Best Jet of the War?

Best jet of the war?

  • Messerschmitt Me-262

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Arado Ar-234 'Blitz'

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Heinkel He-280

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Gloster Meteor

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

Status
Not open for further replies.
cheddar cheese said:
And even if it did see him, it would be able to turn and evade very well because of the unstable flight characteristics.
Click to expand...

That unstablity applies even more to the attacking prop plane than the jet it is attacking. At such high speeds, most prop planes (like the spitfire) were buffeting badly. Even the P-51 would be difficult to put the guns on target at over 500 mph.
 
Yes, but it was just said that Jets cruised at roughly the same speeds as the fighters, and at that stage the P-51/Spit/P-47 had the upper hand. The advantage could only be gained by the 162 if it could the speed in time, but with a surprise attack from the rear there is only one way to describe the Salamander pilot - mullered.
 
Yes but that does not take from the fact that the Salamander was a bad design with the engine being above the fueslage the way it was and overall was not a very good jet fighter. It was inovative and many good design features but was overall a poor jet fighter.
 

I think the jets (262 and 162) cruised at about the top speeds of the prop fighters. Combat cruise that is, not best-fuel economy cruise. (A combat cruise is to preserve the engine).

And I agree it was not a particularly great "fighter", but neither was the 262. The 162 had the advantage of being cheap and only needing one engine. For the job it was designed to do, intercept bombers, it was sufficient.

=S=

Lunatic
 
the lancaster kicks ass said:
the glostor meteor................
Click to expand...

The P-80. Perhaps the Metor.

The 262 was not a plane that could roll well at all. The engines were so far apart and so heavy...

=S=

Lunatic
 
I really dont think the Meteor was all that great of an aircraft. Explain to me how it was please. From what I have read it lagged in all areas against other jet aircraft. Now maybe later varients of the Meteor were pretty good but they came in too late in the war so in my opionion they dont count. The P-80 the same way it may have been a good jet aircraft but certainly not the best. Every aircraft has areas that it is weak in but overall if you take all areas to be considered, the 262 was the best of them all.
 

The Meteor was probably a better "dogfighter", but it was not as fast by a significant margin, and it was even more underpowered. But it could roll and this is a huge factor in fighter-vs-fighter combat.

The P-80 was more of a traditional fighter. It had an excellent roll rate and rate of climb, and was much more of a dogfighter than the 262, and of comparable speed. Its big drawback was a defective fuel cap which would come off in flight and result in disaster.

=S=

Lunatic
 
you're right, the -262 was a better all round fighter than the meteor, but combat against V-1s proved the meteor to be very manouverable.............
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)

Similar threads

Second best fighter of World War II
Replies
15
Views
2K
SaparotRob
A
Best British single engined radial aircraft in WW2?
2
Replies
27
Views
4K
Shortround6
S
  • Poll
German multiengine jet bomber best immune to Allied interception
Replies
0
Views
1K
Vahe Demirjian
  • Poll
Best Lookin' Spitfire Mark?
Replies
4
Views
2K
CatTheCool
  • Poll
Best Biplane fighter ww2
Replies
1
Views
5K
wlewisiii