Me-262 Taxi Test

[MIflyer]

I hate to use a Faceplant link, but that is all they had.

 

[Crimea_River]

Geez, when you said "Faceplant" I thought for a second that they collapsed the nose gear. Glad that wasn't the case. Not sure how old that video is but I see the smoke still seems to be an issue.

 

[MIflyer]

I believe the taxi test was in October 2019. Those are real Jumo engines, by the way.

 

[Crimea_River]

Yeah I know. I'm following this build and know one of the guys on the crew. Haven't heard about things for a while now and am wondering if something didn't go well. I thought they were trying to get it in the air in late 2019 but we would have heard by now if that was the case.

 

[MIflyer]

The website says stand by for further news. WX has been bad in the NW so that might be the reason for a delay right there.

Some good color shots of the 004 there if anyone wants any.

 

[Gnomey]

Cool!

 

[Ivan1GFP]

Do they have a better life span for those engines with modern materials?

 

[Crimea_River]

Do they have a better life span for those engines with modern materials?

In theory yes. In reality, we have yet to find out.

 

[MIflyer]

Well, the biggest problem with the Me-262 is that it not only did not have "modern materials"; it did not even have the proper 1940's materials. The Germans had a desperate shortage of nickel alloys, the same materials the US used in such profligate manner for the turbosuperchargers used in B-17, B-24, B-29, P-38, P-47. That was the reason the ME-262 engines had a typical service life of around 25 hours. They had to use steel rather than nickel alloys. They were also unable to put a turbosupercharged FW-190 into production. The V-2 rocket did not use a gas generator system but instead the turbopump was powered by H2O2, which is a much colder reaction that ordinary steel and aluminum could handle. Today aluminum spray over steel is still a popular way to build cheaper exhaust systems, but they are considered to be inferior to stainless steel pipes, and the Germans had to do that as well.

 

[MrSmoothie]

Just this week I was poking around on Google looking for an update -- neat to see this video though -- so I take it the smoke near the end is a problem? I read a nice article on this restoration and was pleased that they went further than some in trying to determine accurate color and markings. Not to mention, a very unique camo pattern for the 262.

 

[skyskooter]

It's a real smokey.

 

[Violator]

I visited the FHC on Saturday and asked about the 262. The guy I talked with said they had to send one of the engines back for some work. As is usually the case, no reason or timeline was given.