Colin Heaton: The Me 262 Stormbird

The major aircraft designers were not working completely in their own personal vacuums. The technology for jet propulsion was not new; all were aware of the patent filed by Frank Whittle years earlier. Rocketry already had been firmly established when Robert Goddard took the ancient Chinese technology to the next level, and the Germans began applying a liquid fuel component to increase the life span and range of their rockets at Peenemünde on the Baltic. Hitler had given the German people many promises, and he kept all of them. However, he also gave them many prophecies, many of which would fail to emerge—although many would, thus increasing the “Hitler Myth” as stated by eminent historian Ian Kershaw.

The Messerschmitt Me 262 was one such prophecy that was to prove factual, lethal, yet far too little and much too late. Along with other fantastic creations such as the V-1 Buzz Bomb, V-2 rocket, Me 163 Komet rocket fighter, Arado Ar 234 jet bomber, and the HeinkelHe 178 single jet engine and He 280 twin-jet fighter, the Me 262 was eventually accepted and produced as the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter/bomber aircraft. It was perhaps the most revolutionary fighter aircraft of World War II.

With over a dozen major design options, the fighter version bristled with the firepower of up to four 30mm nose-mounted cannons, as well as the ability to carry twenty-four R4M air-to-air rockets, and it was capable of flying 120 miles per hour faster than the North American P-51 Mustang. It was also the only mass-produced German fighter that could contend with the speed of the vaunted de Havilland Mosquito. When a skilled Me 262 pilot had an advantage, anything non-German was a potential victory. German aeronautical engineering and science had created a formidable weapon.

Despite the great promise of being an air superiority fighter, given the heavy hitting power of the weapons array, it was soon to be proven to be a far more effective heavy bomber killer as opposed to a dogfighter. Senior German pilots who were aware of the aircraft, especially those flying on the Western Front, wanted it immediately just for this reason. Adolf Hitler ranted to Reichsmarschall and Luftwaffe Commander in Chief Hermann Göring incessantly for his fighter pilots to earn their pay and decorations by eliminating the Allied bomber threat.

The British Royal Air Force had been bombing German cities since December 1939 and later adopted night bombing; starting in the late spring of 1943, the United States Army Air Corps, primarily the Eighth Air Force heavy bomber squadrons based in the United Kingdom, after a few months of familiarization missions to French targets, started pounding German cities and industry by day.

By 1943, most of the Luftwaffe ’s fighter strength had been spread throughout the Third Reich. The vast majority of fighter units were positioned on the Eastern Front, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, with almost a quarter of these forces spread throughout the Mediterranean from Libya to the Balkans. Only three primary day fighter units were permanently stationed in Western Europe on the English Channel coast: Jagdgeschwader 2 (JG-2) “Richthofen” and JG-26 “Schlageter” were both in France. JG-5 “Eismeer” was spread throughout Norway and Finland, while the growing night fighter units under Wolfgang Falck were scattered all over Europe by the end of 1943. {1}

The Germans were continuously developing new and enhancing existing aircraft designs (as were the Allies). The first major development post-1937 was the introduction of the radial engine Focke-Wulf Fw 190, which was designed by Prof. Kurt Tank and was a great departure from the inline Daimler-Benz–powered, liquid-cooled Messerschmitt Me 109 that had been the tip of the spear during the latter part of the Spanish Civil War and had led Germany to rapid victory during the blitzkrieg by providing air support and establishing air superiority from the first day of the war on September 1, 1939. Hermann Buchner commented on his comparison between the Me 109 and the Fw 190, as well as the Me 262:

“I really felt comfortable in the Me 109, and this was the mainstay fighter. But the Fw 190 was truly a much better fighter. It was more powerful, stronger, built better, and was in its structure able to withstand more damage than a 109. The weapons platform was incredible, and you had a lot more firepower, especially when the A-6, A-8 and F models were built. Later the Dora was built, which was also faster, just as strong, but now had a liquid cooled engine, instead of the radial air-cooled engine.

“I did in fact like the Focke-Wulf better than the Messerschmitt 109 or even the Me 262, as far as reliability. The only real advantage the 262 had was its speed, and the 30mm cannons were very powerful. Other than that, if the Fw 190 had had the speed of a 262 I would have stayed with the Focke-Wulf.” {2}

By the time World War II began, piston-powered fighters had greatly increased in their sturdiness with all-metal construction, survivability, and engine power, and they had almost quadrupled their airspeed since World War I, as technology and science allowed for greater experimentation. World War II became the shortest period in human history that actually produced the most revolutionary technological and scientific developments through absolute necessity.

Germany’s greatest pilots who flew in World War II all started their training in gliders and then graduated into World War I—or recent postwar–era biplane trainers. Ironically, when Adolf Hitler sent Generaloberst Hugo Sperrle and the Condor Legion into Spain to support Francisco Franco, the frontline fighter was in fact the Heinkel He 51 biplane. This was one of the primary training aircraft used during the 1930s. It was not until later that the Me 109C and D models were produced, with the first of these fighters being flown by such future luminaries as Werner Mölders and Günther Lützow. Some of these men who started their careers in biplanes would end their careers—and sometimes their lives—in jets during the most remarkable period in aviation history. Several famous German airmen cross-trained in the jet though did not fly it in combat, but their perspectives are of interest.

Generalmajor Hannes Trautloft, a Spanish Civil War veteran, group leader, Inspector of Day Fighters under Adolf Galland, and fifty-four-victory ace with the Knight’s Cross in World War II, explained what it was like to be a pilot during this period of technological transition, from fabric-covered biplanes to all-metal mono-wing designs:

“It was a very interesting period. I recall that when I started flight school, I had never even seen a mono-wing all-metal aircraft. It was not until the mid-1930s that I first flew in the air races, and I was able to fly in several models. Once I flew the Me 109 D, I knew that I was in the best fighter aircraft in the world at that time, and then the Emil came and the later versions. I also flew the Fw 190 models, which I feel were better, more rugged, wider landing platform, and carried more firepower. This transition from the early biplanes to fast all-metal single-wing fighters was almost like going from riding the bus to driving a fast race car. But, when I flew the Me 262, this was an entirely new universe, absolutely the best experience I ever had in an airplane during the war.” {3}

Major (later Generalleutnant ) Günther Rall, a 275-victory ace with the Knight’s Cross and Oak Leaves and Swords, test flew the Me 262, although never in combat. He had his comments on the new technology: “It was certainly a new dimension. The first time I sat in it, I was most surprised about the silence. If you are sitting in a standard piston-powered aircraft, you have a hell of a lot of noise and static and such, which I did not experience in the Me 262. It was absolutely clear. With radio from the ground they controlled the flight. They gave me my orders, such as ‘Now accelerate your engines, build your rpm.’ It was very clear. Totally clear.