Meteor, 262 or P-80, if you had to fight in a '45 Jet which would you pick?

[tyrodtom]

I wasn't aware the Me262 had any handling problems once it got up to speed, except for always having to be very gentle on the throttle.

The AR234 would have that same problem since it had the same engines, but with about 7000 more pounds to lug around it was almost 100 mph slower than a Me262, only about 25 mph faster than a P-51D at altitude.

I don't see much advantage to the Arado .

 

[FLYBOYJ]

If I was in a fight against P-51s no problem as if I was cruising then the Mustangs are going backwards! Same with Mosquito as if the Blitz can't intercept a Mossie then it's the same the other way round.
Also the Blitz was...for obvious reasons...never designed beyond 1945 so could have gone further.

The Ar 234 had a cruising speed close to the P-51s top speed. Understand that to accelerate to a speed where it could out pace a P-51 would take time and you could only maintain higher power settings for short durations. Any type of turning maneuver would also decrease airspeed putting it within striking of recip fighters.

The Jumo 004B still had a 50~ hour overhaul time if you were lucky.

The aircraft itself showed some promise but still had some features that were not conducive to combat operations let alone being operated as a fighter - the skid, the jettison-able trolley, RATO, all not practicable considering the state the Luftwaffe was in.

I believe at least 4 were shot down by allied fighters.

More...

The Arado Ar-234

 

[mikewint]

Just happen to be reading Yeager's autobiography. He flew both the Shooting Star and Me262. He stated that they were identical in all respects except shape. He also mentioned the HIGHLY unreliable engines of the Star. He stated that he had so many Engine Fires he finally unscrewed the warning bulb. Stars were flown to shows, performed, then the pilots took commercial flight home and mechanics were sent out to overhaul the engines before Yeager flew them back to base. He stated that the overhaul time was 3-4 engine hours

 

[Mad Dog]

If you had to pick a jet in 45, which would you pick. All had teething troubles of first generation jet aircraft. From my reading the Meteor may have been the most reliable.

But what mission am I picking that jet for? Flying the Me262 looks good on paper but you were very much at risk of being killed on the ground by marauding Allied fighters, shot down in the circuit, or having your engines fail just when you need the extra speed to run away. The P-80 does look better - you'd be operating from a safe airfield, your opposition is the limited amounts of Luftwaffe machinery available in Italy, but the armament would be a little weak for shooting down something like a B-17, and reliability could be an issue if you were trying to intercept a high-flying German jet. Would I want to fly an unreliable P-80 on the type of bomber interception missions the Me262 was used on? Probably not! Which brings us to the Meteor. It has a good guns armament, the four Hispanos being more than capable of hacking down any Axis aircraft. It is easy to fly and convert to for pilots used to the Spitfire or Typhoon, though the ailerons were deliberately wired to be stiff to stop overloading the airframe in aerobatics, and it did have a high-speed snaking problem. It is fast enough to catch anything other than the Me262 going full throttle, and the Me262's engines might blow-up and do the job for the Meteor if run hard for too long. And it is almost boringly reliable. Indeed, the biggest threat to 616 Sqn's Meteor F.3s over Germany in 1945 was trigger-happy American flak!

 

[GrauGeist]

The Meteor did have known engine failures and weak brakes.

They were also plagued with the Hispano cannon jamming.