MiG Eater,
Rarely have I seen a more succinct -- and more accurate -- description of the Me 262's marked shortcomings. While I remain an ardent proponent of the aircraft, it is important for all of us to remember that the Me 262 was by no means a perfect combat aircraft. While the
Schwalbe's potential was clearly in evidence, it was no "magic bullet" as some would have us believe.
In the right hands, we are talking about an absolutely unstoppable airplane; in the hands of a novice, it was a slow-turning target with some frightening vulnerabilities. (I suppose we could make the same case for almost any aircraft.) In my view, the Me 262 was indeed a quantum leap, but it was certainly not without it's troubles.
All of this notwithstanding, the Me 262 was still some 3-5 years further advanced than any contemporary jet designs, so it was very important to the US military (and to the domestic aircraft industry) to bring these machines back to the States for testing. The Me 262 program under Operation LUSTY is described at
www.stormbirds.com/squadron. Other teams collected well known types like the Me 109G-10, Fw 190D-9 and Ta 152.
Westy's observations are essentially correct; however, the legends of the PAX River NAS landfill are really more steeped in the Arado 234's story than in the Me 262. Notwithstanding, the Me 262A-1a now in the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB was salvaged from this very scrap heap in 1957.
The real shocker is that a majority of the German warplanes that were not destined for museums were moved from storage in the old Douglas aircraft factory at Orchard Park, Ill. and used as backfill for the runways of an airfield we now know as Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.
Moving on to the matter of engines ...
Few people seem to realize this, but the original
Jumo 004A was astonishingly reliable, often logging more than 200 hours or more between failures. The main problem with the production engines was that
Junkerswas compelled to assemble the 004B with 1/3 less high grade steel. The predictable result was a temperamental engine that was extremely vulnerable to heat damage and related failures.
Per Bod's posting, the Czech Avia company did assemble a small number of Me 262s under the S-92 (and CS-92 for 2 seaters) designation. As far as we know, one example of each has survived. A photo of one of these S-92s was used as the basis for the album cover for Blue Oyster Cult's "Secret Treaties" album several years ago. How's
that for useless trivia?
That's more than enough of me for now ...
Regards,
Chuck
P.S. The official site for the new-build Me 262s is
www.stormbirds.com/classic -- however, I would certainly recommend taking a look at the avphoto pages MiG Eater provides above.
{Message edited to correct a faulty URL}
[This message has been edited by StormMaster (edited 12-06-1999).]
