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Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow)
Messerschmitt A.G. were asked in 1938 to design a vehicle around the new turbojet engines then being developed by Junkers and BMW. This they completed the following year, and early in 1940 were authorised to construct a small batch of prototypes. For various reasons the early jet engines were unsuited to the aircraft, and official enthusiasm wavered, but in July 1942, with the emergence of Jumo engines, the Me 262 began to show its true promise as a fighter. The RLM, however, remained convinced that they could win the war with conventional fighters and gave the Messerschmitt Me 262 a very low development priority. Despite the success of flight trials and the enthusiasm of his advisers, Hitler refused to sanction quantity production until November 1943, when after a personal demonstration he decided against overwhelming advice to the contrary to go ahead with the type as a bomber. Series production of the Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 as a fighter began in May 1944, but when Hitler discovered this a month or two later he immediately ordered the conversion of those so far built into bombers.
The Messerschmitt Me 262A-2 Sturmvogel, as the bomber version was known, was fitted to carry two 500 kg bombs or one 1000 kg a factor which immediately cut its speed to a point within reach of Allied piston-engined fighters. This typical piece of Hitlerian pig-headedness cost the Luftwaffe valuable months, when they might have been employing the Me 262 as a fighter, in converting it to a role for which it was quite unsuited. Ironically, as the result of the war became more and more certain, Hitler gave the Messerschmitt Me 262 a defensive fighter utter priority over all other aircraft production in Germany; yet of over 1400 produced, probably only 200 or so were actually operational against the Allies. Other variants built or projected included the Messerschmitt Me 262B-1 dual control trainer, the Me262 B-2 night fighter, the Me 262C rocket-boosted fighter and the Me 262D and E rocket-armed bomber interceptors.
Production: 1430 aircrafts.
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- Me 262 in gun camera footage
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- Messerschmitt Me 262 wreck 2
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- Fifth prototype Me 262 V5
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- Me 262 W.Nr. 170059 EKdo262 Leipcheim
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- Me 262 10 W.Nr. 111585
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- Third prototype Me 262 V3
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- Me 262 A-1a white 4 of the Kommando Nowotny
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- Obertraubling the wreckage of Me 262 Wk Nr 500488
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- German fighter jet Me 262, 8th AF gun camera footage 2
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- Me 262 W.Nr. 500210 yellow “17 ” and 112372 “7” Fassburg 1945
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- Me 262 A-2a V555, W.Nr. 110555
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- Third prototype Me 262 V3 1943
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- Me 262 V056 Nachtjager W.Nr. 170056 with FuG218 radar
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- Captured Me 262 A-2a/U2 Weimar-Nohra airfield, Germany 12 May 1945
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- Me 262 yellow 17 of I/JG 7
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- First prototype Me 262 V1 PC+UA
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- Me 262 “Schwalbe” W.Nr. 111711 in USA
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- Me 262 “Schwalbe” V167
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- Abandoned Me 262 Schwalbe 1945
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- Me 262 wrecks 1945
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- Second prototype Me 262 V2 PC+UB
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- Me 262 V5 Stammkennzeichen PC+UE
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- Captured night fighter Me 262 B-1a/U1 red “8” W.Nr. 110305 from NJG11
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- Me 262 A-1a KD+EA W.Nr. 170095
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- Me 262 A-1a white “4” of the Kommando Nowotny 2
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- Me 262 in 8th AF gun camera footage
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- Me 262 wreck in 1945
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- Me 262 W.Nr. 111711, pilot Hans Fay
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- Obertraubling – Me 262 nose section
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- Me 262 A-1a “5” of the JV 44
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- Me 262 assembly line in 1945
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- wings of the Me 262 and Si204
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- A devastated Me262 found at a forest soon after the war’s end
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- Messerschmitt Me 262 wreckage in German junkyard
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- Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe white 9
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- Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe jet fighter
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- Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe fuselage jet fighter
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- abadoned Me 262 fighter
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- Messerschmitt Me262 Innsbruck Austria May 1945
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- Messerschmitt Me 262 white 22 from JV44 – Salzburg Austria May 1945
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- Me262 W.Nr. 111857 of JV44 and Junkers Ju87 Stuka of NSG 9 Hotting, Munich Area 1945
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- Me262B night fighter in Germany 1945
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- Me262 V083 with a 50mm Rheinmetall Mauser BK 5 cannon
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- Me 262 A-2a 111685 9K+FH, autobahn near Munich, color photo
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- A devastated Messerschmitt Me262 “7” found at an airfield soon after the war’s end
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- Me262 fighter in Germany 1945
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- Me262 jet fighter wreck at Erding Field, Germany 1945
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- Messerschmitt Me262 Salzburg Austria
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- Messerschmitt Me262 jet fighter Salzburg Austria
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- Me262A-1a W. Nr. 112358 yellow “8” of JG7 – Germany 1945
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- Me 262 Schwalbe Salzburg 1945
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- Messerschmitt Me262 wreck 1945
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- Jet fighter Me 262 A-1a Schwalbe W.Nr. 170312 near Frankfurt, Germany March 1945
Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow)
Messerschmitt A.G. were asked in 1938 to design a vehicle around the new turbojet engines then being developed by Junkers and BMW. This they completed the following year, and early in 1940 were authorised to construct a small batch of prototypes. For various reasons the early jet engines were unsuited to the aircraft, and official enthusiasm wavered, but in July 1942, with the emergence of Jumo engines, the Me 262 began to show its true promise as a fighter. The RLM, however, remained convinced that they could win the war with conventional fighters and gave the Messerschmitt Me 262 a very low development priority. Despite the success of flight trials and the enthusiasm of his advisers, Hitler refused to sanction quantity production until November 1943, when after a personal demonstration he decided against overwhelming advice to the contrary to go ahead with the type as a bomber. Series production of the Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 as a fighter began in May 1944, but when Hitler discovered this a month or two later he immediately ordered the conversion of those so far built into bombers.
The Messerschmitt Me 262A-2 Sturmvogel, as the bomber version was known, was fitted to carry two 500 kg bombs or one 1000 kg a factor which immediately cut its speed to a point within reach of Allied piston-engined fighters. This typical piece of Hitlerian pig-headedness cost the Luftwaffe valuable months, when they might have been employing the Me 262 as a fighter, in converting it to a role for which it was quite unsuited. Ironically, as the result of the war became more and more certain, Hitler gave the Messerschmitt Me 262 a defensive fighter utter priority over all other aircraft production in Germany; yet of over 1400 produced, probably only 200 or so were actually operational against the Allies. Other variants built or projected included the Messerschmitt Me 262B-1 dual control trainer, the Me262 B-2 night fighter, the Me 262C rocket-boosted fighter and the Me 262D and E rocket-armed bomber interceptors.
Production: 1430 aircrafts.
Bibliography:
- Manfred Jurleit: Strahljager Me 262 Im Einsatz: Alle Geschwader, Gruppen und Kommandos, 1993 (german)
- Dennis R. Jenkins: Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, Warbird Tech Series Volume 6
- Me 262 Varianten – Flugzeug Profile 13, 1991 (german)
- Richard Smith, Eddie J. Creek: ME 262 A-1, Monogram Close-Up 17, 1983
- Marek J. Murawski: Me 262 Units, Kagero Miniatury Lotnicze 33 (polish/english)
- Marek J. Murawski:Me 262 in Combat, Kagero Miniatury Lotnicze 18, (polish/english)
- Messerschmitt Me 262 – MBI, (czech/english)
- Fw 190 & Me 262, Koku-Fan Pictorial History Vol.22 No.07 (japanese/english)
- Messerschmitt Me 262, Aero Series 14
- Manfred Griehl: German Night Fighters in World War II: Ar 234-Do 217-Do 335-Ta 154-He 219-Ju 88-Ju 388-Bf 110-Me 262 Etc., Schiffer Military History 1990
- Manfred Griehl: Messerschmitt Me 262, The Luftwaffe Profile Series 1, Schiffer Military History Book
- David Baker: Messerschmitt Me 262, Crowood Aviation Series 1997
- Hitler’s Jet Plane: The ME 262 Story – Mano Ziegler pilot and designer
- Willy Radinger, Walter Schick: Me 262: Entwicklung, Erprobung und Fertigung des Ersten Einsatzfahigen Dusenjagers der Welt, Aviatic Verlag GmbH 1996, (german)
- Bill Gunston, Peter Gilchrist: Jet Bombers: From the Messerschmitt Me 262 to the Stealth B-2, Osprey 1993
- Dennis R. Jenkins: Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel: Typen und Technik im Detail, 1999
- Mariusz Łukasik: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe: A-1a/B-1a Models, Kagero TopDrawings 2, (polish/english)
- Mantelli – Brown – Kittel – Graf: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, Aircraft of World War II 23
- Colin D. Heaton: The Me 262 Stormbird: From the Pilots Who Flew, Fought, and Survived It
- Hans-Heiri Stapfer: Messerschmitt Me 262 – Walk Around Number 42, Squadron/Signal Publications
- Me 262 Bomber and Reconnaissance Units, Osprey Combat Aircraft 83
- Walter j. Boyne: Messerschmitt Me 262: Arrow to the Future, Schiffer Military/Aviation History
- Messerschmitt Me262, Bunrin-Do Famous Airplanes of the World 2, 1987
- Modelling the Messerschmitt Me 262, Osprey Modelling 12
- Richard Smith: The Messerschmitt Me 262, Aircraft Profile Number 130
- Robert Forsyth, Jim Laurier: Jagdgeschwader 7 Nowotny, Osprey Aviation Elite Units 29
- Robert Forsyth: Jagdverband 44: Squadron of Experten, Osprey Aviation Elite Units 27
- Manfred Boehme: JG 7 The World’s First Jet Fighter Unit 1944/1945, Schiffer Publishing
- Walter Schuck: Luftwaffe Eagle. From the Me109 to the Me262
- Bob Carruthers: The Me. 262 Stormbird Ascending. Luftwaffe in Combat 1939-45
- Richard Smith, Eddie J. Creek: Me 262, Volume One, Two, Three, Four
- Hugh MORGAN: Me262 Stormbird Rising
- Hermann Buchner: Stormbird – Flying Through Fire as a Luftwaffe Ground Attack Pilot and Me262 Ace
- Marek Murawski, Marek Rys: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe vol. I and II, Kagero Monographs 46 and 47
- Dan O’Connell: Messerschmitt Me 262: The Production Log 1941-1945
- Hans-Heiri Stapfer: Messerschmitt Me 262 in action, Squadron/Signal Publications 212
- Brett Green, Benjamin Evans: Stormbird Colors. Construction, Camouflage and Markings of the Me 262, Eagle files
- Robert Peczkowski: Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, Mushroom Yellow Series
- Maciej Goralczyk, Jacek Pasieczny: Last Hope of the Luftwaffe: Me 163, He 162, Me 262, Kagero Mini Topcolors 37
- Hans Busch, Lance C Frickensmith: THE LAST OF THE FEW: An Me.262 Pilot Remembers
- Dan Sharp: Messerschmitt Me 262: Secret Projects and Experimental Prototypes
- Richard A. Franks: Messerchmitt Me 262: A Guide to the Luftwaffe’s First Jet Fighter, Airframe & Miniature 1
- D. Van Wart: Messerschmitt Me. 262: A Pictorial and Design Study Including the Pilot Handbook, American Flight Manuals
- David Myhra: Messerschmitt Me 262: Variations, Proposed Versions & Project Designs Series: Me 262 “A” Series Versions – A-1a Jabo Through A-5a,
- Schiffer Military History Book
- Manfred Griehl: Messerschmitt Me 262 and Its Variants, 2012
- Kev Darling: Messerschmitt Me 262, Warpaint Series 93
- Manfred Bochme: Strahlaufklärer Messerschmitt Me 262. Die Geschichte der Nahaufklärergruppe 6 (german)
- Malcolm V. Lowe: Messerschmitt Me 262 Two-Seat Variants Me 262B-1a, Me 262B-1a/U1, Me 262B-2, Avia CS-92, 4+
- Helmut Erfurth: Vom Original Zum Modell Messerschmitt Me 262
- Robert Forsyth: Battle Over Bavaria: The B-26 Marauder Versus German Jets – April 1945
- David Baker: Messerschmitt Me 262, Osprey Air Vanguard
- Richard Smith, Eddie J. Creek: Jet Planes of the Third Reich