German jet fighter MESSERSCHMITT ME 262A-1A COBI 5721 - World War II

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Did you know that:

• the development of the aircraft was commissioned to Messerschmitt as early as 1938, which means that at that time German engineers already had a clear idea of ​​the jet engine?
• the first flight took place on April 18, 1941, but still with a piston engine installed in the front of the fuselage?
• did the first jet engine be supplied by BMW?
• Yes, is it the same company that makes premium cars today?
• the third prototype was already equipped with mass-produced Junkers JUNO jet engines with a thrust of 7.4 and later 8.8 kN?
• 7 prototype got a pressurized cabin?
• in total, about 1,400 pieces were produced under construction 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 handed over to the army?
• the biggest weakness of the advanced aircraft were the engines, whose service life was only 10-20 hours of flight?
• the front part of the fuselage was manufactured in protectorate Czechoslovakia by Avia?
• the first air battle took place on July 26, 1944, when the German pilot Alfred Schreiber called Bubi claimed to have shot down a British Mosquito aircraft?
• on Tuesday, April 10, 1945, the largest number of ME 262s was deployed during a single operation against the US 8th Air Force, during which 17 of the 21 Messerschmittites were destroyed?
• several machines were briefly in the Czechoslovak armament until 1951?
• Has the United Kingdom frantically tried to keep pace with the development of the Gloster Meteor jet?
• did the chosen technical solutions on the ME 262 fighter provide the technical basis for the next two generations of jet post-war aircraft?
• German pilot Hans Guido Mutke claims that with the ME 262 he was the first in the history of aviation to exceed the speed of sound, when on April 9, 1945 he dropped from a height of 12,000 m at an angle of 40 ° and his speedometer stuck at a maximum value of 870 km / h?
• during the rapid descent, H. Mutke's machine began to shake and vibrate to the sides with the sound of a sonic bang?
  Mutke's supersonic speed cannot be objectively documented, because its indirect evidence was a few missing rivets on the airframe?

Technical parameters:

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

Allied pilot about the meeting with ME 262:

"It's Messerschmitt 262. A beautiful bird - a triangular hull like a shark's head, small arrow wings, two elongated jet engines ... I'll fire the first volley. I missed it. on the fuselage, the third on the wing ... An explosion on the right turbine, immediately begins to spew huge plumes of black smoke. The Me-262 continues to fly on one engine. skin from the body of the fool who recently wrote in the technical bulletin of the Ministry of Aviation that the Messerschmitt 262 is not able to fly only one engine. "

From the memories of the French pilot Pierre Clostermann