Battle Stations
Messerschmitt
262
Engines 2
x Junkers Jumo turbojets
Maximum speed 540mph
Service ceiling 40,000ft/12,000m
Range 650 miles
Armament Me262-1A: 4 x 30mm cannon, 24 x R4M air-to-air
rockets
Work on the design of the Me262 jet fighter began 12 months before the outbreak of war. But its introduction to service took another six years.
Delays in the development and delivery of satisfactory engines, the damage caused by the Allied strategic bombing offensive, and Adolf Hitler's refusal to be advised as to the aircraft's appropriate role all held up the Me262's arrival with the Luftwaffe, and then only in limited numbers.
The principal operational versions were the Me262A-1A Schwalbe (Swallow) interceptor and the Me262A-2A Sturmvogel (Storm Bird). The Schwalbe was built in a number of sub-types with alternative armaments installations. The Sturmvogel, which on Hitler's orders was produced as a bomber, was fitted with external bomb racks.
By the end of the war, about 1,400 Me262s had been produced, although only a quarter of them saw front-line combat. Losses were heavy, many being destroyed in air-to-air combat by Allied piston-engine Mustang, Thunderbolt, Spitfire and Tempest fighters, whose maximum speed was about 100mph slower than the Me262's.
Nevertheless, the Me262 caused great apprehension among the crews of American bombers. One rear gunner recalled his feelings of 'sheer terror' when encountering Me262s. His most vivid memory was of the breakdown of radio discipline at the appearance of the 'nightmare fighter which we all had hoped was a propaganda myth'.
The tactic generally used by Me262 pilots when attacking American bombers was to place themselves about three miles behind the bomber formation and about 6,000ft/1,800m above. From this position, they began a dive to reach a speed of over 540mph, at which they burst through the screen of fighter escorts.
Diving down to about 1,500ft/450m below the formation, the Me262 pilots would then pull up, throttling back to lose some of this forward speed. They would then level out to 1,000 yards/915m behind the target, ripple-firing rockets at 600 yards/550m to form a dense pattern, and following up at close range with 30mm cannon.
There is little doubt that, had the Me262 been introduced at an earlier stage in the war, it would have played havoc with American bombers. The most advanced fighter of the war, it was a delight to fly, but its principal drawbacks were the unreliability of its engines and its endurance of about an hour.
