AZ Model Plastic Model kit Messerschmitt Me 1106B-5 Höhenjäger — 1:72

Manufacturer

AZ Model is a Czech specialist manufacturer particularly noted for limited-run aircraft kits and unusual Luftwaffe projects. AZ7539 forms part of the company's family of Messerschmitt P.1106 kits. Related boxings include AZ7537 Me 1106B-1 “Aces”, AZ7538 Me 1106B-2a “Nachtjäger”, and AZ7562 Me 1106 “Marine.”

The kit was added to specialist catalogues in 2016 and is now discontinued. Super-Hobby records the last availability of the kit as 20 January 2020.
Kit contents

AZ7539 represents the proposed B-5 configuration of the P.1106. It is a relatively small 1:72 scale injection-moulded aircraft kit, intended for assembly and painting.

The kit contains the principal components required to construct the projected aircraft, including:

Injection-moulded fuselage

Swept-wing components

Tailplane and vertical tail

Cockpit and pilot's position

Engine/intake components

Landing-gear components

Armament details

Small external airframe components

Clear cockpit component

Decals

Assembly instructions

The exact catalogue data gives a packaged kit weight of approximately 140 g.

Because the P.1106 never progressed to a completed prototype, the model necessarily represents a paper aircraft rather than an aircraft based on a surviving production example.
History of the full-size aircraft

The Messerschmitt P.1106, also referred to as the Me 1106, was one of the numerous German jet-fighter projects developed during the final phase of the Second World War.

The design emerged from the increasingly desperate German effort to develop new-generation fighters capable of dealing with the overwhelming Allied bomber offensive. By 1944–45, German manufacturers were investigating numerous jet and rocket-powered concepts under the broader Jägernotprogramm (“Emergency Fighter Programme”).

Messerschmitt's P.1106 was essentially a further development of the earlier P.1101 project. The aerodynamic configuration changed several times during development, particularly around the tail arrangement.
The P.1106B-5 “Höhenjäger”

The B-5 represented a proposed high-altitude fighter configuration.

The German designation Höhenjäger translates approximately as “high-altitude fighter.” The concept was intended to provide a specialised aircraft capable of reaching the operating altitudes of Allied heavy bombers.

The P.1106 was conceived around a single Heinkel-Hirth HeS 011A turbojet, one of the most advanced German jet engines under development during the closing stages of the war.

The proposed armament consisted of two 30 mm MK 108 cannon, giving the aircraft substantial firepower for attacking heavy bombers.
Design development

The P.1106 underwent a number of configuration changes while it remained on the drawing board.

The design process illustrates the rapid evolution of German jet-fighter thinking during 1944–45. Designers were experimenting with:

Highly swept wings

Compact fuselage arrangements

Single- and twin-engine layouts

High-altitude configurations

Heavy cannon armament

Improved aerodynamic efficiency

The P.1106 was related conceptually to the earlier P.1101, but its aerodynamic arrangement was revised substantially. Contemporary descriptions specifically note repeated changes to the horizontal-tail arrangement.
Intended role

The primary purpose of the P.1106 was to attack Allied strategic bombers.

The aircraft's proposed high-altitude configuration and heavy 30 mm armament were consistent with the German requirement for specialised bomber interceptors. The intention was to allow a fast jet fighter to reach bomber formations rapidly, make a short attack using heavy cannon fire and then disengage before Allied escort fighters could effectively intervene.

This concept was becoming increasingly important as USAAF heavy-bomber formations penetrated deeper into German-controlled airspace.
Comparison with the Me 262

The P.1106 belongs to the same technological generation as the Messerschmitt Me 262, but the two aircraft were at very different stages of development.

The Me 262 progressed through prototype testing, production and operational service. The P.1106 remained a design project.

Consequently, there are no genuine operational performance figures for the P.1106. Published specifications should be treated as projected figures, not measured aircraft performance.
Why it never flew

Germany's worsening military and industrial situation made it increasingly difficult to turn advanced aircraft projects into operational machines.

By 1945, Germany was suffering from:

Severe shortages of aviation fuel

Allied bombing of aircraft factories and infrastructure

Shortages of strategic materials

Disruption of engine production

Loss of experienced personnel

Rapidly deteriorating military circumstances

Although German engineers produced many technically ambitious aircraft proposals, there was simply insufficient time to develop all of them.

Neither the P.1101 nor the P.1106 reached series production, and the P.1106 was never flight-tested.
Historical significance

The P.1106 is interesting because it represents the direction in which German fighter development might have proceeded had the war continued.

The design demonstrates the increasing importance of:

Jet propulsion

High-speed aerodynamic layouts

Swept wings

High-altitude interception

Heavy cannon armament

However, it is important to distinguish the P.1106 from operational aircraft. Since no prototype was completed, its projected performance and handling characteristics remain theoretical.

For a model collector, this makes AZ7539 a representative of the German late-war “paper aircraft” genre, alongside projects such as the P.1101, P.1110 and other unbuilt Luftwaffe fighter concepts.