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#Post#: 8865--------------------------------------------------
Plane of the Week: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
By: vonofterdingen Date: December 30, 2019, 3:47 pm
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To mark the end of the decade, I thought our Plane of the Week
should be an example of what an art critic once called “the
shock of the new.” In this case, we see a new age of flight
emerge. As a pioneer of jet propulsion, The Me-262 ushered in
the new jet age in which we currently live. But in addition to
be fast, this thing looks fast. To use an American expression,
this plane has bad ass looks, bad ass sounds, bad ass speed,
and bad ass weapons. In my opinion, this aircraft leads the IL-2
league of aircraft in plain old badassery. Fast, powerful…not a
foe you want to meet in the skies.
From Wikipedia:
The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe (German:
"Swallow") in fighter versions, or Sturmvogel (German: "Storm
Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, was the world's first
operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started
before World War II began, but problems with engines, metallurgy
and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational
status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. The Me 262 was faster
and more heavily armed than any Allied fighter, including the
British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. One of the most advanced
aviation designs in operational use during World War II, the Me
262's roles included light bomber, reconnaissance and
experimental night fighter versions.
Me 262 pilots claimed a total of 542 Allied aircraft shot
down, although higher claims are sometimes made. The Allies
countered its effectiveness in the air by attacking the aircraft
on the ground and during takeoff and landing. Strategic
materials shortages and design compromises on the Junkers Jumo
004 axial-flow turbojet engines led to reliability problems.
Attacks by Allied forces on fuel supplies during the
deteriorating late-war situation also reduced the effectiveness
of the aircraft as a fighting force. Armament production within
Germany was focused on more easily manufactured aircraft. In
the end, the Me 262 had a negligible impact on the course of the
war as a result of its late introduction and the consequently
small numbers put in operational service.
On 19 April 1944, Erprobungskommando 262 was formed at
Lechfeld just south of Augsburg, as a test unit (Jäger
Erprobungskommando Thierfelder, commanded by Hauptmann Werner
Thierfelder) to introduce the 262 into service and train a corps
of pilots to fly it. On 26 July 1944, Leutnant Alfred Schreiber
with the 262 A-1a W.Nr. 130 017 damaged a Mosquito
reconnaissance aircraft of No. 540 Squadron RAF PR Squadron,
which was allegedly lost in a crash upon landing at an air base
in Italy.Other sources state the aircraft was damaged during
evasive manoeuvres and escaped.
Major Walter Nowotny was assigned as commander after the
death of Thierfelder in July 1944, and the unit redesignated
Kommando Nowotny. Essentially a trials and development unit, it
mounted the world's first jet fighter operations. Trials
continued slowly, with initial operational missions against the
Allies in August 1944, and the unit made claims for 19 Allied
aircraft in exchange of six Me 262s lost.
Despite orders to stay grounded, Nowotny chose to fly a mission
against an enemy bomber formation flying some 9,100 m (30,000
ft) above, on 8 November 1944. He claimed two P-51Ds destroyed
before suffering engine failure at high altitude. Then, while
diving and trying to restart his engines, he was attacked by
other Mustangs, forced to bail out, and died. The Kommando was
then withdrawn for further flight training and a revision of
combat tactics to optimise the 262's strengths.
On 26 November 1944, a Me 262A-2a Sturmvogel of III.Gruppe/KG
51 'Edelweiß' based at Rheine-Hopsten Air Base near Osnabrück
was the first confirmed ground-to-air kill of a jet combat
aircraft. The 262 was shot down by a Bofors gun of B.11
Detachment of 2875 Squadron RAF Regiment at the RAF forward
airfield of Helmond, near Eindhoven. Others were lost to ground
fire on 17 and 18 December when the same airfield was attacked
at intervals by a total of 18 Me 262s and the guns of 2873 and
2875 Squadrons RAF Regiment damaged several, causing at least
two to crash within a few miles of the airfield. In February
1945, a B.6 gun detachment of 2809 Squadron RAF Regiment shot
down another Me 262 over the airfield of Volkel. The final
appearance of 262s over Volkel was in 1945 when yet another fell
to 2809's guns.
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By January 1945, Jagdgeschwader 7 (JG 7) had been formed as a
pure jet fighter wing, partly based at Parchim although it was
several weeks before it was operational. In the meantime, a
bomber unit—I Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 54 (KG(J) 54)—redesignated
as such on 1 October 1944 through being re-equipped with, and
trained to use the Me 262A-2a fighter-bomber for use in a
ground-attack role. However, the unit lost 12 jets in action in
two weeks for minimal returns. Jagdverband 44 (JV 44) was
another Me 262 fighter unit, of squadron (Staffel) size given
the low numbers of available personnel, formed in February 1945
by Lieutenant General Adolf Galland, who had recently been
dismissed as Inspector of Fighters. Galland was able to draw
into the unit many of the most experienced and decorated
Luftwaffe fighter pilots from other units grounded by lack of
fuel.
During March, Me 262 fighter units were able, for the first
time, to mount large-scale attacks on Allied bomber formations.
On 18 March 1945, thirty-seven Me 262s of JG 7 intercepted a
force of 1,221 bombers and 632 escorting fighters. They shot
down 12 bombers and one fighter for the loss of three Me 262s.
Although a 4:1 ratio was exactly what the Luftwaffe would have
needed to make an impact on the war, the absolute scale of their
success was minor, as it represented only 1% of the attacking
force.
In the last days of the war, Me 262s from JG 7 and other units
were committed in ground assault missions, in an attempt to
support German troops fighting Red Army forces. Just south of
Berlin, halfway between Spremberg and the German capital,
Wehrmacht's 9th Army (with elements from the 12 Army and 4th
Panzer Army) was assaulting the Red Army's 1st Ukrainian Front.
To support this attack, on 24 April, JG 7 dispatched thirty-one
Me 262s on a strafing mission in the Cottbus-Bautzen area.
Luftwaffe pilots claimed six lorries and seven Soviet aircraft,
but three German jets were lost. On the evening of 27 April,
thirty-six Me 262s from JG 7, III.KG(J)6 and KJ(J)54 were sent
against Soviet forces that were attacking German troops in the
forests north-east of Baruth. They succeeded in strafing 65
Soviet lorries, after which the Me 262s intercepted low flying
IL-2 Sturmoviks searching for German tanks. The jet pilots
claimed six Sturmoviks for the loss of three Messerschmitts.
During operations between 28 April and 1 May Soviet fighters and
ground fire downed at least ten more Me 262s from JG 7. However,
JG 7 managed to keep its jets operational until the end of the
war. And on the 8th of May, at around 4:00 p.m. Oblt. Fritz
Stehle of 2./JG 7, while flying a Me 262 on the Erzgebirge,
attacked a formation of Soviet aircraft. He claimed a Yakovlev
Yak-9, but the plane shot down was probably a P-39 Airacobra.
Soviet records show that they lost two Airacobras, one of them
probably downed by Stehle, who would thus have scored the last
Luftwaffe air victory of the war.
Despite its deficiencies, the Me 262 clearly marked the
beginning of the end of piston-engined aircraft as effective
fighting machines. Once airborne, it could accelerate to speeds
over 850 km/h (530 mph), about 150 km/h (93 mph) faster than any
Allied fighter operational in the European Theater of
Operations.
The Me 262's top ace was probably Hauptmann Franz Schall with
17 kills, including six four-engine bombers and ten P-51 Mustang
fighters, although fighter ace Oberleutnant Kurt Welter claimed
25 Mosquitos and two four-engine bombers shot down by night and
two further Mosquitos by day. Most of Welter's claimed night
kills were achieved by eye, even though Welter had tested a
prototype Me 262 fitted with FuG 218 Neptun radar. Another
candidate for top ace on the aircraft was Oberstleutnant
Heinrich Bär, who is credited with 16 enemy aircraft while
flying Me262's out of his total of 240 aircraft shot down.
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In game…
Let me just admit that you do not want Von Ofterdingen on
your wing in an Me-262. Adolf Galland would have kicked my butt
from Stuttgart to Munich and back if I had flown with him. The
speed is fantastic and the weaponry even more so, but I seem to
start an engine fire every time I get into one of these things.
They require some serious patience with that throttle control;
mistakes are not forgiven. That being said, it is exhilarating
to set up a large formation of bombers and dance through them in
this aircraft, cannons blazing. I admit though that the speed
can be a disadvantage unless you are a good shot (I am not,
alas). The speed of the pass you make through the formation
means you need to make quick cannon bursts count.
#Post#: 8867--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
By: JG51_Ruski Date: December 30, 2019, 3:59 pm
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Another fine piece Von..thank you
#Post#: 8871--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
By: cafs Date: December 30, 2019, 4:27 pm
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Oh yes, the great Me-262 needs a delicate throttle work and a
good approach and aiming, you have few seconds from approach to
fire the weapons.😯😯😜😜
#Post#: 8873--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
By: Beowolff Date: December 30, 2019, 5:46 pm
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OOOOOO, yeah! The mighty Schwalbe! ;D ;D ;D
Oh wow but when this plane became available to us...I virtually
almost shat my underwear. ??? :-[ :-[ :-[
It was SO anticipated back then (that was before so many IL2
gamers began to take new aircraft for granted as an everyday,
ordinary occurrence with very little excitement over them.
D'oh!) Anyway, yeah... we were SPAZZED to get this super plane
as a flyable back then... and I remember proudly strapping
myself into the Schwalbe's cockpit, lighting up those lightning
bolts pretending to be mere mortal engines, then roaring down
the runway at full throttle and exploding in a massive,
super-sized fireball with enough brilliance to rival the sun!
:-\ :(
Oh...a mere slipup, I told myself.
Only to do it again and again before 'finally' getting into the
air to intercept some pesky Mustangs, whereas I turned tight,
got on a Mustang's tail and swooped in fast to blow him out of
the sky...only yet once again catching fire and bursting into
crazy flame and exploding like a nuclear bomb.
::)
(I seldom fly this plane anymore, sadly...hung up on the Allies,
I guess) but over many violent game deaths I did sort of finally
master it's basics and began to bag a few kills here and there.
Not bragging... ah, no. No. Hardly that. :-\ But if I
wasn't flying against an Allied expert I could 'usually' get a
kill and I had to be happy with that for it seemed I never
improved much beyond that for some reason.
Others took to her like good bread to fine wine...zooming around
all over in Hyper Lobby killing at will and laughing
uproariously over their near god-like power. I just never got
that good to my chagrin.
Love the plane though, and truly she's done good for the
game...just as she 'tried' to do for her country way back then.
Too little too late, I guess... (and that being such good luck
for many a possibly doomed Allied pilot) and too much money
spent on mercury-fueled hyper drive UFO engines and Tibetan
dimensional portal magic and so on...lol.
What an attractive plane too. Truly she shows almost an
ART-LIKE visual conception as one gazes at her sleekness and
beauty.
Anyway... great article, Von... love the work you're doing with
this and certainly you're beating the pants of my older,
original articles...lol. Good job, my friend! :D :D :D
S!
Beo
#Post#: 8889--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe
By: DHumphrey Date: December 31, 2019, 7:42 pm
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Excellent plane of the week Von … another wonderful article Sir
!!!
Here's something for those interested:
HTML http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Downloads3&file=details&id=2595
:)
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