Messerschmitt Me 262 (Fighter aircraft/bomber)

[Louis]

The world's first jet-powered fighter aircraft

 

[Gunner]

Hey Louis, excellent pics.
I noticed on the bottom of the 2nd pic flugzeuginfo.net so I went here. Great site.
One of the better parts, I thought, is that it has a list of air museums all over the globe.
What a road trip that would make!

 

[Louis]

# The Me 262 was the first operational fighter jet in history, and while it outmatched Allied aircraft, it couldn't turn the tide of the war.

# On July 18, 1942, the Me 262 flew for the first time, but serial production didn't begin until 1944.

# The Me 262 outclassed virtually everything the Allies could throw at it. Its top speed of 540 mph made it almost untouchable, and its four 30 mm MK-108 cannons, each capable of firing up to 650 rounds a minute, tore up anything they shot at.

# The fighter could also carry 24 R4M air-to-air rockets, which proved to be devastating when fired en masse against tight formations of Allied bombers.

# Over the course of the war, Me 262s are believed to have shot down 542 Allied aircraft while losing only 100 jets.

# Of the 1,400 Me 262s built, fewer than 300 saw combat.

 

[Gunner]

I did a check to see if any are flying today and found....

"A very limited run of reproduction Me262 aircraft was fabricated with exacting standards and nut and bolt analysis of an original Me 262 trainer. Presently there are only three of these Me 262 replicas flying: two in the United States and one in Germany. Thankfully all are powered by General Electric J85 engines and feature additional safety features, such as upgraded brakes and strengthened landing gear. The planes quality and faithfulness to the original is such that the reproductions have met with the approval of the Messerschmitt Foundation in Germany and as such carry werk numbers that pick up where the last wartime produced Me 262 left off, a continuous airframe serial number run with a 50-year production break."

Extraordinary Flight Training Opportunity in a Messerschmitt Me 262

warbirdsnews.com

 

[Louis]

Captured German Me 262 A-2a/U2, variant with a glazed nose for a bombardier. Only 2 prototypes were built. Weimar, Germany, May 1945.