The Lippisch P.15 was a proposed World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 German

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 fighter aircraft

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

. Alexander Lippisch

Alexander Lippisch

Alexander Martin Lippisch was a German pioneer of aerodynamics. He made important contributions to the understanding of flying wings, delta wings and the ground effect. His most famous design is the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor.Lippisch was born in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria...

 designed it after inspecting the new Heinkel He 162

Heinkel He 162

The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger was a German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in World War II. Designed and built quickly, and made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply and prioritised for other aircraft, the He 162 was nevertheless the fastest of...

 which he thought could be improved. The redesigned He 162 composed of the nose section of the Heinkel 162, the wings and tail of the Me 163C, a newly designed rear fuselage, and landing gear adapted from the Bf 109. Power was to be supplied by a single Heinkel HeS 011A turbojet contained within the rear fuselage, which was fed by two intakes buried in the wing roots.

Never leaving the drawing board, the design could well have made a suitable jet fighter, but Lippisch was never considered a credible aircraft engineer of the likes of Willy Messerschmitt

Willy Messerschmitt

Wilhelm Emil "Willy" Messerschmitt was a German aircraft designer and manufacturer. He was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of a wine merchant...

 or Kurt Tank

Kurt Tank

Kurt Waldemar Tank was a German aeronautical engineer and test pilot, heading the design department at Focke-Wulf from 1931-45. He designed several important aircraft of World War II, including the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.-Early life:Tank was born in Bromberg , Province of Posen...

, which coupled with the worsening war situation doomed all of his late war projects to fail.