Colin Heaton: The Me 262 Stormbird

“One other thing was you had to advance the throttles very slowly. If you went too far forward too fast, you might overheat and set the engines on fire. Also, if you were up to 8,000 rpm, or whatever it was, you released the brakes and you were taxiing. Unlike the Bf 109, which had no front wheel and was a tail dragger, the Me 262 had a tricycle landing gear. It was a new sensation, beautiful visibility. You could go down the runway and see straight forward.

“This was, however, also a weak moment for the Me 262. The aircraft at this point was a little bit stiff and slow during landing and takeoff, but fine when coming up to speed gradually. It was absolutely superior to the old aircraft. You know, I never did get to shoot the weapons, because when I had about fifteen to twenty hours I became commander of JG-300, which was equipped with Bf 109s. I only made some training flights, but never flew the jet in combat.” {4}

The highest scoring fighter ace in history, Major (later Oberst ) Erich Alfred Hartmann, with 352 confirmed victories and the Diamonds to his Knight’s Cross, had this to say about the Me 262: “It was really a lovely aircraft, and many advanced features, great power, and a wonderful visibility forward and all around with the canopy. I really was impressed by the speed and performance, but not so enthusiastic about the inability to turn tightly, or dogfight, as in the 109, which I flew through the entire war and loved very much. I was invited to transfer to the defense of Germany and fly it, but I felt a responsibility to my comrades in JG-52.” {5}

Between the wars, the United States, Soviet Union, Italy, Great Britain, and National Socialist Germany had been neck and neck against each other wanting to lead the world in their aircraft designs and developments—with Imperial Japan following close behind the Europeans. Each nation had its stable of engineers and designers, but the global depression meant that nations did not have the liquidity to spend massive amounts of money unless a project was seen to be a good investment with a reasonably rapid return.

Germany was able to take the lead simply because with Germany a dictatorship, Adolf Hitler did not have to worry about congressional or parliamentary restrictions on military expenditures. Although the Soviet Union and Japan were also unencumbered by those political limitations, the political issues in those nations, combined with the great purges initiated by Josef Stalin in the USSR and the limited natural resources of Japan, prevented them from exploiting their potential until much later in the war.

When World War II began in Europe, the Me 262 jet was already in the process of being developed as Geheim Projekt P.1065. The design was presented in April 1939 before the start of World War II. Funding for the jet program continuously suffered for many reasons—the required assets were allocated to other manufacturing areas and many high-ranking officials believed that there was no need for an expensive new aircraft. Many of the “old guard” believed that the war could easily be won with the existing conventional aircraft. It was the new generation of pilots and engineers who looked to the future.

Ernst Heinkel had been working on the concept of a gas turbine engine design since the early 1930s, and when Dr. Hans-Joachim Pabst von Ohain joined his team, following a career at University of Gottingen, he conducted the first successful static operation of his S2 design, powered by hydrogen. Simultaneously, Bayerische Motor Werke (BMW) in Munich was also working on a jet engine program, at first using a centrifugal engine design, but then changing to the axial flow design created by the Bramo works at Spandau. {1}

In 1937, Ohain, along with Adolf Max Müller, had a working prototype, seven years after Sir Frank Whittle patented his own jet engine design. Ohain had won the race to produce the first working jet, mainly because he worked for a government that spared no expense in developing technology, while Whittle was mired in the political squabbling and financial restrictions that Hitler’s Germany did not share.

The company deeply involved in the production of jet fighters was that founded by Dr. Hugo Junkers, an engineer whose firm was building internal combustion aircraft engines before World War I. Junkers also expanded his company to include many aircraft designs, the most famous being the Ju 52, and later the Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber and Ju 88 and Ju 188 series of medium bombers. His company’s great contribution to the jet program would be the first mass-produced jet turbine engines—the Jumos.

In 1938, two engineers named Hans Mauch and Helmut Schelp were working in the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) on the plans for the establishment of an official jet engine propulsion and production research and development team. This was in conjunction with Hans Antz, who was working on various airframe designs. This group of designers also worked with Dr. Alexander Lippisch as well as Prof. Dr. Willi Messerschmitt developing the Me 163 Komet airframe and the Me 262. However, with regard to the proposed Me 262 power-to-weight ratio, and despite all the advanced mathematics and engineering wizardry, the final test would be a flying machine with the combined weight of fuel and a pilot in the cockpit.

Unlike the Me 262, Ar 234, He 280, and other jet designs, the Me 163 used a motor built by the inventor Professor Hellmuth Walter, which burned a hydrogen peroxide, hydrazine, and water mixture as the fuel. Lippisch, a brilliant aeronautical designer, constructed its shape. The Komet reached an average of 623 miles per hour (1,003 kilometers per hour) in a test in 1941, but it had a very limited operational life, although it did have some successes. The fuel would burn out within five to six minutes, although in that time the small “power egg” would have reached its operational altitude of 25,000 to 30,000 feet in two and a half to three minutes and been in the midst of the enemy bombers. The most unique feature of the Me 163 was that more pilots were killed in accidental explosions and leaks due to the volatile fuel than were actually lost in combat.

Messerschmitt GmbH was interested in securing the jet program production contracts, and the appointment of Robert Lusser, the chief of Messerschmitt production, into the program increased the rapid rate of design development. Lusser then had to coordinate the efforts of many companies and design engineers, organizing a workforce that would eventually include a dozen major companies and hundreds of subcontractors.

Messerschmitt’s original design as proposed in April and then submitted in June 1939 had two engines, both comfortably located in each wing root with a traditional tail-wheel landing configuration. The theoretical speed of the new aircraft was anticipated to be approximately 600 miles per hour (900 kilometers per hour), and the company received the order for three of the prototypes. This included the static test airframe, which was the design schematic being developed by Dr. Rudolf Seitz.

Other members of the design team were Waldemar Voigt (with the firm since 1933), Karl Althoff, Walter Eisenmann, Wolfgang Degel, and Richlef Somerus, who was also the chief of the aerodynamic research and testing branch. {2} The initial tests were promising, and the firm had envisioned a multi-roled aircraft, one that could be built to certain specifications as a generic template, while being modified as required in subsequent versions for additional roles that may be required. Messerschmitt knew that it was easier to modify an existing aircraft design for future requirements than it was to design a new aircraft to fit the new role.