Could Me-262 Have Turned WW II in Germany's Favor? Germanys war economy lacked many of the needed specialty metals for the jet engines that, on average, lasted less than 12.5 hours before needing to be changed out. The most significant change was the substitution of twin General Electric J-85 engines (as used in the T-38 Talon) in place of the failure-prone Junkers Jumo 004 powerplants, which had an engine life of only 10 to 25 hours. Messerschmitt finally settled on the employment of the Junkers Jumo 004. The Nazi engineers knew that the engines compressor had to be brought up to speed before the ignition of the turbojet. Advertising Notice It arrived at the Silver Hill Facility in 1950, and restoration work began in 1978. Forty airplanes were fitted with these racks near the end of the war. With the end of hostilities in May 1945, the Allied powers scrambled to claim the remaining Me 262s. Due to this issue, the early decision to move the engines from the wing roots into pods proved fortuitous. Despite its relatively brief operational career, the Me 262 significantly impacted the development of aviation technology. One other relatively small change was made . The NASM Me-262A-1a offloaded at Newark, New Jersey, and an Army Air Forces pilot flew it to Freeman Field, Indiana, with a stop in Pittsburgh. Although not a significant factor in the outcome of World War II, the Me 262 introduced many features found on later aircraft, including the swept wing, wing slots, underslung engine nacelle, and heavy cannon armament mounted in the nose. One of these was nitrous oxide injection, similar to the Germans own GM-1 fuel injection system, which gave them a quick burst of speed to close and fire on the jets. The Me 262 began as Messerschmitt's Projekt 1065 in 1939, the design of a jet aircraft by the company following Ernst Heinkel's flight in his He-178, the first aircraft to fly under turbojet power. Cookie Settings, Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum. However, the biggest shortfall was the technology itself. It was the development of the feared R4M rockets that sealed the fate of many Allied flyers over Germany when facing the Me 262. In basic concept, these aircraft were small extrapolations of the technology of contemporary propeller-driven The main issue was that the 30mm cannons mounted on the plane were inaccurate at distances greater than 600m, and since the plane was so fast, pilots had such limited time to fire on an enemy aircraft before they had to avoid a collision. Read More:Remains of Five B-24 Bombers Found in the Sea. The Hochgeschwindigkeit III (Me 262 HG III) was to have a 45 swept wing and Heinkel HeS 011 engines in the wing roots. In July 1944, a special unit named Kommando Nowotn launched the worlds first jet fighter missions. In the years after the war, Me 262s were used in high-speed testing. Planes can be rebuilt, but men cannot be made.. It was the first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, setting a new standard for speed and performance. In all versions, the cockpit offered the pilot a superb all-round view as it was located high on the fuselage under a blown clear-view canopy. Two upper Mk. Jumo 004 B-1, B-2 or B-3 engines. They shot down 12 bombers and one fighter for the loss of three Me 262s. With a radar operator in the back, the pilot could zero in on the bombers. The Messerschmitt Me 262 was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Studying the revolutionary aircraft, elements were subsequently incorporated into future fighters such as the F-86 Sabre and MiG-15. The. Kennedy Hickman is a historian, museum director, and curator who specializes in military and naval history. More than 1,400 Me 262s were built, but only 50 were approved for combat, according to Galland. Me 262: The Nazi Fighter Jet That Broke All the Rules By the end of 1944 and through 1945, the Allied assault was so severe that the German jet was incapable of making much of a difference in the war effort. The Jumo 210 was retained on the prototype as a safety feature following the arrival of the BMW 003s. The combustion chambers were made from mild sheet steel with an aluminum coating4 and since the heat resistance of these alloys was below what was required, the average life span of production engines was 25 hours. This made it faster than any Allied aircraft at the time. There was a version of the Me 262 that towed a bomb on a wooden wing but, the idea was dropped as being too dangerous. Armed with four 30-mm cannon and unguided rockets, it was an effective bomber destroyer, but it entered service too late to have a. There is a myth about the Messerschmitt Me 262 that the delayed deployment of the aircraft was due to Hitlers insistence that the Me 262 be produced as a super-speed bomber. It was to be crewed by a pilot and a navigator/bombardier, with the pilot sitting in an offset cockpit. The pilot was to pop the canopy, gently roll the plane over, and slide out or remain horizontal and let the planes speed suck him out as Wegmann elected to do late in the war. The latter show forty-two victories over Soviet aircraft by Oberfeldwebel Heinz Arnold in piston-engine fighters, and seven (perhaps not all by Arnold) over American bombers and fighters in NASM's Me 262. The required alloys needed to be imported. RAF pilot Flight Lieutenant Albert Wall guided his de Havilland Mosquito PR XVI on a long-range photo-reconnaissance mission. Twin-seat trainer armed as 1a with internal fuel reduced and replaced with two 66 gal. This is not the case. The National Air and Space Museum has an Me 262 in its collections that is slated to go on display at the museums Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, but no date has yet been announced. What If Germany Had Introduced the Me-262 Earlier in the War? - HistoryNet Spurred by the success of the Heinkel He 178, the world's first true jet which flew in August 1939, the German leadership pressed for the new technology to be put to military use. Bomber destroyer version, two prototypes with an adapted 50 mm MK 214 (or BK-5) anti-tank gun in nose. Most Turbina aircraft were powered by a pair of Avia M-04 turbojets (locally produced Jumo 004s), though one prototype, S-92.7, was powered by a pair of BMW 003s. It wasnt until early 1945 not long before the end of the war that the Me 262 truly found its niche. Hitler ordered Goering to have the Me-262 be made as a bomber." Reports of the problem reached Generalleutnant Adolf Galland, head of the Luftwaffes jet arm. The Nazis appetite for experimental technology continued until the bitter end. The first operational jet fighter in history had engaged in its first air-to-air combat mission of World War II. Hitler's order did divert some 30 percent of production airframes to the Me 262A-2a Sturmvogel (Stormbird) bomber type. The squadron then scattered for the homeward flight. The project was started with the Texas Airplane Factory and administered by Classic Fighter Industries. This jet was donated to the Smithsonian in 1950 by the U.S. Air Force. Mid-March 1944 was marked by several high-profile dogfights, and aerial battles as the allies closed in on Berlin, launching vast aerial missions with thousands of bombers and escorting aircraft. Armed as 1a with Walter HWK (109-509) rocket installed in the tail. [6], The Me 262E-1 was to be fitted with a 50 mm MK 114 cannon in the nose, similar to the Me 262A-1a/U4. Fortunately, the British fliers lived to tell the story. According to the tally on the fuselage, the Schwalbe's pilot, Heinz Arnold, scored 42 victories over Soviet piston-engine fighters and 7 over American bombers and fighters. Plus, by the time it was introduced in sufficient numbers at the end of the war, Germany had a serious lack of pilots with the requisite skills to perform in combat. Worse yet, his right leg was numb. It was powered by jet engines, a new technology that was not . Prototype which was specially streamlined and reached a speed of 624 mph. Only one prototype was built before the war ended. The two-seat night fighter variants proved surprisingly successful, again despite Hitlers initial misgivings. The Me 262 had a ceiling of 38,000 feet, and it could climb at 3,940 feet per minute with its two Junkers Jumo engines, which produced 1,980 pounds of thrust apiece. While its presence had a huge psychological impact on Allied airmen, combat records show it only shot down about 150 Allied aircraft for the loss of about 100 Me-262s in air combat. They managed to shoot down 12 bombers and one fighter for the loss of three Me -262s. By mid-1943, the Junkers engines were passing 100-hour test flights, but Germany was already facing shortages of fuel, materials, and skilled labour, which slowed production mainly due to scarcity of metals. Taken over by Major Walter Nowotny in July, it was renamed, Kommando Nowotny. The bombing showed that the design bureau in Augsburg was in jeopardy and the bureau was moved to Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps delaying production several months.14 Fewer than 300 Me 262s were actually used in combat. The HG series,. The first Me 262 fighters were delivered to Luftwaffe field units in April 1944, with the first encounter recorded on July 26 when one of the German jets fired at a British Mosquito, which disappeared trailing smoke but managed to land safely in Italy. [22] The change in engine led to these reproductions using the "c" suffix in place of the "a" and "b" suffixes used for Jumo 004-powered and BMW 003-powered wartime variants, respectively. Prototype with two 1,000 lb. Messerschmitt began work on a single-seat jet-powered fighter before the start of World War II. There is no question that the planes performance was absolutely superior to any propeller-driven aircraft of the era by a significant factor, Spencer said. Though an improvement, the early jet engines possessed incredibly short operational lives, typically lasting only 12-25 hours. Despite its short time in combat, the Me 262 had proven superior to all Allied fighters, accounting for 542 Allied aircraft destroyed while losing 100. This page is not available in other languages. Fortunately for the Allies, it was a case of too little too late. A total of five different armament configurations were proposed, which are detailed in the table below. Two crew were to sit in an enlarged cockpit in the front of the aircraft, and it was to be powered by two Jumo 004C engines. Known as Projekt P.1065, work moved forward in response to a request from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM - Ministry of Aviation) for a jet fighter capable of at least 530 mph with a flight endurance of one hour. The Me 262 first took flight on March 25, 1942, when test pilot Fritz Wendel achieved a test flight speed of 541 miles per hour, almost 100 miles per hour above the speed of the Mosquito or anything the Americans could field. Developed from a 1938 design by the Messerschmitt company, the Me 262 Schwalbe was the world's first operational turbojet aircraft. On August 28, the first Me 262 was lost to enemy action when Major Joseph Myers and Second Lieutenant Manford Croy of the 78th Fighter Group shot one down while flying P-47 Thunderbolts. The specially produced MK cannon was considered a masterpiece of weapons engineering because of its stopping power, compact size, and ease of manufacture. Though impressive in design and capabilities, it was an aircraft that was rushed off the drawing board too soon in a desperate attempt to turn the tide of war. Using recent analysis, Welter appears to have made 20 confirmed kills, including a large number of Mosquitos, with his Me 262, making him the highest scoring German jet fighter pilot. P-51 Mustang pilots quickly learned that the Me 262 was not as maneuverable as their own planes and found that they could attack the jet as it turned. Despite numerous fatal accidents during testing, around 300 were produced. The Swallow was powered by two Juno 004B jet engines and could achieve top speeds in excess of 540 miles per hourat least 100 miles per hour faster than the eras premier fighter, the P-51 Mustang. He counted five long seconds before pulling the release cord of his parachute and drifted downward toward the town of Wittenberge 60 miles northwest of Berlin. After 6,077 man-hours, the aircraft appeared as it did when it served with the famous JG 7 (Fighter Wing 7), complete with unit insignia and victory markings. [9] The Me 262A-1a/U3 was a reconnaissance modification built in small numbers with either Rb 20/30 cameras or one Rb 20/20 and one Rb 75/30 camera. Competing with Ernst Heinkel's experimental He-280, the Me 262 was selected because it was designed for the Junkers Jumo 003 axial-flow engine. Following the success of the V3, the V2 prototype (which was intended to be powered by the BMW 003) was fitted with these engines and a new V4 prototype was built to this configuration. While over a thousand Me 262s were produced, only around 200-250 ever made it to frontline squadrons due to shortages in fuel, pilots, and parts. On August 17, 1943, the Messerschmitt plant in Regensburg was bombed by the US Eighth Air Force and some 400 employees were killed and many of the Me 262 compiled resources needed to start production were destroyed. Design of the new aircraft was directed by Dr. Waldemar Voigt with oversight from Messerschmitt's chief of development, Robert Lusser. The Me 262 C-2b Heimatschtzer II is a rank V German jet fighter with a battle rating of 8.0 (AB/RB/SB). Prototype with two 1,850 thrust Junkers Jumo 109-004A engines fitted with pressure cabin. This one served with the famous Jagdgeschwader (Fighter Wing) 7. In addition, they also produced a great deal of smoke, leaving a noticeable exhaust trail. "Messerschmitt Me 262 Used by the Luftwaffe." Messerschmitt Me-262B, Night Fighter - Interceptor - AirPages In the European Theater of World War II (September 1939-May 1945), the British and American allies mounted an intense aerial bombing campaign against German military and industrial targets beginning in the latter stages of 1942. Messerschmitt Me 262 A 1a Schwalbe (Swallow). On display is a two-seat Me 262 B-1a. Hickman, Kennedy. Cookie Policy [9], Several Rststze field modification kits were made for the Me 262. It is no secret that continuing engine problems, shortages of fuel, and Allied bombing and strafing of airfields and manufacturing facilities took a toll on the number of available jets. He desperately pushed his shot-up jet downward, and at 12,000 feet he saw flames leaping from his starboard engine. If the ME 262 was perfected earlier, would it have changed the war? WWII RAF Airman Nicknamed the Blackout Ripper Murdered Four Women in London, Blue Division: Spanish Volunteers on the Eastern Front, Chinese Vessel Looting WW2 Wrecks for Scrap, Shipwreck of USS Destroyer Found off Okinawa. Range: 652 miles, Four 30mm 108 cannon; twenty-four 2.2-in. The C-1a was similar to the A-1a, but had a Walter HWK 109-509A-1 rocket engine housed in the tail. Avia was charged with continuing production of the Me 262 post-war under the designation S-92, nicknamed "Turbina". Interestingly, the Allies had received reports of the Me 262 from both the resistance and via the Office of Strategic Services. The Technical Intelligence staff assigned the inventory and tracking number FE-111 to this airplane. The story of the Messerschmitt Me 262 three-seater night fighter that The fact remains that the ground-breaking jet truly set the course for the future of aviation history. The conventional landing gear of the first four prototypes caused exhaust from the engines to deflect off the runway and caused the tail to be caught in the turbulence, making take-off difficult. Based on the Interzeptor II proposal, the C-2b was powered by two BMW 003R mixed-power turbojets; a combination of a BMW 003A turbojet and a BMW 109-718 rocket engine. Wait a moment and try again. David Kindy is a former daily correspondent forSmithsonian. In piston planes, pilots were used to firing at a certain range. The most notable aside from the Me 262 is the Heinkel He 162, a tiny jet fighter made primarily of wood. It went through a long gestation period, not making its first flight until April 18, 1941, and then only under the power of a Junkers Jumo 210G piston engine of about 700 horsepower. The jet was fast, had great firepower, and gave one a lot of confidence when pitted against a well-armed enemy aircraft, he said. It was subsequently lost in August 1946 after the USAAF test pilot parachuted to safety. Hickman, Kennedy. The P.1100/II was to have the swept wings and engines of the Me 262 HG III and be crewed by two in the cockpit. was flying his de Havilland Mosquito over Munich on a high-altitude reconnaissance mission. Despite interest from the RLM, both the P.1099 and P.1100 were canceled in 1945 due to fears that they would be underpowered. Prototype with two 1,850 thrust Junkers Jumo 109-004A engines with retractable tailwheel-type landing gear. Wegmann was jubilant and started to transmit his victory to home base when a stream of enemy fire struck his jet, splattering his canopy, tossing instruments from their panels, and studding his plane with bullet holes. [18], In April 1941, Adolf Busemann proposed that a 35 swept wing be fitted to the Me 262. The Me 262 appeared in only relatively small numbers in the closing year of World War II. rockets; two 551 lb. The development of drop tanks and the eventual positioning of P-51s on the European mainland gave the fighters more air time over Germany. Both versions are on display at the Prague Aviation Museum in Kbely. These were fitted to a new prototype, the Me 262 V3, which, after a failed first take-off attempt, took off on the second attempt and flew without problems on June 18. As a practice, escorting fighters began flying high over the bombers so that they could quickly dive on German jets. The more radical Hochgeschwindigkeit II (Me 262 HG II) proposal was to feature a new 35 swept wing with engines moved closer to the fuselage and a V-tail, though this was changed back to a conventional tail after wind tunnel tests showed that the V-tail was unstable. The new Me 262 was designed to be as faithful as possible to the original. Eventually, the Germans even resorted to using parts of the autobahn for landing strips and nearby wooded areas to conceal the parked jets from marauding and opportunistic American P-51 Mustang pilots. The Germans used the airfields as improvised flak traps, attempting to lure Allied fighters in where the deadly 88mm and other flak gunsalong with covering piston-driven FW-190s and Me-109scould take a substantial combined toll on unwary Allied pilots who ventured too close. A unit of select Luftwaffe pilots, JV 44 began flying in February 1945. They resorted to a small two-stroke gasoline engine located behind the engine nozzle, while many postwar jets came to rely on a high-torque electric motor or airflow from a small starter turbine engine. Multiple defensive armament configurations were proposed. Jumo 004 B engines was demonstrated before Hitler. The high explosive warhead of only one or two of these rockets was capable of downing a B-17. The 262's first flight took place in April 1941, but due to lagging engine development the aircraft was powered by one piston engine in the nose. It wasnt until eight months later on July 18, 1942 that the first true turbojet flight was made with Doolittle recalls one bomber pilot who was stunned at the quickness and severity of an Me 262 attack. However, the aircraft was hampered by technical problems and a shortage of experienced pilots, and it could not turn the tide of the war. Others were not so fortunate that day, including five American fighter pilots who failed to return home. With the arrival of the
