[EDIT: Possible bug...]
First of all, I'd like to point out something odd...
I flew a 262 down to fumes last night and barely made it to the hotpad with 1 minute left (at idle). I didn't notice anything odd until I was reloaded when my entire nose dropped 10-15 degrees just from the weight of the fuel alone. I didn't kind of bounce like most fighters do, my nose just went "THUNK" and dropped heavily (onto the gear strut).
If there's some sort of balance problem (discussed in a moment) this might be an indicator that somehow all the weight is too far forward. This (the weight too far forward) would also explain auto level keeping you in a -8000 fpm descent for 30 seconds after engaging it sometimes.
I was flying around, got bored, no shots, no kills, basically it was a lame fight. I gave up hope and took a semi-HO shot. The target rammed me, orange and white text, and I lost a wingtip outside my left engine.
No other damage. I was about 50% fuel at this time.
The plane was almost unflyable. I could not trim out. If I added contrary roll trim the nose pitched up and I skidded left and right and almost went into a flat spin of sorts. I don't know if I filmed it (not likely). I could use auto level to mostly level out, but you could see the trim sliders going back and forth erratically in auto level mode. Something was seriously up. I tried "stepping on the ball" a bit to keep my flight even and this made things worse! I was flopping about as if on a center of gravity 15 feet beneath the plane, if you can understand how I'm describing it. I could not keep the plane in control without auto mode.
In automode it flew nice and level, but those trim indicators were quite active. I was able to land through the use of auto level and auto speed, but it was a miracle because of how it was flopping.
It wasn't just a roll. It was a skew, a slide/slip/tumble away from the missing wing somehow.
I even took note of the trim positions when in auto, and moved them there manually (I have elevator, aileron, mapped to analog inputs, and used rudder pedals) and it still wouldn't behave at all.
I've lost both wingtips before (G overstress) but never had this happen.
Something may be seriously wonky with the 262 weight balance or CoG or whatever.
