Best Jet of WW2?

[cheddar cheese]

i had heard of the p-80, its in my pack of naff top trumps 8)

 

[cheddar cheese]

the junkers ju-287, a heavy jet bomber has to be the weirdest plane ive ever seen

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

ha! jokes on you, the pic doesn't work hehe

 

[cheddar cheese]

damn well, it looks weird anyway 8)

 

[GermansRGeniuses]

yes what with it being an FSW (forward swept wing) plane and all....

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

mmmmmmmmmm, i'll have to look it up..............

 

[cheddar cheese]

Here it is, the ju-287, not that anyone cares....

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

you mean it actually flew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ahanswurst]

The ME-163 komet is credited for shooting down 16 airplanes during the War according to an article I just read. I would have thought that more bombers met their fate then 16. One of the ME-163 Pilots was still alive and living in Dayton Ohio. You have to give the German aircraft designers credit for doing the impossible with as few resources as they had. Lucky for us they did not fly more of them. The article said they flew 5 minute missions because of fuel shortages.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

they had enough fuel for a 7.5 minuite burn, but after that it acted as a high speed glider...................

 

[Gemhorse]

Probably the best jet was the Meteor, but I voted the Ar234 as it's my favourite. I feel that they were in a class of their own, and it had terrific potential for further development. Like all German jets it suffered from Hitler's pre-occupation with bombers, bombers, bombers - It was a wicked 'Blitzschnell' bomber at that time of the War, but the old ' too little, too late ' doomed it's true development potential. I would have liked to have seen some serious forward-firing armament on them and improvement on their low-altitude performance, but they were excellent high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft and bomber- [only a 1000kg.]. They also may have been a handful for the Mosquitos too, if they'd had forward-firing guns [only 2x 30mm rear-firing installed], although not as manoevrable. They were IMHO the most well-developed and potentially reliable jet in the Luftwaffe, but by that stage of the War the factory workmanship was deteriorating beyond redemption...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i like the meteor to, one hell of a plane...............

 

[Gemhorse]

It's one aircraft I haven't studied much, but I do like them - I'm also very fond of Vampires, having grown up close to Ohakea Air Base where we had some, years ago, and they were often jockeying around the region on training flights.- Both aircraft have very similar nose cockpits with the 4 x 20mm cannon, set-up underneath like the Mosquito FBVI's...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

there's only four jet planes i can really say i like, and the meteor is one of them...............

 

[Gemhorse]

Keep talking, I'm coming round...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

what, you wanna know more about the meteor or my list?

 

[Gemhorse]

Well, truthfully, I haven't read much about them, but that's the great thing about this, er, 'Interest/ Hobby/ Obsession'; there's always more to learn. I know our chaps flew them and they came into service very late in the War...I don't have quite the same passion for jets as WWII piston-engined fighters. It's always struck me how ironic it was to have won the War in the face of the late German jets, and that both sides never really 'duked' it out with jets...Everytime one hears the sound of a piston-job, you're curious, whereas jets sound rather the same...but I am keen to learn more of the War...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

ironically the meteor never saw combat with a 262, it would be interesting to see which would come out on top, but after the war the meteor went on to break numerous world speed records, and was the first plane to reach 600mph and 1000kmph...............

 

[Gemhorse]

It was definately a better-designed aircraft, and far more reliable...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

but the egines couldn't produce as much thrust to begin with................