Interesting quote from "American Raiders", by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel, published by University Press of Mississippi, concerning the Me 262/P-80 tests at Wright Field (pp. 21-23):
'(Walter) McAuley thought the Me-262 "performed slightly better than the F-80 (sic) but was a dog as far as handling characteristics, and a maintenance man's nightmare." McAuley's finding was contrary to the experience of Hal Watson and his men at Lager Lechfeld, where in the course of their exploitation efforts they recovered a number of Me-262 jets for return to the United States. Another Wright Field test pilot, Gustav Lundquist, felt that the "engines did not hold up well when operating near the redline limits and I had to make a couple single engine landings." After the war Chuck Yeager chose to become a Wright Field test pilot. It was General Arnold's policy to allow his fighter aces to choose any assignment they wanted, and Yeager wanted to try his hand at test flying. Yeager was one of several aces flying under Major Kenneth O. Chilstrom, the chief of the Wright Field Fighter Operations Section. Chilstrom had Yeager fly the Me-262. Yeager commented, "I was busy doing air shows and flight test work; being the most junior test pilot in the shop, I was lucky to be asked to make coffee, but I did manage to get a few interesting jobs. One of them was comparison testing between the Shooting Star and a captured German Me-262 jet fighter . . . . I was fascinated to discover the the 262 and the Shooting Star performed identically - the same range, top speed, acceleration, and rate of climb."
The final report published by Wright Field on the Me-262 concluded that it suffered from poor brakes, something common to all German aircraft and certainly no reflection on the Me-262, and that engine changes were a frequent requirement. The latter finding, of course, attested only to the early stage of jet engine development and the German inability to obtain critical raw materials such as chromium, nickel, and molybdenum. As for the 262's handling characteristics, the Wright Field test pilots rated them as poor. The probable cause was aileron and elevator servotabs which for some reason had been disconnected. This may have occured during disassembly for shipment, with the servotabs never being reconnected during reassembly. "The overall conclusion was that T2-711" - the number assigned to the aircraft by the Technical Intelligence at Wright Field - "was superior to the average Lockheed P-80A in acceleration and speed, and comparable in climb performance, despite a weight penalty of 2,000 lbs. A miximum True Air Speed of 568 mph was measured at a pressure altitude of 20,200 feet."
Any way one chose to look at the Me-262 jet fighter, it was a remarkable airplane. Bob Strobell, a P-47 pilot and one of Watson's Whizzers, said about the Me-262/P-80 comparison tests, "The final test report stated that the comparison tests were pretty close. No enormous advantage of one over the other. I don't really believe that. I think the Me-262 was superior to the P-80 across the board. I flew the 262, and that's what I believe." Other Whizzer pilots who flew the German jet, like Bob Strobell, felt that the Me-262 was a superior airplane, the very best of it's day.'