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It might have made a good interceptor, recon aircraft, and possibly fighter-bomber, but probably not great for fighter vs fighter combat. Then again, the Me 262 wasn't very good as a dogfighter (potentially good for boom and zoom bouncing and energy tactics against fighter formations and probably easier to push into some limited amounts of maneuvering than the 229, but still limited).I'm not sure the Hortens could have even flown on one engine, much less been a fighter. I have yet to see a good flight report on it. Yes, I know it flew, but because it did does not mean it was suitable as a fighter or even as a service aircraft.
That said, has it proven a good aircraft, then I'd take the Vampire in a dogfight simply because it has conventional controls and can be trown about the sky. Not too sure about the Horten. Our own (Planes of Fame) Northrop N9M-B Flying Wing flies OK, but it won't win any fights agianst a maneuverable aircraft. I think the Ho.229 was likely in the same boat.
I think more realistically, you would have seen combat between the more conventional types like the Me262 (including the HG series), the He162 (and it's successors), the Ta183 and the P.1101. On the Allied side, the British had the Meteor and the Vampire and the U.S. had the P-80 and a few other types of mixed power in the works. Of course, if a better powerplant were available, the U.S. may have re-evaluated the P-59.Had WW2 dragged on a year or two longer the the Horton HO 229 and early Vampire jets may have met, I note the Hortons higher cieling and speed, that said, which do you think is best and would have fared better if flown by equal pilots?
Don't think it actually DID outperform the Me 262 except on paper.
I have grave doubts on the claim that the Ho 229 proto would have ourmanoeuvred a Me 262, IIRC the proto crashed on its 3rd test flight killing Ziller, so the joint manoeuvring tests would have had been flown on the 2nd test flight, which is difficult to believe, especially when the proto in question was so radical..
I have absolutely no trouble believing the Horten could out-turn a 262...
I don't have oppinion on that, what I doubt is that so radically new proto would have taking part in mock dogfight against a service fighter on its 2nd test flight.
Hello Stona
I was commenting the claim on the video, which stated that there was a mock dogfight.
Juha