On December 30, 1922, a Dornier Komet II became the first German aircraft to fly over Britain since World War I, marking Germany's return to international aviation.

It takes more than a few mental gymnastics to appreciate the scale of the achievement of the Messerschmitt Me-163 Komet rocket interceptor. Then again, seeing the less-than-stellar-looking example at ...

Key point: Like many other over-hyped German wonder weapons, the Komet was revolutionary but not practical. Overengineered and full of problems, it was too fast and only had 7 minutes worth of fuel.