Why was the La-7 so fast ???

[Juha]

...One one occasions dozen Fw 190's almost wiped out a squadron of B-26 Marauders for instance a few minutes...

Difficult to say what combat you meant but if the bloodiest B-26 combat, 391st on 23 Dec 44, the 262s were nothing to do with it, just poor weather and aggressive 190 pilots

 

[parsifal]

No voihan
According to Drgondog aka Bill Marshall in 45 Of the 36 "known air" 8th AF P-51 losses, 5 were to Me 262s, 16 were to Me 109s and 15 were to Fw 190s, there were also 6 unknown cases. So those numbers were for 8th AF in 1945. Altogether 8th and 9th AFs' known P-51 losses to Me 262s were 9 plus a couple possible. Plus what 15th AF lost.

US claims are of course also only claims if they cannot be confirmed from German data.

IIRC US test pilots oppinions on P-80 vs 262 varied.

Juha

You can also go here to see the losses for 8AF for the final months of the war. Losses to air combat were shrinking fast as the LW lost all semblance of cohesive response to the absolute pasting it was receiving by that time. this applied incidentally to all TOs, its just that the attacks over the Reich are the best documented

Asisbiz The Official Chronology of the U.S. Army Airforce in World War II 1945

This is a typical entry for 1945

"Mission 774: 845 bombers and 725 fighters are dispatched to hit oil installations and rail bridges and junctions in W Germany visually and by PFF; they claim 23-1-3 Luftwaffe aircraft including a jet fighter; 8 bombers and 2 fighters are lost: 1. 451 B-17s are sent to hit an oil refinery at Magdeburg (11); secondary targets are the Henschel marshalling yard at Kassel (292) and the Gottingen marshalling yard (26); targets of opportunity are Hadamar (12), Wetzlar (12), Dillenburg (15), Koblenz (11), Wetter (12), Limburg (8), Kirchbunden (7) and other (22); 2 B-17s are lost, 3 damaged beyond repair and 71 damaged; 10 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 18 MIA. Escorting are 327 of 374 P-51s; they claim 17-1-1 aircraft; 2 P-51s are lost (pilots MIA) and 1 damaged beyond repair. 2. 109 B-17s are dispatched to hit oil industry targets at Dollbergen (54): and Ehmen (24); targets of opportunity are the Koblenz marshalling yard (12), Limburg (4) and other (5); 3 B-17s are damaged beyond repair and 43 damaged; 10 airmen are KIA. Escort is provided by 199 P-47s and P-51s without loss. 3. 273 B-24s hit the Lutzel (56) and Guls (30) rail bridges at Koblens, the Irlich rail bridge (57) and the Remagen rail bridge (6); targets of opportunity are Andernach (26), Engers rail bridge (9), Trier (1) and others (6); 1 B-24 is lost, 4 damaged beyond repair and 63 damaged; 20 airmen are KIA, 8 WIA and 10 MIA. The escort is 66 of 70 P-51s without loss. 4. 12 of 12 B-17s fly a screening force mission; they are 8 minutes late for their escort and are attacked by Fw 190s when 50 miles (80 km) ahead of the bombers; they claim 6-0-2 aircraft; 5 B-17s are lost and 1 damaged beyond repair; 45 airmen are MIA. Escort is supposed to be 23 of 26 P-51s. 5. 2 of 5 B-17s fly an APHRODITE mission against Oldenburg without loss. 6. 11 of 11 P-51 s escort 9 F-5s and 1Spitfire on a photo reconnaissance mission over Germany without loss. 7. 25 P-47s and P-51s escort 3 of 4 Mosquitoes on a special operations mission without loss"

I count 2 p-51 lost, there were obviously other aircraft, mostly bombers lost as well. in exchange the LW loses (ie claimed, not actual losses) of around 30a/c. US bomber losses were 8 by my count, not including cat Es

 

[Milosh]

Another link to the same info, United States Army Air Forces in World War II

The Americans had a hard time testing the Me262 as they kept crashing. Iirc, it was tested against the YP-80, not P-80As.

 

[Koopernic]

Can we leave Mr Drgndog out of it and maybe just link to his posts if there is specific value in them so he can speak for himself in the correct context. He's surely one of the most balanced, gentlemanly and scholarly posters around here devoid of truth distorting passions.

 

[davparlr]

By the way , American tests pilots , post war judged the 262 slighty superior to the early p80s but... i am sure they were wrong . After all it had just 100 mph speed advantage and excellent High speed agility.

Surely you mean to compare the airspeed of the P-51 to the Me 262, not the P-80 to the 262, which had roughly equivalent airspeed.