An American source writes of a comparison of the Schwalbe and the Meteor:
...After the end of the war the Me 262 as well as other advanced German technology was quickly swept up by the Americans (as part of the USAAF's Operation Lusty), British and Soviets. Many Me 262s were found in readily-repairable condition and were confiscated. The Me 262 was found during testing to have advantages over the early models of Gloster Meteor. It was faster, had better cockpit visibility to the sides and rear (mostly due to the canopy frame and the discoloration caused by the plastics used in the Meteor's construction), and was a superior gun platform as ...early Meteors had a tendency to snake at high speed and exhibited "weak" aileron response.
The Messerschmitt ME 262
Note that in order to rigorously test the Schwalbe for a satisfactory period, the Americans had to replace the original turbine hot end components with Nimonic. There was an element of sour grapes from some in the American camp to the British achievements in jet engine technology because it reflected badly on them that a nation with just 40% of their population had managed to beat them to it. At least the Germans had a more comparable population (75% that of the US).
In terms of visibility, the Meteor F III had a much improved bubble canopy. Against the charge of instability, Galland says in his book "The First and the Last" that the Schwalbe was also unstable at high speed and was hopeless as a low level bomber for this reason and also for its short range:
"...According to its flying properties and its safety conditions it was highly unsuited for an aimed-bomb release; diving or gliding were out of the question because of the unavoidable excess of the permissible top speed (
i.e. unlike the Meteor, it had no air brakes). At speeds of over 600 mph the aircraft became uncontrollable..."
Also the NASA article (
ch11-2) concurs that "snaking... plagued many of the earlier jet fighters."The fact that an up-engined Meteor F III set the world speed record in November of 1945 indicates that, if anything, the shoe was rather on the other foot in this regard. In the early 50s Adolf Galland flew Meteors in the Argentinean Air Force, which had obtained a hundred of the aircraft in 1946. Fifty were true F IVs, but the other fifty were refurbished war surplus ex RAF Meteor F III aircraft which had been re-engined with Derwent Vs. The Argentinean witnesses reported:
...The flight lasted about an hour and when it was finished, he said: If the Me-262 had had the Meteor's engines, it would have been the best fighter in the world! He qualified the plane of being very good and of having very refined lines...
Although the Meteors did not engage with Schwalbes and vice versa, the later Meteor F IIIs did encounter and engage with Fw 190s over the low countries.
"...The biggest frustration for the pilots of 616 Squadron was that they never clashed with the Me 262, or indeed with any German fighter aircraft. They came close towards the end of the war when a flight of Meteors encountered a force of Fw 190s, but they were forced to abandon their attack when other RAF fighters mistook them for Me 262s..."
It would be an absolutely futile exercise for them to engage with Fw 190s if they then had poor aileron response. The British pilots were forbidden to fly behind enemy lines because if they were to come down, the secret of Nimonic would be out. If it was too late for the Germans by that time, it certainly was not for the Soviets. (By the way, the Meteors on the continent had to be painted white to stop "friendly" fire from people who mistook them for Me 262s. They were still fired on...
)
Back to the original source again:
...The Me 262 did have a shorter combat range than the Meteor...
...Messerschmitt also conducted a series of flight tests with the series production Me 262. In these dive tests, it was established that the Me 262 was out of control in a dive at Mach 0.86, and that higher Mach numbers would lead to a nose-down trim that could not be countered by the pilot. The resulting steeping [sic] of the dive would lead to even higher speeds and disintegration of the airframe due to excessive negative g loads...
The Messerschmitt ME 262
A Schwalbe would have to throttle right back if it found itself in a dive with the Meteor, running a risk of flame-out if it was done too quickly. As mentioned, the Meteor had air brakes, the Schwalbe didn't. With its low wing loading and better acceleration and deceleration, the Meteor could maintain relatively high thrust and have several strategies to take the Schwalbe out before it was able to respond.
Extract from the Me 262 A1 Pilots Handbook -
Changing Power in Flight:
Move the throttles slowly forward or aft...
Specific instruction for take-off:
Note:
By opening up the throttles too fast up to 7000 rpm there is a danger of causing cavitation [read surge] in one of the compressor stages. That is, by running up too quickly the compressor is overloaded and the smooth air flow breaks up just as it does over a stalled wing. If the take-off is continued, insufficient air flows through but the same amount of fuel is injected, resulting in insufficient power...
Without sufficient power, the plane was likely to destroy itself on take-off anyway. But if it managed to struggle into the air, it should also have been added here that there was a high likelihood of destroying the compressor or alternatively burning out the turbine blades and hence destroying the engine as the air flow dropped and the air-fuel ratio plummeted. But on the other hand, this contingency is also covered later in the Handbook:
Broken Vanes in Jet Unit:
Indicated by - vibration in the unit
Action - turn off the jet to prevent fuel lines from breaking and causing a fire.
), but I would just like to thank all of the forum members involved in this discussion. Very good and interesting debate and discussion going on. I enjoy reading it the few hours a week that I have the time to do so at the moment.
