What would the war have been like if the Me-262 was produced?

Answer 1

"What if" questions are difficult to answer with any certainty.

Based on what I have read, and experiences from some pretty realistic computer games I think I can say this ...

The speed of the Me262 scared the American Airforce pilots, both bombers and fighters. This was mostly in the very early stages of their use.

Bomber pilots felt that the jet would be able to go through their formations so fast that defensive fire would be nearly worthless. In this they were correct.

Fighter pilots feared they could not "dogfight" with the jets, as they would simply leave the fighters "in the dust." Again there was some truth to that thinking as well.

However there is "the other side of the coin."

The 262 approaching the bombers head-on closed at such a high speed that they had little time to aim, and avoid a head-on collision. Approaching from the rear was better, but still the time one could allot to firing was greatly reduced over propeller aircraft. It took a very skilled pilot to be able to hit the target. The ideal attack would be made from above the bomber, shoot and dive below the target and away. This tactic gave the best chance for success, both in the attack and escape.

The use of rockets on the 262 also increased its danger to the bombers, and with practice a pilot could do a great deal of damage for a rearward approach, and safely escape.

So the danger to Bombers was well founded.

A skilled 262 pilot made no attempt to "dogfight" with American escorts. The best tactic was to "stand-off" from the target or targets, then approach at full speed, fly through until you were well away from defensive fire or pursuing fighters, and then turn, build up you speed and make another attack. Using these tactics only a lucky shot would damage or bring down a 262.

Before long the Allies discovered some things. The Jet aircraft required a hard surface runway, and a longer runway than necessary for propeller aircraft. These airfields could be recognized and noted on maps. From then on Allied fighters would wait for the jet aircraft to attempt to take off or land on those fields. In those conditions the 262 (and all jet aircraft) were easy to destroy, especially during take-offs.

Dropping bombs on such runways also caused problems for the jets. If a field was bombed when the jets were in combat they might not have enough fuel to reach a field to land on, and if they landed on a "propeller" airfield they could have a dangerous, if not impossible job of getting into the air again.

So in conclusion I personally don't think the Me262 was a valuable as the FW-190.

One person's opinion, John

Having known a chap who flew both Me262s and FW190s during the war, perhaps you would like to know what I remember him saying:{in his 60's, an exceedingly good pilot but then he would be!!} He thought the Me262 was an excellent plane, very good at interception tasks, but when offered the choice of staying in the Me262 staffel or returning to his old FW190 unit, chose the latter. His reasons were that the FW190 was a fair match for any allied plane, and he knew his comrades would look out for him as he would for them. In a new Me262 staffel he could not count on that support.

First, the Me-262 was "produced" as they did go into production. Many were sent into service so fast that the fuselage was not painted.

I believe the use of Me-262 as a Fighter could have influenced the war to some degree. Hitler ordered them to be used in the fighter-bomber role which was a bad call.

The Allied fighters discovered the Me-262 was weakest during landing and take-off. They tried to attack them while they were on the ground. I'm not positive, but they may have a limited range of operation which placed their bases closer to the front lines and even more vulnerable to ground attacks.

Also the Me-262 had trouble with manuevering at high speeds and would stall easily, this let the American P-51s actually surpass it in speed at times. When the Me-262 went to high altitides it would slow down to the speed of a spitfire of BF-109, which the P-51 easily outflies.

Adolf Galland himself said about the Me-262, which in fact was produced, that the officials should have got to the point to support mass production earlier... furthermore Hitler directly asked Messerschmitt if the jet plane could carry bombs - as already mentionned it was mainly used as fast bomber...

Galland's opinion was that the plane - introduced earlier and directly used in combat against bombers - would have guaranteed break up of bomber formations letting the FW-190 and the Bf-109 finishing off the rest. It's not part of the question - but I doubt if the P-51s really outflew the Kurfürst series of 109s that easily... probably not.