ME-163 - rocket-powered.
ME-262 - jet powered.
A significant item not included in this article, the aircraft (a/c) design. Note the straight wings and general ‘bullet’ shape. This was a design from the brute-force approach which was why there were stability and control problems. While WW2 Germany had already deployed swept wings on the ME-163 & ME-262, the advantages from these designs were slow to penetrate in the immediate postwar era. Another feature that would help these a/c was the ‘area-rule’ concept of the ‘wasp waist’ that, with the angled wings, smoothed the airflows and reduced the ‘wall’ effect of the shockwave at Mach+ flight!
A point made in this UK article about the British Government cancelling a similar advanced supersonic test program is, while true, also misleading. Postwar Britain was WRECKED by WW2! The populace remained on rationing and high taxes until the 1950s WHILE the Labour Government implemented massive socialism in nationalizing industries and starting the National Health System (NHS)!
I still recommend the movie “The Right Stuff” for a good review of this era. Chuck Yeager and his comrades may have been flying high-tech but their assigned quarters were little more than tarpaper shacks. Quite a contrast!
ME-163 - rocket-powered.
ME-262 - jet powered.