Best Jet of the War?

The He-162 was more buildable than the Me-262, since it required only one engine. Since building engines was such a serious problem for Germany, the 262's need for two of them was a real issue. Niether jet could dogfight with a P-51, their value was in making realatively fast high-speed passes on bombers. The He-162 could have done this job just as well as the Me-262.

Two P-80's were flying patrol over Rome in the last months of war in Europe. No enemy aircraft entered their patrol area, and they were under strict orders not to cross the sea for fear of the plane falling into Russian hands. So, this is a combat mission, though I agree it never saw combat. But it is a WWII era jet.

The Meteor never engaged in aireal combat, so is it a legitimate WWII combat aircraft?

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Lunatic

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I dont think so, not with the engine mounted on the top of the fuselage, it would have restricted the pilots view.

[cheddar cheese]

Im positive that the P-80 didnt even see service. From what I heard it was due to set off for Europe but the armistice was called.

The -162 was also extremely unstable and it had no good pilots because only the Hitler youth were availiable to fly it, and they had virtually no training.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes I have read something about that about the 162

[the lancaster kicks ass]

they had only had training in gliders, a jet aircraft is a bit more of a step up............

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

A lot of the early German pilots started the same way, they were members of flying clubs and flew only gliders because after WW1 Germany was not allowed to build an airforce. They did recieve more extensive training though ofcourse at the beginning of the war.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

yes but for the hitler youth pilots there was no inbetween step, they started on gliders then went straight onto the -162...........

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

It was tough. It says a lot for a generation of youth that are willing to do something like that for there country. I am sure they recieved some kind of training though just to fly the plane.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

well yeah but it was in the -162 so it was still in the 162...............

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

that is correct

The He-162 was a decent plane in the hands of an experianced pilot - Germany just didn't have many left by that point in the war. The pilot had to use care about hard manuvers, but this was also true for the 262, though less so.

The Hitler youth would have fared badly in the 262 as well.

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Lunatic

[cheddar cheese]

The design had some clear weaknesses, of course, such as its short endurance and the fact that the position of the engine left the pilot almost completely blind to the vital rear "six" position. Some sources also state that the back-mounted engine made the aircraft logitudinally unstable, rendering any maneuvers that "threw the aircraft around" unsafe.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I believe the engine on the top of the fuselage would probably have been its worst setback as for the untrained pilots I dont think it matters what kind of aircraft they were flying, if you had no experience in combat flying you did not have much of a chance. I am sure there were execptions but not for the most part.

Blind spot to the rear does not matter much if your plane is 100 mph faster than the enemies.

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Lunatic

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes but you have to realize that jet aircraft hardly ever fly at top speeds, they are mostly using there cruising speed, which is significantly lower. A Spitfire or P-51 diving from the rear of a Salamander could have gotten him without the pilot even knowing what hit him.