ME 262 flight

[87manche]

Not something you see everyday. Impressive for a 60 yr old aircraft
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7620890100890480&q=262

[RichP]

If I remember correctly wright patterson's museum has one that also is flyable. I seem to remember they retrofitted it with better engines for flight but have the original ones in it for display including the pull starter.
The swallow is one of those beautiful looking planes that to me rates up there with the P3 curtis hawk, P38 lightning, P40 warhawk, P51 mustang and F86 sabre, actually I would also include the B25 Mitchell and B58 Hustler in that list too.. One of the most off the wall ones though was the Gremlin....

[shortxjdoug]

they may have been evil fascists nazis at the time, but scientifically you have to give them credit for actually putting a combat viable jet into service before everyone else did, just damn lucky it took them as long as they did

[IXNAYXJ]

If I remember correctly wright patterson's museum has one that also is flyable. I seem to remember they retrofitted it with better engines for flight but have the original ones in it for display including the pull starter.
The swallow is one of those beautiful looking planes that to me rates up there with the P3 curtis hawk, P38 lightning, P40 warhawk, P51 mustang and F86 sabre, actually I would also include the B25 Mitchell and B58 Hustler in that list too.. One of the most off the wall ones though was the Gremlin....The Flying Heritage Collection near Seattle that's owned by paul Allen (Microsoft employee #2) also has one that's getting close to flying condition. They're also going to test fire a V2 soon, too! Very ambitious projects:

http://flyingheritage.com/TemplateTopImages.aspx?contentId=36

-----Matt-----

P.S. Don't forget the XB-70 in the "Beautiful Planes" list! :D

[XJ88User]

Are you sure it 60 years old?
There was a company updating airframe and making 6 reproductions of the ME262, 2 where done more than 5 years ago and the rest, well I'm not sure how it turned out.
The company some how got permissions to take apart and restore the only one the US had and then make plans and planes from the restoration knowledge.

Here is a company that is currently producing ME 262 reporductions.
http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html

I think the plane is still neat for a bunch of reasons. but i don't think the original ME 262 the US captured is up to flying status.

edit RichP types to fast, but i think the one in WP is restored and capable of flying but never did. i would have to go look it up to verify it.

[Root Moose]

Not something you see everyday. Impressive for a 60 yr old aircraft
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7620890100890480&q=262

WAY cool. Thanks for sharing that.

If I remember correctly wright patterson's museum has one that also is flyable. I seem to remember they retrofitted it with better engines for flight but have the original ones in it for display including the pull starter.
The swallow is one of those beautiful looking planes that to me rates up there with the P3 curtis hawk, P38 lightning, P40 warhawk, P51 mustang and F86 sabre, actually I would also include the B25 Mitchell and B58 Hustler in that list too.. One of the most off the wall ones though was the Gremlin....

Agreed. It is a very pretty plane.

I always wondered if the Me262 suffered from the affects of compressibility the way the P-38 did. The horizontal stabilizer is potentially higher than the expansion fan that would start to form at the leading of the wing but is it high enough? Swept wing reduces? I've never heard any "reports" about this. The fixed it in the P-38 with the J model IIRC - made the wing as dirty as possible with spoilers, slats, flaps, etc. to slow the plane down enough for the fan to collapse. I often wondered how the Lightning would have performed with Merlin engines instead of the Allison. It woke the P-51 up.

Damn, do I ever forget a lot of aero theory. Once upon a time I majored in aerodynamics. Now... it's all gone.

[johnlv6]

I used to play the computer game Aces over Europe...the ME-262 was one of my favorites :). I can only imagine what much have gone through the minds of the allied bomber crews that saw that thing go zooming by.

[Root Moose]

That was a cool game. Wasted lots of time playing that and Aces of the Pacific.

[johnlv6]

That was a cool game. Wasted lots of time playing that and Aces of the Pacific.

The graphics were better on europe from what i remember. Pacific was better in terms of the missions though (i'm a Navy brat/Naval history buff).

[RichP]

I used to play the computer game Aces over Europe...the ME-262 was one of my favorites :). I can only imagine what much have gone through the minds of the allied bomber crews that saw that thing go zooming by.

My wifes uncle was a B24 pilot in the pacific during WWII, he used to hunt japanese ships and submarines, his squadron was the one that would go into the newly built airstrips as the islands were taken. He used to look forward to the missions to get away from the snipers for a few hours.
His squadron also got replacments from europe who talked about the wonder weapons and their first encounters with them, the predominent comment from the gunners who were generally the first to spot them was 'what the $uck was that'... then he mentioned the 'foo fighters' which to this day are still classified as UFO's...

[87manche]

the gentleman above was correct, I did a quick google search and it was a scratch built repro from the stormbirds people.
I remembered hearing of that some time ago, never figured they'd have enough money to finish it. Good for them.

I must agree, the 262 was a pretty aircraft. I always liked the 163 though, purpose built and raw power.

[streetpirate]

personally i like the yb-35

[87manche]

that was an interesting design
Funny how the b-2's dimensions almost mirror those of the b-35. SOmething like within 2 feet.