evolution of 'Elli' was the Junkers EF 127, codenamed Walli. The 127 did away with the pulsejet and instead was propelled by an unspecified Walter rocket engine. This would have given the 'Walli' a higher operational ceiling for the tradeoff of having a rocket engine, which came with a lot of risks. The 127 had some other changes, such as a conventional tail as opposed to an H-tail.
Unlike most of the Emergency Fighter Program entries, 'Elli' actually did fly, though not with the Luftwaffe; the plans and progressing prototypes were captured by the Soviets in 1945 and the OKB brought one prototype to flying condition. The Soviets, however, did not see much use in the design, and the project was scrapped. The twin-engine design and 'Walli' never saw the light of day.
There is one more file in this pack, the 'Das Werk' EF 126. This was essentially a mistake of mine; I originally based the tail of my 126 off of pictures of the plastic model by Das Werk; only two rather blurry photos exist of the actual prototype in Soviet hands, after all. Upon closer inspection, however, I realized that the Das Werk model had the elevators attached to the tail itself, whereas the real aircraft had its elevators attached to the strut between the fuselage and engine. By this point, I had already printed and painted the incorrect 126. I left it in the files just as a bonus.
Print at 0.1mm layers. Be careful with the tail. That should be all. Happy hunting
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| Filename | Size | Last updated |
|---|---|---|
| Junkers EF 126 'Elli' + EF 127 'Walli'.zip | 4.9 MiB | 2026-01-13 |
