Mistel was the larger, unmanned component of a composite aircraft configuration developed in Germany during the later stages of World War II. The composite comprised a small piloted control aircraft mounted above a large explosives-carrying drone, the Mistel, and as a whole was referred to as the Huckepack ("Piggyback"), also known as the Beethoven-Gerät or Vati und Sohn.
A captured example of a Mistel trainer. United States Army personnel examined the aircraft.
Ju 88H and Fw 190 combined to form a model 3B Mistel
Model of the proposed Mistel Heinkel He 162 with an Arado E.377a glide bomb at the Technikmuseum Speyer
A Focke-Wulf Fw 190, equipped to be attached to a Mistel drone aircraft, RAF Museum Cosford, 2018
The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II Luftwaffe twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called Schnellbomber that would be too fast for fighters of its era to intercept. It suffered from technical problems during its development and early operational periods but became one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war. Like a number of other Luftwaffe bombers, it served as a bomber, dive bomber, night fighter, torpedo bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, heavy fighter and at the end of the war, as a flying bomb.
Junkers Ju 88
Standard Ju 88 main landing gear installation, from the V6 prototype onwards
Annular radiator on a wrecked Ju 88
Ju 88 assembly line, 1941