WarSimBox
An airframe waiting for engines
The Me 262’s airframe was ready before its jet engines; it made its first flights with a piston engine in the nose. The slight sweep of its wings was in fact not for aerodynamics but to correct the centre of gravity for engines that turned out heavier than expected. The first flight on jet power came in July 1942.
The nickel and chromium needed for heat-resistant alloys were scarce in Germany. As a result the Jumo 004s usually had to be replaced after a few tens of hours, and if the throttle was opened quickly the engine could catch fire or flame out.
In combat
The Me 262 entered combat in the summer of 1944. How far Hitler’s insistence on also using it as a fast bomber delayed the fighter units is still debated. In the last months of the war Me 262s dealt American bomber formations heavy blows, but they were few, and fuel and experienced pilots were scarce.
Allied pilots could not catch the Me 262 in the air; they hunted it around its airfields, waiting for it while it was slow on take-off and landing.
In WarSimBox
In the game it is an energy fighter and the first jet fighter in the research tree: much faster than the piston aircraft, its four 30 mm cannon tear bombers apart in a single pass. The Jumo 004s respond very slowly to the throttle, and it is vulnerable when slow, on take-off and on landing. With the “Sturmvogel” load it can also carry 2 × 250 kg bombs.
Unlocked in the aircraft tree after researching North American P-51D Mustang and Axial-flow turbojet. Leads on to: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis, Heinkel He 162 A-2 Salamander.
- Top speed
- 871 km/h · 0 m
- Climb
- 24.3 m/s
- Sustained turn
- 24.5 s
- Stall speed
- 209 km/h
These figures come from the game’s flight model (climb, turn and stall at sea level).
Fly it in WarSimBox