Consider that the jet program was plagued with problems, and that a reliable jet engine wasn't easily produced. In fact the Me262 got sub-par engines in construction. They turned it into a dog and a sitting duck against allied fighters. Had it been built with the more powerful prototype engines it would have been much more capable, but these simply were too hard to manufacture on the scale required, so weaker engines were used.
That's why you have Ta152s, 190D-12s and the like, Do335s, and many other fast movers with props. Jets weren't reliable enough or plentiful enough.
As for "luft '46" -- I tire of most of the fawning over it. Not that you are, but others gush and gush saying that the Germans of WW2 designed the world we see today, that in fact the F22 is based directly on a luft'46 plan! (and other BS like that). Fact of the matter is this: These guys were being arrested if they didn't produce. They were being forced to design. They were sometimes sent to concentration camps if they did poorly (which is certain death, honestly). There was no rest for them. They were spewing out trash left and right, regardless of how retarded the idea was. This (for one) allowed some literally insane ideas, but also meant that they had to figure out basic things.
Things such as: What is the best way to put a jet engine in a plane? Well as you see a lot of the luft'46 designs have a short stubby body and an engine inline in the center.
That does not mean that the F86 or the Mig15 used this design as a starting point. It means that the best, basic design for a light weight fighter is 1 engine (2 were too heavy, and didn't produce enough power - yet) in the centerline (and if you had 2, lost 1, you didn't have horrible handling this way, see P80, mig15 configurations), with a small body and raked wings.
This does NOT mean that the Germans designed all planes with that configuration, as many luft'46 lovers claim (and some shows on "History Channel"), but rather it means that the Germans were practical and realized there was only one simple way to design a jet fighter with the understanding they had at the time. Now Germans were a bit ahead with their jet aircraft design, so they had a (small) headstart on the other powers. The other powers, however, found out the same thing the Germans did and learned the same principles, so they realized the same thing.
It's logic, not mimicry. You tell a man that 2 and 2 is 4 and he might just copy you. You teach a man that 1 and 1 is 2, then ask him what 2 and 2 is, he should say 4, coming to this conclusion on his own. The rest of the world came to their own conclusions, they didn't copy luft'46 designs.
Sorry, off the soapbox now.
