The German Me 163?

Question

Look at the pictures on those links, notice the little propeller in front on the nose of the aircraft....does it produce enough thrust to power the aircraft? or if not wot does that prop do?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kt/1197248227/

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3D%2BMe%2B163%26y%3DSearch%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501%26ei%3Dutf-8%26js%3D1%26x%3Dwrt&w=652&h=435&imgurl=www.flugzeugtechnik.info%2FLuftwaffenmuseum%2FHistorisch%2FMe_163B_Komet%2FMe-163.JPG&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flugzeugtechnik.info%2FLuftwaffenmuseum%2FHistorisch%2FMe_163B_Komet%2Fme_163b_komet.html&size=103.7kB&name=Me-163.JPG&p=Me%20163&type=JPG&oid=21305de705623cec&no=9&tt=30901

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://luftwaffefighters.co.uk/163/me163-4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://luftwaffefighters.co.uk/me163.htm&h=288&w=360&sz=21&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbnid=oJaYo6e6iXQX-M:&tbnh=97&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMe%2B163%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Answer 1

The ME-163 was propelled by a chemical rocket engine.

The little "propeller" on the nose is actually a wind turbine that turned a small electric generator to produce power for lights and instruments.  This was needed because there was no way to power a generator from the rocket engine.

Answer 2

That small prop on the front was a generater to power the systems as it had no battery.

Answer 3

The Me 163 Komet was not a prop driven airplane.  It was the world's first operational rocket-propelled interceptor/fighter.  It had unrivaled ( for its time ) speed capabilities but it wasn't a very good fighter ( because of its speed, it would overshot its targets very quickly so the pilot didn't have very much time to aim and shot at the target before overtaking it ).

Answer 4

As the airline aviophage said the Me 163 was powered by rockets

The rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me-163 was the world's first and only operational pure rocket fighter and represented the culmination of Alexander Lippisch's years of research in rocketplanes, tail-less aircraft, and delta wings. As a weapon, the Me-163 had tremendous speed but very limited range. However the concepts developed by Lippisch contributed to the Space Shuttle and Buran orbiters of a quarter century later.

The Me-163 had the following characteristics:

Single-seat interceptor

Power plant: one 1,700 kgf thrust Walter 109-509A-2 rocket motor

Max. Speed: 960 km/hr; cruise 800 km/hr; landing speed 80 m/s

Range: 80 km during a 7.5 minute flight time. 12 km altitude reached in 3.3 minutes

Dimensions: span 9.33 m; length 5.70 m

Takeoff mass: 3995 kg loaded with 2 x Mk 118 x 60 rockets

did some more research interesting facts rather