Me-262

[Erich]

this still goes back to the mighty what-if. The Luftwaffe had the Me 262 in combat in the summer of 1944 taking on P-38's, Mossies and Spitfires. Granted only on singular missions before Kommando Nowotny really started to be a viable outfit.

[Lightning Guy]

Most of the kills over the 262 were scored directly over its airfields though. The speed advantage the 262 had in the air gave it a certain level of immunity.

[Erich]

early in the conflict of 44 and also towards wars end. yes the defensive program the Luftwaffe initiated for it's airfields was wanting. the 262 turning radius was terrible and P-51 pilots were able to figure this out and close in for the kill.

[Lightning Guy]

I didn't think the solution of using 109s and 190s to cover the airfields was that great either. It seems to be that just took away fighters that could have otherwise been intercepting the bombers.

[Erich]

I think as the Luftwaffe was down to it's last dying hope was that speed and a heavy armament could win the day: "super weapons"

JV 44 had the Fw 190D's and Kommando Nowotny were protected, well sort of by III./JG 54 Dora's which were simply wiped out of the sky by P-51's. that is it. JG 7's airfields had plenty of 2cm Flakvierlings but still was not enough to protect their Me 262's upon landing and taking off. also the bomber units had 2cm weapons and the same results happened on the edges of the fields.............down goes another 262 on fire.........

~E ♠

[kiwimac]

Had the RLM gone with the HE 280 which was available pre-1942 & which was, even then, more manouverable that a FW-190, the results could have been very different.

Kiwimac

[Erich]

somethings we will never know. How about that late war experiment, Gotha flying wing. Funny what has been taken over by the Allies and now some 55 years into the future we are seeing the fruits of the German techs labor. Stealth equipment

[Lightning Guy]

The Gotha Go 229 would have been a match for just about anything flying, planned, or even thought of.

I have heard that Germany actually at one point cancelled everything that couldn't be made available in something like 2 years because they expected to have one the war. Any truth to that?

[Erich]

not sure but the drawing boards had some 25 different desgins some having gone through wooden mock-ups. had the war last another year or 2 we would have some pics of some wild looking swept-back winged a/c, provided the fuels and airfields would have been available

[plan_D]

Straight after the war their technology came into practice; the Ta183 with an extended fuselage and lowered tail plane, with a British Rolls Royce Nene engine became the Mig-15.
The F-86 being very similar only it had lighter armament and a Armstrong-Siddeley Sapphire (Another British) engine in it.

The British had the Canberra (Bomber) flying in 1947 so they must have had some pretty good planes on the drawing board by late war.

[cheddar cheese]

heres one. would the go-229 have been a match for the E.E lightning?

[plan_D]

I don't know the full capabilities of the Go-229 but I'm still going to say the EE Lightning would be untouchable since nothing could match its rate of climb or speed for that matter until the designs in the 70s of which the aircraft came into service in the 80s.
The F.6 Lightning Mach 2.3 at 40,000ft. 2 minutes 30 seconds to 40,000ft and Mach 0.9 (Operational speed and height); Ceiling 60,000ft. Two 30mm Aden cannons, and two Firestreak missiles which had a speed of at least Mach 2 at 40,000ft, warhead of 50lbs and range of 4 miles (low range, I know but this is the 40s).
The Lightning could out run most missiles of that time, nothing could match it.

Now, get back on with the World War 2 discussion.

[Erich]

to get back on the topic of the Me 262. JG 7 is recorded to have scored some 425 victories in it's short career. A fantastic record if actually true. although a major work by author Manfred Boehme was written there are still many unknowns about the missions flown by the Geschwader. I. and III. gruppes were equipped with the Me 262A-1a and the II. gruppe was never really in action but was in effect a paper unit used for a moral booster and propaganada tool against Allied forces. In fact some resources have reported that II.. gruppe was the high cover unit protecting the jets of the other two guppen upon landing and taking off and equipped with the Bf 109G. this is quite incorrect as this the major German jet unit only had field 2cm flak to protect the machines from US P-51's.

so distressed was the Reich higher-archy during the fall and winter of 44-45 that Kurt Welter was tasked with starting a small Kommando of Me 262A-1a's for night fighter duty against the ever high flying Mossie bombers of the LSNF. The Bf 109's had only been partially sucessful and were not able to turn the Mosquito bombers from their nuisance raids upon Berlin. the Me 262 was to help but although victories were scored, again the willfulness of the LSNF endured and continued the raids till April of 45.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the Go-299 would have been an amazing plane, but it would have come to late, what's the point in having a great plane like that if you can bearly fuel it, you also have to remeber the gemmans had many ideas that would have made things akward, but they would all be to late............

[plan_D]

By early 1945 the Germans would have had to have something huge, like the atom bomb. To have any effect on the war. They say the A-10 German ICBM might have ended it but I doubt it.