Thread: Me 262

I'm afraid I do not share your enthusiasm for this aircraft. Certainly, it was a key point in the history of flight as the first military turbine aircraft to actually enter service, and as such is very interesting, and even worth producing flying reproductions..

But apart from being a turbine design and hence a step ahead of contemporary piston engined aircraft, it had little to recommend it. Like the slightly later Gloster Meteor, it had two engines for two very cogent reasons - with two engines you had a reasonable chance of at least one working at the end of the (necessarily) short flight, and at the time, turbine engines sufficiently powerful to provide takeoff power for an aircraft with a useful fuel and weapon load simply did not exist. By standards even of two or three years later the engines were woefully underpowered (under 2,000lbs staic thrust), unreliable and short lived (overhaul intervals were barely into double digits), and fuel consumption horrendous.

The aircraft themselves were, all limitations considered, well designed for the time - but there was no experience in designing turbine aircraft. I have read that, being produced as the German production facilities collapsed, quality of manufacture was very variable. A total of about 1433 were built, but almost 500 more were destroyed by bombing before completion - which gives an idea of the conditions under which they were built. And fewer than 15% were actually used in operations - the Reich could not make up their minds how to use them was part of the problem.

John

The Luftwaffe could, but Hitler disagreed and we all know how THAT went !

The 262 is probably my favourite, then maybe the Stuka for the psychological effect that the dive sirens had on ground troops.

They had a unique sound Jojo

Amazing replicas. Wonder how different the original vintage jet sounded...

I've seen the one in the USAF Museum at Dayton, Ohio.

The museum does authentic restorations but does not fly any of their aircraft. They don't like the idea of dropping and breaking a rare aircraft.

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

They had a unique sound Jojo

G'day Pedro!
I have yet to listen to an original one, the closest I have come is seeing (and hearing) a (flying) downscale model with miniature jet engines. Even that was quite cool..

Originally Posted by JDNSW

and at the time, turbine engines sufficiently powerful to provide takeoff power for an aircraft with a useful fuel and weapon load simply did not exist. By standards even of two or three years later the engines were woefully underpowered (under 2,000lbs staic thrust), unreliable and short lived (overhaul intervals were barely into double digits), and fuel consumption horrendous.
John

It is interesting to read Stanley Hooker's book, "Not Much of an Engineer", Airlife Publishing. His first task, on joining Rolls-Royce in 1938, was to work on the superchargers for Merlins, thus greatly improving their performance, particularly at high altitude.

He subsequently became a leading figure in jet engine design, when Rolls-Royce took on Frank Whittle's work. Whittle's first engine produced 800lbs of thrust. Not much you would think, but when compared to the Merlin in a Spitfire at 375mph, ended up being roughly equivalent! Remember that to convert the Merlin's 1000hp to thrust hp it must be multiplied by the efficiency of the propellor, at that time slightly less than 80%, so 1000bhp became approx 800 thrust hp, and a turbine engine would also work better at high altitude.

Hooker's book is a great read, and gives a graphic account of how jet engines were developed to the monster high bypass turbofans of today.

Cheers,

Lionel