German jet fighter MESSERSCHMITT ME 262 COBI 5881 - World War II 1:48

You know that:

• The development of the aircraft was commissioned to Messerschmitt as early as 1938, which means that German engineers already had a clear idea of a jet-powered machine at that time.
• The first flight took place on 18 April 1941, but still with a piston engine installed in the front fuselage.
• The first jet engine was supplied by BMW. Yes, it's the same company that makes premium cars today.
• The third prototype was already equipped with series-produced Junkers JUNO jet engines with a thrust of 7.4 and later 8.8 kN.
• The 7th prototype received a pressurised cab.
• In total, about 1,400 units were built in various versions.
• Due to the Allied advance, the Third Reich had problems with engine production capacity and therefore by July 1944 only 28 aircraft had been delivered to the Army.
• The biggest weakness of the advanced aircraft was the engines, which had a service life of only 10-20 hours of flight time.
• The front fuselage was manufactured in Protectorate Czechoslovakia by Avia.
• The first aerial combat occurred on 26 July 1944 when a German aviator, Alfred Schreiber called Bubi, claimed the downing of a British Mosquito.
• On Tuesday, 10 April 1945, the largest number of ME 262s were deployed in a single operation against the US 8th Air Army during which 17 Messerschmitts out of 21 were destroyed.
• Several machines were also briefly in the Czechoslovak Army's armament until 1951.
• Great Britain tried feverishly to keep up with the development of jet aircraft with the Gloster Meteor model.
• The technical solutions chosen for the ME 262 provided the technical basis for the next two generations of post-war jet aircraft.
• German pilot Hans Guido Mutke claims to have been the first in aviation history to break the speed of sound with the ME 262, descending from an altitude of 12,000 m at an angle of 40° on 9 April 1945, with his airspeed indicator stuck at a maximum of 870 km/h.
• During the rapid descent, the H. Mutke began to shake and oscillate sideways to the sound of sonic boom.
• Mutke's supersonic speed could not be objectively documented in any way, as its circumstantial evidence was several missing rivets on the airframe.

Technical parameters:

• dimensions: wingspan 12.51 m, length 10.61 m, height 3.85 m
• empty weight 3 800 kg
• maximum take-off weight 7 130 kg
• power unit 2 x Jumo 004 turbojet engine with a thrust of max. 8.83 kN 
• fuel tank capacity 2 490 kg
• maximum speed 870 km/h
• climb rate 20 m/s
• operational range 11 800 m
• range 520 km
• main armament 4 x Rheinmetall-Borsig MK 108 30mm cannon (fired 43.5 kg of ammunition in 3 seconds)
• secondary armament 24 R4M unguided missiles

From the memoirs of French pilot Pierre Clostermann:

"It's a Messerschmitt 262. A beautiful bird - triangular fuselage like a shark's head, small arrow wings, two elongated jet engines... I fire the first salvo. I missed it. I make a correction and fire again, quickly, because he's gaining ground. This time I see two explosions on the fuselage, a third on the wing... An explosion on the starboard turbine, it immediately starts spewing huge plumes of black smoke. The Me-262 continues to fly on one engine. A few minutes later, my engine starts to burn. With regret, I abandon my lost prey and vow to skin the fool who recently wrote in an Air Ministry technical bulletin that the Messerschmitt 262 is not capable of flying on one engine."