Messerschmitt Me 262 VK893
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Messerschmitt Me 262 VK893
The Luftwaffe were the first to produce a jet fighter. The Me 262 began operations in 1944. Able to outrun anything in the air, Me 262’s tore into Allied bombers with impunity. The Allies responded by attacking factories and airfields.
Walter Hughes was the pilot of one of six USAAF Liberator bombers on a raid on Hamburg when attacked by Me 262s. "In a single pass we lost three B-24s in less than 10 seconds." Another said the 30mm cannon shells "ripped a hole big enough for a truck to drive through." (Tail End Charlies", (2004) Nicholl & Rennell)
You know, you’ve captured that great!
Great to read the story behind the craft too.
Looks a good place to visit Ian – was this an unconscious draw towards planes of one sort as the others weren’t flying
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well spotted Bryan!
Safer parked in a museum , planes are.
Must of been pretty gruesome to be on the end of something like this back in those days.
we had Vera Lynn,they could never beat us! fab shot Ian
great photo like how youve taken it
I seem to remember reading somewhere that there would have been many more losses from Me262s if the Luftwaffe hadn’t been running seriously short of fuel by that stage of the war (the army and the Luftwaffe were cutting each others’ throats to get hold of the dwindling stocks), and the Me262s drank up a huge amount every sortie. Is this likely, and has anyone else heard this?
Very nice shot and info Ian~
I think that if the Luftwaffe had had the fuel supply and capacity to keep these birds flying they could have made a big hole in the the 8th Air-force resources. Came into the War to late to be of a threat to the Allies.
30mm shells…whoa.
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You are quite right Don, Me262s had only an hour or so in the air before they had to land to refuel. With Bomber Command and 8th Air Force attacks on fuel supplies and the need for fuel as troops pulled back / counter attacked, supplies were short. As Colin says, fortunately for us the German technological wizardry came too late. Plus the top brass relied on their own intuitive insight into everything so that meant they ignored a lot of advice from the engineers and pilots. Me262s for instance, its role kept changing, which meant new variations being produced and trialed rather than fine tuning one version of the aircraft.