Messerschmitt Me 262
The Me 262 was a German fighter aircraft flown during late World War II. It was the first jet to be used in war. It began test flights in 1942, but was not used in combat by the German air force, the Luftwaffe, until 1944. Very few were built because Germany's enemies were bombing factories. It saw little action because the war was nearly over. The jet engines of the new machine often caused problems, that's why a lot of machines had deathly accidents.
Me 262 Schwalbe(Swallow) | |
---|---|
Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a late production model | |
Role | Fighter aircraft, fighter-bomber and ʽJet aircraftʼ |
Manufacturer | Messerschmitt |
First flight | 18 April 1941 with (Junkers Jumo 004 B turbine engines) 18 July 1942 with jet engines[1] |
Introduction | April 1944[2][3] |
Retired | 1945, Germany 1951, Czechoslovakia[4] |
Primary users | Luftwaffe Czechoslovak Air Force (S-92) |
Number built | 1,430 |
Nicknamed Schwalbe (Swallow), the Messerschmidt Me 262 surpassed the performance of every other World War II fighter. Faster than the North American P-51 Mustang by 190 kph (120 mph) per hour, the Schwalbe restored to the faltering German Luftwaffe. The Me-262 has two ʽJumo 004 B turbine enginesʼ with a top speed of 869.4 kph (540 mph). It's armament includes two ʽMK 103 30 mm cannonsʼ, two ʽ108 30 mm cannonsʼ, and a pair of ʽMG 151/20 20 mm cannonsʼ.
Messerschmitt Me 262 Media
Hans Guido Mutke's Me 262 A-1a/R7 on display at the Deutsches Museum
Me 262 A-1a on display at RAF Cosford. Some A-1a aircraft (including this example), like the A-2a bomber variant, attached additional hardpoints for extra weapons near the ejector chutes of the cannons, such as a bomb rack under each side of the nose.[5]
Me 262B-1a/U1 night fighter, Wrknr. 110306, with FuG 218 Neptun antennae in the nose and second seat for a radar operator. This airframe was surrendered to the RAF at Schleswig in May 1945 and tested in the UK
This 15th Air Force Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress of the 815th Bombardment Squadron was lost on a mission to Ruhland, Germany on 22 March 1945. Hit by flak, it was finished off by an Me 262. Eight of the crew survived as POWs.
Mock-up of an Me 262A-1a/R7 with R4M underwing rocket racks on display at the Technikmuseum Speyer, Germany
This airframe, Wrknr. 111711, was the first Me 262 to come into Allied hands when its German test pilot defected on 31 March 1945. The aircraft was then shipped to the United States for testing.[6]
Related pages
References
- ↑ Radinger & Schick 1996, p. 23.
- ↑ Price 2007, pp. 36–37.
- ↑ Radinger & Schick 1996, p. 49.
- ↑ Balous et al. 1995, p. 53.
- ↑ O'Connell 2006, p. 135.
- ↑ Samuel 2004, pp. 20–21.