Focke-Wulf Triebflügel

The Focke-Wulf Triebflügel (or Triebflügeljäger) was quite a unique aircraft concept. No prototype was ever constructed. How well would this aircraft have worked? Take-off and landing would have been a problem, since VTOL was the only way to go and the pilot would have to land the aircraft on its tail. What about level flight? It looks like it would have needed to keep a relatively high angle-of-attack to stay airborne since it didn't have conventional wings. Would it have been competitive against more conventional aircraft during WWII such as the P-51 Mustang?

Basic Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triebflugeljager

Images:

http://www.luft46.com/roart/rotrb.html

No takers, huh? Well, I guess that I'll just give a few of my own opinions on the concept and let you guys correct me where I'm wrong.

If WWII had lasted a bit longer, the Triebflügel might have made it to the prototyping stage. However, I think that the program probably would have been axed before production began. Landing that thing with the technology of the era seems too dangerous to me. The pilot would have basically needed to land the aircraft while lying on his back. If I'm not mistaken, difficulty in vertical landings was one of the reasons that the Convair XFY Pogo was cancelled.

Would I be correct in assuming that the Triebflügel wasn't meant to be an agile fighter? I've read that it was meant to intercept B-29s. The lack of normal wings would probably limit its turn rate considerably.

Have any other rotory aircraft been developed that worked on the same principle of flight as this aircraft (a free spinning rotor propelled by jet exhaust)? I know there was some helicopter that tested that principle. Do you think that it might be possible to create such an aircraft with modern technology using fly-by-wire controls and turbojets instead of ramjets? I'm not saying that it would necessarily be a good military aircraft, but perhaps it could be a performer at airshows.

There have been at least three tip-thrust rotary wing aircraft designs flown. Hiller, Fairchild, and Fairey (UK) built them, easily found on Wikipedia. Ram jets and pulse jets were used.

The Luftwaffe may have thought about intercepting the B-29, but it was never done because the B-29 was never in combat in Europe.

Considering maneuverability, the amount of lift required is much greater than the amount of thrust required (or available). We know the thrust would have been greater than the weight, say 1.5 x weight. So no more than 1.5g would ever be attained. Another problem is the potentially serious problem of gyro effects. Any change of pitch angle would be accompanied by a yaw moment. They could have installed contra-rotating rotors to eliminate the gyro effects.

I think the Luftwaffe wisely abandoned the program.