Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
The first operational jet fighter — a century's lead compressed into six months.
The Me 262 was an aircraft from the future, introduced too late and in too small numbers to alter the course of the war. Its performance advantage over Allied piston fighters was enormous — roughly 190 km/h faster than a P-51 — but its engines were short-lived and Luftwaffe fuel was running out.
01Development was delayed by engine problems, political interference (Hitler personally demanded the aircraft be reworked as a bomber), and the general collapse of German industry. First combat units formed in July 1944.
02Jagdverband 44, led by Adolf Galland, included some of the most experienced Luftwaffe fighter pilots in the war. Using a "boom and zoom" tactic, Me 262s devastated individual bomber formations on several occasions — the R4M rocket especially was a heavy-bomber killer.
03Allied response was to ambush Me 262s at their most vulnerable moments — during takeoff and landing — by patrolling airbases. Captured Me 262s after the war contributed directly to the design of early post-war jets in Britain, the United States, and especially the Soviet Union.
Theatres of operation
- ·Western Europe
- ·Defence of the Reich
Principal operators
- ·Luftwaffe
- ·Czechoslovak Air Force (Avia S-92 post-war)
Others in the same fight.
Supermarine Spitfire
Mk.I — Mk.24
Hawker Hurricane
Mk.I — Mk.IV
North American P-51 Mustang
P-51B / C / D / K
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
P-47C / D / M / N