Title: Hitler's Jet Fighter: Meet the Deadly Me-262 (It Changeed Everything) | The National Interest
Headings: Hitler's Jet Fighter: Meet the Deadly Me-262 (It Changeed Everything)
Hitler's Jet Fighter: Meet the Deadly Me-262 (It Changeed Everything)
“It was Like Being a God”
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Content: Another 25 Allied bombers were destroyed with the loss of only two German jets. The pilots acquitted themselves well that day against overwhelming odds, yet the effort of the German jet fighters was to prove too little too late in the face of relentless Allied assault from the air, land, and sea with their overwhelming war matériel and seemingly endless supply of manpower. “It was Like Being a God”
The Me-262 did have a significant influence on the later stages of the war. It was the world’s first operational turbojet fighter, and it simply outclassed any plane flying at the time. It reportedly could reach speeds of 540 miles per hour with a cruising speed of 460 miles per hour and a range of some 650 miles. The Me 262 had a ceiling of 38,000 feet, and it could climb at 3,940 feet per minute with its two Junkers Jumo engines, which produced 1,980 pounds of thrust apiece. In its standard configuration, the single-seat jet was armed with four 30mm MK-108 cannons and the plane could be modified to carry 1,000 pounds of bombs. It was the development of the feared R4M rockets that sealed the fate of many Allied flyers over Germany when facing the Me-262. “ The rockets gave us extra punch,” said Me-262 pilot Leutnant Klaus Neumann. “ Fire the rockets, do the damage, weaken the tight formation integrity of the bombers, and then pick off the crippled stragglers,” he said.