Best Jet of WW2 Continued

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Agreed it should have atleast flown I believe, but service is deffinatly better because then it can be atleast rated off of accomplishments.

I agree with you that the Me-262 was the best jet of the war, however it was by far from perfect (but then again what aircraft is really perfect). Had they been able to fix the engine problems that the 262 had she would have been truely amazing. I believe the main thing the 262 did due to the fact that it was too few too late was the shock factor that she gave when teh USAAF first saw her for the first time.

 

[GregP]

The Alfa Romeo R.A. 1000 was a 12-cylinder, inline piston engine ...

 

[Gemhorse]

I guess not many folk may be aware of this, but the RAF's Meteor Squadron, 616 Sqn. did destroy a Me-262 before the end of the War......

Gemhorse

 

[P38 Pilot]

Me-262 was best jet of war but like you said it was far from perfect.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Was it destroyed on the Ground because there were no air to air combat between the Me-262 and the Meteor?

 

[carpenoctem1689]

Must have been, because i have heard a million times over that there was no air-to-air jet combat until korea. Ive heard many sources say this, and would believe them. The chances of a meteor and a 262 meeting in the final months of the war were slim anyway, because the 262 intercepted bombers quite often, and piston engined fighters were escorts.

 

[Gemhorse]

I only read about it a coupla days ago.....

''On 1st May, 1945, Sqn.Ldr Warren ['Smokey'] Schrader of 486 [NZ] Sqn., landed back at Fassberg in his Tempest after destroying a Bf-109 during a morning sortie. He was summoned to the CO's office, to be informed he had just been promoted to Wing Cmdr. and was immediately to go and take over RAF 616 Sqn., flying Meteors, stationed at Luneberg....

By that afternoon, he was ferried there, and having never even seen a Meteor before, quickly became familiarised, completing 6 op flights by the end of the 2nd May, unfortunately putting the port wing engine through a tree, landing in heavy rain...

Apparently, RAF Brass wanted a Meteor to shoot down a Me-262 before the War finished...

On 4th May there was time for only one last op. flight before the message to cease all ops was received, but 616 had just heard of two 262's that had landed at Fassberg, their pilots being anxious to avoid capture by the Russians. Schrader collegue whipped over there and found them to be in mint condition, and with an interpreter went to a POW camp nearby and intereviewed a group of Luftwaffe pilots. They received assistance from an Oberst who not only had commanded a 262 unit, but also spoke good English, and he was able to give them an impromptu ground conversion.

The following day he began their final briefing, but pointed-out the airfield runway was insufficent for a take-off run, but the airfield commander got his troops to remove a section of fence between the airfield and a large adjoining field. Schrader started his take-off run, but it didn't look as if it was going to lift, until it hit a little ridge where the fence had been and was thrown in the air, bounced once on the grass field but stayed airborne... The other 262 got off OK as well, so they headed for Lubeck cruising at 450 km/h. Noticing from the cockpit that he had two very large engines and two very small wings, Schrader decided to up his recommended approach speed by 20 km/h, ''for Mum and the kids''....

His No.2 landed OK, which encouraged him to entertain the troops with a 'beat-up or two' and after a few enjoyable minutes of low flying and high-speed passes, decided to land.... On landing gear selected 'Down', only two green lights, no nose-wheel, and after several retrys etc., and with no radio link to the tower, there was only one option left but to land and hope.....

It was possible to hold the nose up for a time after touchdown, but then it sank until those two underslung engines made contact with the concrete. In spite of the throttles and fuel control levers being closed, as the nacelles wore through both engines started to burn. - After a 50-yd dash, he paused to watch the arrival of the Fire-truck, closely followed by Grp.Capt. Johnny Johnson, in his magnificent Mercedes-Benz tourer, grinning at Schrader's obvious discomfort....''Bloody marvellous!'' he said, ''You beat the place up, get us all out to watch, then start a lovely fire - Bloody marvellous !!!''

It transpired that the nose-wheel jack had been damaged in the short landing and heavy braking when first arriving at Fassberg, and once up it was never going to come down again. Although the fire was put out quickly, repairing the aircraft was beyond their immediate capabilities. The other 262 was sent on to UK for evaluation, and not long ago, Schrader learned that his 262 was actually repaired, also flown to England and is now on display at Cosford...

Shortly after all this, an order forbidding flying of enemy aircraft was promulgated in the wake of several fatal accidents.....

So, 616 Squadron DID destroy a 262, although just on the Final Whistle, and not by ''conventional methods''......
But it was great that it turned out to be repairable, as the photo [a pretty rough one,] taken at the time, shows it looking really munted.....

On the 262 vein, the latest ''Classic Wings'' magazine out down here has an article on ''Tango Tango 262'', rolled out of the paint shop on 12th May, the second of the ''Me-262 Projects'' flyable reproductions, wk. nr. 501244 is fast approaching it's taxi trials. Theres actually four of them so far, 'White One' has completed it's FAA flight test program in Everett, WA, now ready for delivery to it's owner in Arizona.......Bloody amazing what they are doing out there now, but surely they must be using a more reliable type of engine in these...??? [anyone know??...]

Gemhorse

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I dont buy it. I have never read anything like this before. Do you know the source of this, who wrote it?

 

[plan_D]

I already knew that part of 616 (South Yorkshire) Sqdn. was stationed on the continent before the wars end and flew sorties. I've never heard that story but I do believe it. Crazy things happened just before the war ended, and just after.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Read the Book Messerschmitt Me 262, Arrow to the Future by Walter J. Boyne - there's a whole chapter devoted to US pilots flying (and crashing one) captured Me-262s.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Actually yeah I can believe it now that I think about it. That was actually nothign special flying captured aircraft and I am sure they crashed more than just that one.

 

[Gemhorse]

It comes from a book called ''Wartime Memories'', published 1995 by Dolphin Publications... [ISBN 0-473-03495-6], which are stories from our serving Men, Women Children in WWII.....
I even found a story written by my old DSM [Depot Sargeant-major] who was in the PTO !!!....Blew me away !!!!
An interesting read, many different stories....

Gemhorse

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Sounds like a good book.