Me 262

[uberslet]

i was reading a book and i noticed it odd how there wer many different roles of the 262 (bomber/fighter jet) and in AH we only have the fighter. who agrees that they should add a bomb or two to the thing?

[Blooz]

Very few 262's got into operation as fighters and even fewer (very, very few) were used as bombers.

[angelsandair]

well, i think a 100-300 perk fighter that goes like 600 mph is enough, we dont need a fighter bomber like that

[C(Sea)Bass]

234 fills the role very well I think.

[Anaxogoras]

You'd have to have severe mental problems to see the 262 and think "Let's have it carry bombs."  I'm not even going to say the name or else it will sound like an ad hominem.

[FrodeMk3]

KG54 used them as Jabo's. They had racks' to carry 2-500kg. bombs.

You could give the 262 in the game that option, but who would use it (I'm sure the ord's would hurt your top speed some, probably enough to allow you to get caught...)

[Rich46yo]

Uncle Adi himself had an obsession with turning the thing into a bomber. I guess he never looked out the window as the Brit and Yank heavies were turning Germany into an ashtray. Good thing for us too. Had Germany steered the 262 project correctly it could have given us a big problem.

[Spikes]

I thought the bomber versions were only on A2's.

[uberslet]

Originally posted by FrodeMk3
KG54 used them as Jabo's. They had racks' to carry 2-500kg. bombs.

You could give the 262 in the game that option, but who would use it (I'm sure the ord's would hurt your top speed some, probably enough to allow you to get caught...)

i agree wit hthe top speed, cuz wouldnt that create more surface area and drag?

[Motherland]

Originally posted by SpikesX
I thought the bomber versions were only on A2's.

The A2 was the bomber variant, yes.

[MajIssue]

The GA version of the 262 was a DOG by all accounts, and the OKWs (Hitler's) instance that the 262 become a blitz bomber set the program back at least 1 year. It was long enough for the 8th airforce to establish air superiority over occupied Europe! If the 262 had been produced as a pure fighter, according to the original time table, the Huge formations of allied bombers would have been decimated, as any AH buff driver will testify to. 4 or 5 262s will wreak havok on a 4 to 5 box bomber group at altitude, esorted or not!

[MiloMorai]

Originally posted by MajIssue
The GA version of the 262 was a DOG by all accounts, and the OKWs (Hitler's) instance that the 262 become a blitz bomber set the program back at least 1 year.

Where did you get that from? Another one of those WW2 myths. Mtt was already working on racks that could hold bombs or fuel tanks.

One had a better chance surviving in a bomb loaded 262 than in a bomb loaded 190 or 109.

[Lusche]

Originally posted by MajIssue
If the 262 had been produced as a pure fighter, according to the original time table,

...not much would have changed, as the main problem of 262 production & deployment were the engines.
There is a lot of fantasizing going on about whole Geschwaders of 262 tearing apart American bomber units in early 44. But fact is, the engines were simply not ready for mass production. (Besides from a number of other problems a nation faces when trying to press a revolutionary new weapon system into service in times of major crisis)

After the war German industry/military or the public in general went the easy way and blamed Hitler for all & everything that "went wrong"

[MajIssue]

Originally posted by Lusche
...not much would have changed, as the main problem of 262 production & deployment were the engines.
There is a lot of fantasizing going on about whole Geschwaders of 262 tearing apart American bomber units in early 44. But fact is, the engines were simply not ready for mass production. (Besides from a number of other problems a nation faces when trying to press a revolutionary new weapon system into service in times of major crisis)

After the war German industry/military or the public in general went the easy way and blamed Hitler for all & everything that "went wrong"

It's true that there were reliability issues based on the life of fan blades made from 1940's alloys in both BMW and Junkers turbine engines. (NOW THE BUT MONKEY)... But the de-centralization of production, coupled with the innovations in production methods and materials mitigated many (not all) of the effects of the allied efforts to disrupt jet engine production. It is well documented that Hitler personally intervened with the objective of making the 262 a "fast" bomber to support the ground componant of the Whermact (Heer). Speer wrote about this internal conflict in his autobiography "Inside the Third Reich". It is entirely possible that without the disastrous (from the Nazi perspective)  one year delay in producing the best air superiority fighter of the war,  (we're now playing "what if")  the introduction of the 262 into the squadron service at the outset of the American/British stratigic bombing offensive could have turned the tide in the air war over Europe... [Then again if cows had wings we'd all need large metal umbrellas! ] While it's true that it would have been difficult to produce tens of thousands of jet powered aircraft, producing enough to cripple the allied bomber offensive was within the production capacity of the Reich and it's occupied "allies", if that goal were dictated from the top levels of the Nazi regime (which it wasn't). That is a HUGE "what if", as Germany was engaged in a battle to the death with the Soviets, and by early 1943, the tide had turned in the East.

Well tought out point Lusche!

[AquaShrimp]

I have forgotten the name of the bridge, but a major battle took place between U.S. and German forces to capture a bridge over the Rhine.  The Germans tried desperately to destroy it, even sending in 262s to bomb it.  I believe one ground attack 262 was brought down by U.S. AA fire.