davparlr
Senior Master Sergeant
It is interesting that you consider the Ta-152 as being ready when it first began combat operations only months after the first flight of the prototype in August of '44, which crashed along with other prototypes (of course this is what you consider a non-rushed development cycle) while you make an unsupported comment that the P-72, whose prototype was flown in Feb. '44 and in production, would not have been ready if needed. Oh, I forgot, it is not German.
Considering the fact that the P-72 was basically a re-engined P-47 and the Ta-152 had a highly modified fuselage, new wing, and a new engine, I suspect the P-72 prototypes were more ready than the Ta-152 was when it first entered combat.
Not by any propeller driven aircraft. To beat that 480 mph airspeed at SL, any prop plane you named would have had to have one heck of a new engine, sporting probably a 50% increase in power.
Of course, all these planes were obsolete by this time.
Undeniable. However, the allies were catching up fast. The Germans would have leaped ahead with the use of swept wings, but the allies would have caught up in a year.
Me-262-outstanding aircraft and would have been competitive for several years.
He-162-marginal performance for a jet. Not much advantage except for producibility. Not much faster than the Meteor, P-80 being much superior. It probably would have killed more inexperienced German pilots than allied pilots. Single engine reliability of early German engines had to be a nightmare.
Ta-152, Fw-190D-12 13. These are not super performers above latest allied aircraft (P-51H, P-47M/N, F4U-4, British?). I would bet even with a new engine (I have no performance figures on those engines). The allies, except for the Navy, had moved on to jets (generating loss of interest in the P-72, XP-56, and others).
I don't anything about jet engine development, but I think others have argued this with you.
It amazes me how you assume that all German engineering is perfect and all proposed aircraft behave as planned and all development proceeds flawlessly. The Go229 was probably five to seven years away from combat capability or cancellation. Zero lateral stability was an obvious problem, requiring constant pilot attention to prevent the aircraft from becoming a Frisbee. Close coupled pitch stability also would have to be investigated thoroughly. Stall characteristics – unknown. On and on. Going into production with only one unsuccessful flight was massively risky. I suspect the Go229 would not have been a successful fighter without modern computerized flight controls.
Having said that, it was an amazingly advanced design, just too far ahead of technology.
This aircraft had potential to be the first swept wing aircraft the allies would have faced, and could have been quite successful in the fixed wing sweep mode. With in-flight variable wing sweep, however, success was several years off.
Again, from plans to combat is often a rocky road. Based on Tank effort in Argentina, this design was several years away from combat capability. In fact it seems that the Mikoyan design team was more capable of solving the problems of this design than was the Tank team.
All, hypothetical. I know nothing about these engines, but unless they generated 2300 hp or greater would it approach the P-51H at low altitude, although, depending on the power profile, could lower the altitude where is was superior. And, unless it generated 3000 hp would it approach the P-72. And, how much Q loading would those long wings withstand, also, their drag performance is not the best for high Q flight.
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True. At this time, the allies could have had only P-40s and Spitfire Vs swarming like bees around a hive over the Luftwaffe home bases and the outcome would have been the same.