renegate326
Airman
- 34
- Nov 16, 2013
No contest here M262 was designed for a jet engine, and the Gloster Meteor was pretty much a jet engine on a propeller body.
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No contest here M262 was designed for a jet engine, and the Gloster Meteor was pretty much a jet engine on a propeller body.
There a number of good publications on this aircraft, as well as the usual urban myth and misinformation stuff. The Ar234 was always overshadowed by the other WW2 jets, particularly the 262. Be good to start a thread on it so we could gather as much accurate data as possible.....maybe someone else out there has good resources to offer ( hint, hint).I agree. MY OPINION has always been that the 234 was just slightly better than the 262. I have no facts or source material - just my opinion.
I've actually read that before, but so far it remains unsubstantiated. The well known Military Historical/aviation author, Christopher Chant , says as much in his book, "The Nazi War Machine". In the section on the Luftwaffe, Chant says that the Meteor was merely a prop driven aircraft re-designed for jet turbines, and "wholly inferior" to the Me 262, which he states was "a generation ahead ". I don't know his source of information, or where he would have any historical data on that. Interesting note on the 262 being prop powered in the V1 for flight testing though. The heinkel He 280, the worlds first jet fighter, was making pure jet flights BEFORE the much vaunted 262 was even airborne on its prop motor. It also flew before the experimental Gloster Whittle, and had the nose armament mock up completed, the ejector seat had already been used in flight ( saving the pilot), and was only really hampered by the delay in turbine readiness. Of course, it was shelved for political and technical reasons in favour of the 262, and the rest is history. If the Nazi's had had the foresight to steal Sir Franks Derwent engines in 1941, things may have been different. I just thought of a great plot for a movie......Gestapo agents infiltrating the secret British laboratories, smuggling the plans and scientists aboard a U-boat, beautiful blonde German spy etc.etc.....Eh?
It's obvious from your other, seemingly biased posts, that you have a preference fro anything not British, which is your priviledge - each to their own choice. But to say the Meteor was a 'propeller body', when it was the first British aircraft designed for production and service, to accept Whittle's developed engine is ridiculous!
I've actually read that before, but so far it remains unsubstantiated. The well known Military Historical/aviation author, Christopher Chant , says as much in his book, "The Nazi War Machine". In the section on the Luftwaffe, Chant says that the Meteor was merely a prop driven aircraft re-designed for jet turbines, and "wholly inferior" to the Me 262, which he states was "a generation ahead ". I don't know his source of information, or where he would have any historical data on that. Interesting note on the 262 being prop powered in the V1 for flight testing though. The heinkel He 280, the worlds first jet fighter, was making pure jet flights BEFORE the much vaunted 262 was even airborne on its prop motor. It also flew before the experimental Gloster Whittle, and had the nose armament mock up completed, the ejector seat had already been used in flight ( saving the pilot), and was only really hampered by the delay in turbine readiness. Of course, it was shelved for political and technical reasons in favour of the 262, and the rest is history. If the Nazi's had had the foresight to steal Sir Franks Derwent engines in 1941, things may have been different. I just thought of a great plot for a movie......Gestapo agents infiltrating the secret British laboratories, smuggling the plans and scientists aboard a U-boat, beautiful blonde German spy etc.etc.....
for what its worth, which isnt much, my opinion remains that both these aircraft were pioneers and achieved greatness because of that. But I remain unconvinced that the meteor was superior to the 262. RAAF Meteors had a great deal of trouble dealing with MiG-15s in Korea, which i think conceptually was derived from the 262. It perhaps symbolises what the German design might have been capable of, if it had been allowed to progress beyond surrender
The Gestapo agents were already in place, and the Blonde would have romanced the information out of the be-spectacled and bumbling scientist ( therefore looking in the right drawer). How can anyone argue with logic like that????I had to check a couple of claims. The He 280 did, indeed, fly before the Gloster E.28/39. The He 280 fly as a glider in 1940, and powered flight in March 1941. The E.28/39 flew in May 1941.
A couple of problems with your espionage plan. First is that if they looked for drawings of an engine with the name Derwent in 1941 they would have not found any - they were a couple of years too early, and would be looking in the wrong company's drawing cabinet. The second is that German spies didn't get very far in England during WW2, mostly being captured on, or shortly after, arrival.