HITLER'S MESSERSCHMITT BLUNDER

Public domain USAF Museum Wikimedia Commons

The first practical jet airplane was the German Me-262, which was placed into service in 1944. As a fighter aircraft, it was light years ahead of all of its competitors and was absolutely lethal against heavy bombers, such as B-17s and B-24s, which had virtually no defense against it due to its high speed and powerful 30 mm cannons and/or rockets. In fact, United States Army Air Force General Carl Spaatz in September of 1944 was considering abandoning all bombing raids over Germany due to the threat posed by this new Messerschmitt. Such a decision could have had a profound negative effect on the prosecution of the war.

American fighter pilots, including ace Chuck Yeager, quickly learned that the only chance they had to destroy an Me-262 was to hover near a German airstrip and nail the jets when they were either on the ground or when they were at a reduced speed during takeoffs and landings. 

Unfortunately for the Germans, and fortunately for the rest of the world, Hitler decreed that only one out of every fifty Me-262s could be employed as a fighter. The rest had to be used as bombers, a role for which they were not nearly as well-suited. As a result, only very few of them ever had an opportunity to wreak havoc on Allied aircraft.

My father, who was in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in Europe during WWII but almost never discussed his experiences there, did describe one time an incident when a Me-262 strafed his convoy. The pilot was so skilled that he put rounds in each vehicle except for the three ambulances in the middle which had red crosses painted on their tops.

Several years ago, the visionary group Legend Flyers manufactured four or five new Me-262s for enthusiasts (very wealthy enthusiasts, as the price per plane probably exceeded $2 million by a wide margin). These were very close duplicates of the WWII product except for the substitution of more reliable landing gear and General Electric J-85 jet engines in place of those based on the original German design. To see one of these aircraft in flight, click here.

A few of the original 1,400+ Me-262s which were built by the Nazis still survive in museums.