The “Himmelstürmer” (Sky Stormer - but literally Heaven Stormer) flight pack was an experimental project that would allow German combat engineers and infantry to cross bridgeless waters, minefields, barbed wire, and other obstacles without hindrance. As such, the device had to be for short duration “jumps” of ranges up to 50-70 meters. This was not meant to be a individual flying machine to achieve any sort of altitude or long flight journey, so emphasis was placed on finding a suitable type of propulsion to accomplish the limited jump range. The Schmidt pulse jet seemed ideal for this, but since a pulse jet cannot operate without forward airspeed, the units involved were adapted and force-fed oxygen by a separate oxygen tank. Paul Schmidt patented his pulse jet design in 1931 but the unit involved here should not be confused with the V-1 flying bomb Argus-Schmidt pulse jet. These Schmidt pulse jets were small pulse tubes able to be carried by one man.. The apparatus involved strapping on two Schmidt pulse tubes - one on the back for forward flight and a smaller, less powerful unit carried ventrally for simple control with hand grips for steering. Both pulse tubes had to be ignited at the same time to enable proper jumps. The units consumed 100 grams of fuel per second. Flight duration was minimal and both units had to be turned off immediately upon landing. These devices were tested with a Heer unit in late 1944 but were still in the experimental phase once the war ended. One of the devices was reportedly taken to the US and handed over to Bell for tethered experimentation (as no US test pilot wanted that duty!) Deemed as unsafe, the Himmelstürmer unit was disposed of as Bell sought out a new way to equip US Army soldiers with a flying unit.

Artist impression: http://discaircraft.greyfalcon.us/picturesh/hs4.jpg