Nazi Aircraft | The First Jet Fighter. Heinkel 280 versus Messerschmitt Me 262 | Full Documentary
Learn About The First Jet Fighter. Heinkel 280, Messerschmitt Me 262, and Heinkel He 162.
Learn what led to the defeat of the Luftwaffe, and the mistakes that prevented these wonder weapons to make a difference at the end of WWII.
Join this channel to support it:
/ @dronescapes
Click the link to watch more aircraft, heroes, and their stories, and missions: / @dronescapes
The Heinkel He 280 was an early turbojet-powered fighter aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. It was the first jet fighter to fly in the world.
The He 280 harnessed the progress made by Hans von Ohain's novel gas turbine propulsion and by Ernst Heinkel's work on the He 178, the first jet-powered aircraft in the world. Heinkel placed great emphasis on research into high-speed flight and on the value of the jet engine; after the He 178 had met with indifference from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM) (the German Reich Aviation Ministry), the company opted to start work on producing a jet fighter during late 1939. Incorporating a pair of turbojets, for greater thrust, these were installed in a mid-wing position. It also had a then-uncommon tricycle undercarriage while the design of the fuselage was largely conventional.
During the summer of 1940, the first prototype airframe was completed; however, it was unable to proceed with powered test flights due to development difficulties with the intended engine, the HeS 8. Thus, it was initially flown as a glider until suitable engines could be made available six months later. The lack of state support protracted engine development, thus setting back work on the He 280; nevertheless, it is believed that the fighter could have been made operational earlier than the competing Messerschmitt Me 262 and offered some advantages over it. On 22 December 1942, a mock dogfight was performed before RLM officials saw the He 280 demonstrate its vastly superior speed over the piston-powered Focke-Wulf Fw 190; shortly thereafter, the RLM finally opted to place an order for 20 pre-production test aircraft to precede a batch of 300 production standard aircraft.
The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe (German: "Swallow") in fighter versions, or Sturmvogel (German: "Storm Bird") in fighter-bomber versions, is a fighter aircraft and fighter-bomber that was designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft.
The design of what would become the Me 262 started in April 1939, before World War II. It made its maiden flight on 18 April 1941 with a piston engine, and its first jet-powered flight on 18 July 1942. Progress was delayed by problems with engines, metallurgy, and interference from Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring and Adolf Hitler. The German leader demanded that the Me 262, conceived as a defensive interceptor, be redesigned as ground-attack/bomber aircraft. The aircraft became operational with the Luftwaffe in mid-1944. The Me 262 was faster and more heavily armed than any Allied fighter, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. The Allies countered by attacking the aircraft on the ground and during takeoff and landing.
One of the most advanced WWII combat aircraft, the Me 262 operated as a light bomber, reconnaissance, and experimental night fighter. The Me 262 proved an effective dogfighter against Allied fighters; German pilots claimed 542 Allied aircraft were shot down, although higher claims have sometimes been made. The aircraft had reliability problems because of strategic materials shortages and design compromises with its Junkers Jumo 004 axial-flow turbojet engines. Late-war Allied attacks on fuel supplies also reduced the aircraft's effectiveness. Armament production within Germany was focused on more easily manufactured aircraft. Ultimately, the Me 262 had little effect on the war because of its late introduction and the small numbers that entered service.
Although German use of the Me 262 ended World War II, the Czechoslovak Air Force operated a small number until 1951. Also, Israel may have used between two and eight Me 262s. These were supposedly built by Avia and supplied covertly, and there have been no official confirmations of their use. The aircraft heavily influenced several prototype designs, such as the Sukhoi Su-9 (1946) and Nakajima Kikka. Many captured Me 262s were studied and flight-tested by the major powers, and influenced the designs of production aircraft such as the North American F-86 Sabre, MiG-15, and Boeing B-47 Stratojet. Several aircraft have survived on static display in museums. Some privately built flying reproductions have also been produced; these are usually powered by modern General Electric CJ610 engines.
#Me262 #He280 #aircraft
Join this channel: kzhead.info/tools/TTqBgYdkmFogITlPDM0M4A.htmljoin Click the link to watch more aircraft, heroes, and their stories, and missions: www.youtube.com/@Dronescapes IG: instagram.com/dronescapesvideos/ TWITTER (X): tinyurl.com/m86k2ypf
Excellent work! It's been a very long time I haven't learned anything new about WW2 in documentaries. I also appreciate that you are not trying to constrain the video in a short-ish length, avoiding compromises.
The unreliability and long development time needed for the early jet engines was the primary reason for the late introduction of jet fighters by Germany. The BMW 003 was just more complex than the Ju 004 and so it took longer. The Ju 004 went through a long development cycle as well but it hit a last minute hitch that delayed it by as much as 4-6 months. When they began operating the ME 262 at various alritudes and speeds they began having unexplained turbine blade failures. It took a couple of months before they brought back their vibration specialist Max Bentele. He figured out that at certain operating speeds the resonant frequency of the turbine blades was the same and so it set up a destructive vibration in the blade assembly. He changed the angle of the blades and shortened them and lowered the max rpms slightly to solve the problem. One of the great what ifs is the Heinkel HeS 030. It was one of 2 engines that Heinkel was working on at the same time. It was canceled by Helmut Schelp in October 1942 when they had just managed to get it running at full power in bench tests. He decided that since there were already 2 engines so close to being ready that Heinkel should go ahead and begin development on a more powerful type 2 engine that would enable single engine jet fighters. Of course he didn't know that they would need another 18-24 months before either type entered production. The HeS 030 had adjusrable turbine blades for different operating speeds so it might have avoided the vibration problems. It also had power output between the BMW and the Jumo. But it weighed 860 lbs. Dramatically less than either one of the others so it would have required much less strategic metals to build. But if they were still able to use some nickel and chrome they might have had a longer operating life than the jumo.
Not only those metals but vanadium aswell who becoming hard to find inside occupied Europe
Happy Monday,Mike! Thank you again for another great video.
The main issue with the the various jet fighter projects is that the jet engines were totally unreliably and even at the end of the war only good for maybe 10 hours of operation - depending on sources. So, it really doesn't matter if Hitler or anybody else wanted to produce the jets as fighter bombers or helicopters, the jet engines of the time weren't ready for prime time. At the end of the war the allies found hundred of Me-262s and other jets that were otherwise complete but awaiting for their jet engines. Poor metallurgy and slave labor is never a winning combination.
..meh..the aircraft was designed for a 30 minute engine swap out time. They knew it was necessary after 20 hours of operation and so had plenty of spares. What they didn't have were pilots and fuel.
Nonsense- the allied crews of 542 (confirmed) and 746 (unconfirmed) Me-262 kills would differ.
Must be nice to be so superior. Were you there?
Even at 20 hours of run time, nobody had enough engines to replace and remanufacturer for an extended time frame... with all the issues Germany had with manufacturing, they may have had enough engines for the planes already built, but they sure didn't have enough to replace engines every 20 hours or less
Man the KZhead comment sections are just people arguing 😂
Thank you so much for that fantastic video 🙂🙂🙂 I've always been fascinated by early jets and your video showed me things I had never heard of, such as the Heinkel HE-176, and it also gave me a great insight on what was going on in people's heads back then, especially in Germany and in the UK and how it affected the development of military jets... Great work 👍👍👍
🙏👍
Brilliantly put together
This was awesome, and intriguing.🙏💜
Hard to have a “short war” when you keep accumulating new enemies and finally add the greatest industrial power on earth to the list.
Well, they were right. It shortened the war.
Jews bad
Scary to think what might have happened if they'd played their cards right.. I think eventually, they were going to lose no matter what as the US was supplying Britain and the Germans had to stop it, which would obviously piss the US off and eventually draw us into the war no matter what If they'd waited to mess with Russia, maybe they'd have had better luck, but I dont know a whole lot about their war with Russia besides that they started the war with an agreement, then Germany flipped around on them
Good content. I would find shifting bank and forth between 4:3 and wider formats much less jarring than seeing old 4:3 footage stretched. The misshapen airplanes are disturbing.
Nothing about banks
Just one quick technical note about the engines on the He 177. The DB 606 power system was made up of two DB 601 engines mounted side by side, not in tandem as mentioned in the video. There was a common gear housing that connected the front ends of the two DB 601 crankcases, that drove a single propeller shaft.
I know that a 'Tandem' bicycle has one rider behind the other, however if you look more closely into the use of the word 'tandem' it means 'together' often 'side by side', it is the 'together' bit which gained the double bicycle it's name & not the fact that the riders are 'one behind the other'!
Thanks for the really interesting video. It's fascinating to hear about these developments that were going on, and the decisions that were made. On a slightly less positive note, having gone to all this effort to produce such a great video, I find it a bit surprising that the narrator didn't learn how to pronounce some of the German words, e.g. Flugzeugwerk.
Very engaging video. Would you believe that as a young sailor in the 1969 USN I was assigned to a squadron flying the Grumman F9F-8 Cougar which was powered by a Pratt & Whitney J48-P-8 centrifugal-flow turbojet engine. The first practical type of jet engine was still flying then.
The engines of the He-177 weren't tandem, they were side by side.
Thanks for making that point.
A simple error.
excellent story....love that Me 262 and so does Capt. Eric "winkle" Brown- he knows- the delay was the engines, not the famous Hitler fighter bomber request BTW.
Great program
In my opinion a very good summary of this topic - great job
An excellent documentary in general DroneScape, the film clips from the relevant experts are perfect and so is the mix of still photos with film images. This post is just as good as anything from Military Channel or Smithsonian, if not better.
My favorite British aircraft of the war is hands down for me the Bristol Beaufighter, "Whispering Death", the same name given to the Corsair fighter, with it's 4- 20mm Cannons it was a terror at ground attack and Commercial Shipping, along with converted A-20's & B-25's they ate Japan a New Metaphoric *utt-Hole
Corsair was whistling death, not whispering.
@@davidkristyhaan3178 yes, you are correct. Whatever their names they were hell on the IJN.
Not on topic but I actually agree.
I knew a gentleman who was still flying in the early 2000s and owned his own airport. He was in the USAAF during WWII, but flew Beaufighter night fighters lent by the RAF. In later '44 or early '45 his group received enough of the new P-61Black Widows to equip one squadron, and the crews were mostly picked from amongst the experienced Beaufighter personnel. He said that the crews who were sent to the Black Widow squadron were considered to have drawn the short straw. He loved his Beaufighters!
Great video
Thanks for the visit
REMARKABLE WWII JET HISTORY. NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE AND I CONSIDER MYSELF JET LITERATE FOR THE PERIOD
In my old opinion the war in the east was the tyranny of distance. If your logistics in the east are forced to be based on railways for heavy & bulk movements of troops & materials then your options become tied to available infrastructures. Possibly one of the most valuable exports by the west to Russia besides the desperately needed food was reliable trucks. Doesn't sound as important as tanks & artillery but transport from railway heads to the front sectors becomes absolutely critical. If you look at the early war maps in the east you can see the correlation of railways to the front.
The Ostfront is a glaring example of what happens when you gamble the fate of your whole nation on your Plan "A". Hitler's plan always assumed a short war because that was the only type Germany was capable of winning. The Germans had undertaken long and thorough analysis of why they lost the first world war and how they could win any future war; and the necessity for a short war was their main conclusion. There had to be time for between campaigns for the German army to refit and train the troops and refit weapons and equipment, and if such a "breathing space" was forthcoming, Germany could in theory beat any opponent, even the Soviet Union. The other conclusion was that war on more than one front was a guaranty for disaster But Hitler ordered Barbarossa - despite knowing he was leaving a powerful enemy (Britain) in his rear. He gambled that the USA would stay neutral long enough for the U-boats to somehow finish off the British - which of course never came about. And when the tide turned at Stalingrad in 1943, Hitler had no Plan "B" -
Regarding the topic: lack of coordination between Kriedsmarine & Luftwaffe, considering enigma compromised, might hv been the reason for LW success.
I have for so long been impressed by the pullstart 2 stroke starter engines on the me 262 ! museum dude shod me ! Cooleest !
He shod you or showed you
It's this inability to work together because of egotistical concerns is also part of what doomed Japan. Japan was even worse to the point where members of the Army and Naval forces wouldn't even Salute each other. I think it's arguable that the Kreigs Marine had some of the more competent and professional of all the various upper war staff's but was the most ignored, itself was seen too little, too late as a war winner, or at least if concentrated in 1939/40 could have made Britain sue for peace. Ya'y for our side
The war came 5yrs too early for the Kriegsmarine. Hitler promised them it wouldn't happen till 1945. Lead time is actually years to build ships normally so Admiral Raeder was caught out with a sub optimal fleet. The best solution was the accelerated U boat production of the type 7c which made the best use of resources at the time.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson A.F.B. outside Dayton, Ohio has a 262 in pristine condition, I've spent many hours in the past just looking at it from every angle, it was an incredible aircraft in an Incredible Time. Obviously if Germany could have perfected it early and in force it would have ate us alive.
The truth is that even though the Germans would have made an impact this would have only prompted the Allies to speed up development of their jets like the meteor and P59 and P80
@@omartorres5688 of course, that why I don't like "What-If's"
@@omartorres5688 Well, at least if Britain had sped up it's jet program during the war to counter German jets, they would have had a valid reason to share the engine tech with the Soviets as allies (of sorts), instead of just handing it over postwar on the condition that "it would not be used for military purposes". "OK, ummm MIG 15 not for war, no worry!"
Not really as they have beaten the jet forces simply at waiting their landings because it need to be on steady path before and weren't able to put throttle as fast it could be for avoiding airports straffing by mustangs and Tempests
550 mph for the 262? No one managed it. Only the manufacturers said that. The pilots were told not to go over 450 mph because of handling problems above that speed. 262 was only a few mph faster than the Spitfire Mk XIV in level flight.
And that fight would be overr quickly, seeing as the Spitfire would have the advantages of acceleration and maneuverability.
you negleted to mention the De Haverland Vampire .which first flew in 43 although not put into service till later45 .
Fascinating stuff. Logistics isn't sexy, but war leaders ignore it at their peril.
There was a book in the college library about Engines. It went through the history of piston engines. I think the first one was a single cylinder engine but it took the reader through the various developments, never losing the focus on the power developed by a turning shaft. Charging the cylinder with extra air to allow a smaller cylinder develop higher power was covered. The last example discussed was the multi banks of radial cylinders which powered the B-29. It had turbines in the exhaust to drive a shaft compressing the air going to the cylinders. It was then that I realised that the next step was to remove the pistons and the crankshaft and simply draw air into the empty cylinders, spray fuel and as it rushed out it would turn one turbine which would run the compressor. The rest of the burn expanding gas would, if pointed backwards, push the aircraft forward. To be led to that conclusion, it must be a good book.
Jets don't fly by thrust they suck the jet forward
@@bluesky6985 On the other hand, as a greater weight of gas exists the aircraft at a higher speed you can use the mass and velocity product to show where and by how much the aircraft is moved using the classical Newton Equation.
@@20chocsaday I guess
@@20chocsaday Have you ever watched the jet fuel hoax documentary.
Where can I get this version of the theme tune.
Essentially, poor planning and short sightedness led to the ill preparedness of the Luftwaffe to make the best choices for its political ambitions. The Horton Brothers designed and built the first true stealth bomber for the Third Reich while they were trying to iron out the wrinkles in the He 177. Certain Italian fighters using German engines outshined the Bf 109, yet Goring refused to grant the Italians a seat in the Luftwaffe and chose to continue producing the Messerschmitt, in spite of its short range limited service ceiling because he prioritized quantity over quality. Every decision made by the high command was geared towards short term gratification. 😢
And kick backs
... The HO 229 had zero stealth characteristics. Old wives tale.
''fabric gave way to steel'' Is that poetic? Because it was of course giving way to duralumin or aluminium alloy.
The Luftwaffe in 1943 was far from being a beaten or spent force. They took a really heavy beating over Sicily, but they still ruled the skies over Western Europe DAY & NIGHT and they shot down Russians left, right and centre. The writing was on the wall, but the downfall over Europe only started in 1944 with long range escorts.
Hitler was no stranger to irony. He forced the French to sign the Armistice in the same rail car that Germany signed the Versailles Treaty.
The V1 was not a jet, but a cruise missile with a Staustrahltriebwerk. So the the Me 262 WAS the first jet in any honest meaning of the word.
The Gloster Meteor entered service before the Me 262.
@@georgebarnes8163 Yes, it was the first operational jet. That means deployed for combat with properly trained pilots and ground crew with spare parts.
With all those comments about the 20 hour engines, and how there were not enough replacements, people forget ONE thing: The combat piston engines of the time were charged to the max, and also needed strip-downs or outright rebuilds after about 20 hours, believe it or not! ALL combat and transport aircraft in all air-forces needed rebuilds or new engines after just a few missions. Even after WW2, when transcontinental and transoceanic flights became commercial routine, the old piston engines lasted no more than a couple of hundred hours, before a rebuild was required, so legendary airliners like the Lockheed Constellation and Super-Constellation could only make about ten Atlantic crossings (ONE way) and then needed a new or rebuilt engine set. The first generation jet engines of choice for longevity ended up being the radial flow units, which were less efficient due to their bulk and thus added drag. When metallurgy caught up with the demands of axial units, things improved, and by the fifties, axial flow jet engines were superior in live-span to high performance piston units. Just due to the maintenance requirements alone, frequent air-travel with classic piston power would still be for the rich and famous only.
I believe the jet engines then had a shelf life of twenty four hours and twelve hours was more typical. Overheating was always an issue and the metals used were inefficient. Titanium wasn't available
Around 10 hours between overhauls, and around 25 before being scrapped. Pretty appalling. Whittle’s turbojet,was indeed less powerful, but had over 100 hours between overhauls. It was not a coincidence that Whittle in 1929 tried to find a solution to go around the axial compressor. He knew very well what a nightmare it would be to develop one, which is the major mistake that the German companies working on the turbojet made. The axial turbojet became reliable around 1955, and it was the British one, not the German. Had Britain supported Whittle in 1929, they would have had a perfectly reliable turbojet by the beginning of the war, which would have put them years ahead of Germany. Do not forget that in the 50s the Soviets discarded the German Jumo engines in favor of Whittle/Rolls Royce turbojets. The German engines were still over engineered, unreliable, and short lived. Whittle’s centrifugal turbojet powered the formidable MiG 15, which proved to be a nightmare for quite a while in Korea for the other side. Whittle was a true visionary genius, who found roadblocks at every step, the Germans just made the wrong choice at the wrong time, and Britain, in general, was smart enough not to waste resources, at the time, in developing an axial turbojet, which had been theorized since 1926 by Whittle’s nemesis, the very person that delayed his work by 5 years, Mr. Griffith.
Frank Whittle first attempted patents for jets in the late 20s early 30s !? But had to modify his ideas as there were earlier axle flow patents French ! , etc not practical with materials then available. So he modified to centrifugal! As this was practical with what was available to him!
To be more precise, he presented his idea to the air ministry in 1929. his idea was examined by Mr. Griffith, who wrote an important paper about axial compressor in 1926. Griffith ridiculed, and rejected Whittle's concept, but he went ahead and patented it. He ditched an axial option precisely because it was too complex to develop at the time, and potentially too fragile, despite the advantages in performance. It turns out he was absolutely right, as despite all the effort of 3 German companies, their axial turbojet was still unreliable, fragile, hard to manage, and had a horrible life-span, even at the very end of the war, when after years of R&D it finally became operational. i honestly never heard about Sir Frank Whittle being concerned about any French patent of sort. His motives for going with the centrifugal turbojet were mostly practical, and strategically perfect at the time. Unfortunately the British government ignored him for most of the 30s. As for Griffith, perhaps the biggest culprit of his project being delayed by years, perhaps jealousy was a factor. He most likely cited a (false) mistake in Whittle's calculations, as one of the reasons to reject his project. At best it was a conflict of interest. Had Griffith's decision not delayed Whittle's work for years, Britain would have had a working turbojet in 1934/35, and very likely a jet aircraft by the beginning of the war, one that unlike the German engine, would have been very reliable, easy to develop, and with a pretty good life-span. It would not have been the best in performance, but given what that engine did later in the MiG-15, fitted in the right aircraft, it would have been an exceptional one at the time. Obviously with time the axial turbojet surpassed the centrifugal turbojet, but it took a decade after the end of the war to see the first good axial turbojets, and no, they were not German, in fact the Soviets discarded the Jumo engine for the MiG, as it was still unreliable, fragile, etc.
@@Dronescapes more precise would include that he applied for patent and found he he couldn’t because of existing patients from 1921’ ? French!? In mid 20s to 1927’ so had to work around that , as a individual person, with very limited finance . Which definitely slows anything he could do.
Can you be specific? I have never heard of Whittle having any kind of problem with his patent. You need to explain what you are referring to: names, circumstances, etc. Where did you read about this? If you are referring to Maxime Guillaume, that engine was never built, and it was an axial flow engine. I don't recall Whittle even being aware of Guillaume. his decision to ditch the axial compressor was practical and strategic. Are you suggesting that perhaps Von Ohain cheated Guillaume's patent? By the way, if that is the Frech you are mentioning, you should look at the drawings...That is hardly a turbojet, in fact, it was never built.
Men like Udet and Goring came out of an era of biplane piston engine fighters. They would not have known the full potential of this novel, though mechanically troublesome wonder weapon. Once German pilots came to grips with this new fighter, they used them effectively. It was just too little too late.
Thank God for Nazi hubris. With Hitler & other wacko's in power the Germans were hamstrung by loonies in power.
The MESSERschmitt 262... The most beautiful aircraft I've ever seen.... NO Aitch in 'Messer' 😧
I think it is ugly, but there you go.
The Meteor is really ugly. Most German aircraft were visually better designs than the Allied aircraft. I'll make an exception for the Catalina, Spitfire and P-38 Lightning.@@johnburns4017
The first American jet plane had a British engine. There were *five* turbojet engines in the UK under R&D in WW2: *1)* *Centrifugal,* by Whittle (Rover); *2)* *Centrifugal,* by Frank Halford (DeHaviland); *3)* *Axial-flow,* by Metro-Vick; *4)* *Axial-flow* by Griffiths (Rolls Royce); *5)* *Axial flow compressor, with reverse flow combustion chambers.* The ASX by Armstrong Siddley; Metro-Vick sold their jet engine division to Armstrong Siddley. The Metro-Vick engine transpired into the post war Sapphire. Most American engines in the 1940s/50s were of UK design, many made under licence. The US licensed the: J-42 (RR Nene) and J-48 (RR Tay), being virtually identical to the British engines. US aircraft used licensed British engines powering the: P-59, P-80, T-33, F9F Panther, F9F-6 Cougar, FJ Fury 3 and 4, Martin B-57 Canberra, F-94 Starfire, A4 Skyhawk and the A7 Corsair. The US General Electric J-47 turbojet was developed by General Electric in conjunction with Metropolitan Vickers of the UK, who had already developed a nine-stage axial-flow compressor engine licensing the design to Allison in 1944 for the earlier J-35 engine, first flying in May 1948. The centrifugal Rolls Royce Nene is one of the highest production jet engines in history with over 50,000 built.
Wrong, the first one had an English made engine. As for the Mustang it was designed by a German, built after English specifications, and fitted with an English made Rolls Royce engine, the Merlin.
@@eriklarsson3188 The Mustang was design in the British AIr Ministry's office in NYC over three months with Air Ministry engineers and a North American team headed by a Mr Attwood. It was a British plane made in an American factory. As British setup tank factories in the USA and also shipyards to make their Liberty ship. The British used idle US industry ending their soup lines.
@@johnburns4017 It was an *English plane built after *English specifications and designed by a *German, fitted with an *English made *Rolls Royce engine. The Scots and the Welsh and the Northern Irish had nothing to do with it, hence not British (Credit where credit is due). None of those countries have an aircraft industry, let alone a car industry, or a motorcycle industry. England does and or did back in the day. Oh, Triumph by the way, was started by a German who immigrated to England. But I digress.
@@eriklarsson3188 You are very confused.
@@johnburns4017 Sounds more like projection on your part. Root cause, you not understanding the difference between British, English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish. One (British) carries no racial, ethnic or cultural meaning, whereas the other four does. You know, it's like American. It means nothing. Anyone can become American just as anyone can become British. Its a globalist/colonialist construct that's all.
Interesting and informative. Excellent photography job enabling viewers to better understand what/whom the orator was describing. Professional class A research project. Special thanks to guest speakers ( dr myhra/capt Brown ) sharing personal technical information. Making this documentary more authentic and possible. Of course the disillusioned/arrogant Hitler/Goring had little if any interest in rocket 🚀 propelled aircrafts. By the time to ME 262jets were ready for production/service. Lack of fuel & experienced pilots to fly them. To use them as stuka style bombers was insanity with allied bombers arriving night 🌙 and day. Just leave to chaotic Berlin to make absurd decisions. Fortunately for the allies. German air force ace General Galland was correct. The ME -262 was a little too late to change the final out come of the war for Germany.
It’s so interesting that the UK jests look like the sorts of aircraft seen for decades to come, yet the German jet fighter designs vanish at the close of the war (swept wings remain obviously). The Sabre design looks closer to the Meteor than the ME 260. Pity, because who doesn’t love that shark-styling? 🤩
I'm probably the only British person who actually likes German Second World War bombers, especially the He III and Ju87, gorgeous looking planes!
Great, but stop stretching old aspect ratio film to fit the widescreen. Goering was fat enough without being stretched horizontally. Wheels should be round.
Capt. Roscoe Brown (Tuskeegee Airman) was the first man to shoot down a jet with his P51D. He caught the jet while diving. Word spread on how to take them down and immediately Germany lost the edge. Because Capt Brown was black, he was never given the accolades he deserved. He passed away a few years ago never being acknowledged for his tremendous contribution to ending to war.
Source? It would immensely help if you could elaborate with some historical facts.
What a great airplane. This is truly the grandfather of all jet fighters today. By 1945, the US was replacing their air assets at a rate faster than they were downed. Also the jet engines of the 262 required complete engine replacement every 10-20 hours or so. I believe there were not too many of these engines around. Coupled by severe lack of fuel and trained pilots, the writing was on the wall for the Germany. Brilliant design let down by unfavourable circumstances.
With all due respect, [0:56] a quantum jump isn't really much of a big leap.
Admirável a ciência Alemã! Não venceu por falta de materias primas. Por essa rasão que investiram tudo em direção a URSS. Foram precursores dos misseis inter continentais também (V1,V2).
"A quantum leap"...
Some of the "jet fuel" they used was just as dangerous to the pilots and crews. Using 2 different trucks to fuel the planes becuse the it was highly combustible outside of the aircraft didnt help either.
I was told by someone who could be believed,that at the end of the war,some German fighter pilots had so few training,that they were afraid to take off,because they could not handle those sophisticated fighters,with such a powerful torque at take off.
It was one of the lethal flaws of those terrible Jumo engines. Managing power required skills, otherwise it could flame-out. That is one of the many reasons why nobody really cared about developing those German engines after the war, and they eventually vanished into oblivion, where they belonged since day one. The Me 262 airframe was excellent, but the heart of the jet was quite tragic, despite 6 long years of development, and companies like Junkers, BMW, and Heinkel working on it. All in all is was quite a failure which is still, wrongfully, being hailed as a success. Most people that know a bit more will try to justify their failure with materials scarcity, but the issues were multiple. They should have developed, as the perfect interim turbojet, Whittle’s solution (the inventor of the turbojet), which they had full access to before they started their turbojet program, but instead they embarked in an impossible project, smartly discarded by Whittle as it would have required too long to develop. Germans were lucky that Britain did not care much about turbojets, or that Whittle was delayed by people with clear conflict of interest, or plain stupidity, otherwise on top of building the first working jet engine, Britain would have also had a jet aircraft ages before the Germans, and most importantly powered by the perfect engine for the time, and in the perfect country try, the one fighting psychotic Nazis.
@@Dronescapes Thanks a lot for those very accurate details which are à proof of an excellent knowledge of the topic .
Heinkel 280 and or Me 262 had 2(two) seats ??
You seem to have omitted the Meteor.
To summon it: As often it was arrogance that came to haunt the arrogant in the end... and rightfully so. If I look around in Germany now I must say, again nothing learned...
Composit material is at times Plywood or carbon composite !
What caused the Luftwaffe to fail? It was outnumbered fighting 3 major military nations, Britain, Russia and USA.
All german armaments suffered from this over-competative system. For another example look at the vehicle types that continued to be produced after becoming obsolete and the failure of leadership in not rationalising production to one or two types ( like the t34/85 and JS series) must have made for an absolute logistical nightmare.
I'm impressed by your knowledge! Have you ever thought converting the meteor to electronic fuel injection and spark to get its true potential? The idea of a fuel injected Merlin always fascinated me as an engineer!
I am so happy Herman Goering and other non Jet believers didnt get going into production till late on the war.
The 262 was simply far superior aerodynamically to the Heinkel 280. With its speed and airframe splitting canon, it would be a decade before its performance was bettered. You end by saying, 'if the HE280 was developed earlier...'' Of course the same and more could be said for Whittle. If they had listened to him and protected his patents, they may have entered the war with a jet fighter and the Germans having nothing. I believe the Whittle patents were seen by O'Hain in the libraries of Berlin, where they most certainly were scrutinised by all interested. Whittle was left to develop his engine in a shed.
"the third jet powered aircraft", both the me262 and He 280 used impeller compressed technologies, the Fi 103 (VI Vergultungswaffen Eins) a simple but ultimately dead end technology although sometimes posited for use today in hyperspeed near space planes.
Very good documentary. As a free American born man i have to say im glad the futuristic jet aircraft came in too late in world war 2 God works in mysterious ways for all the ww2 veterans thank you so so much for your service!!!
The RAF Captain Eric Brown at the beginning, is still possessing a sharp intellect even with being of advanced age! And these are the kinds of men that won the war for the allies. Without men like him we might all be speaking German, right about now -
What a great Program! Thank you all from down under in the South Island where people learned to fly to Top Dress the paddocks and hill country, drop rabbit poison, hunt deer, in some cases this is how kids got to school !
An interesting conclusion 4 the upcomming academic year. What happend ar the end of WW2 to warriors, planners, organisers and cmmn med men? Were triald&executed commited suicide or jailed. What happened to rocket aviation physics maths scientist? In USSR were restricted to dev cntres but well provided. In US only 4 time of rsearch, surveilled after. But worked 4 NASA Disney and Hollywood. That kind of evaluates fields of expertise. Despite circumstances.
If speed was the determining factor of the best allied fighter,,,,,,then the P51H had the Spit by 40 MPH. Plus, once again the Mustang had the Spit in range too! Though the H never saw combat,,,it was in theater. Ready to fight.
23:03 Wilhelm scream!
Voughts F4U Corsair had a top speed of 446 mph...
. TY☺
When discussing it jet engine theory you have to take your audience into consideration your audience. I’ve found that substituting intake, compression, combustion and exhaust with Suck, Squeeze, Bang and Blow can be very rewarding.
Introducing the jet earlier would maybe prolong the war but Germany would have still lost. They allies also didn't push jets .....because they didn't need to but they could have pushed jet fighters much faster than Germany could ever hope to.
I agree. Had they embraced Whittle’s turbojet project in 1929, they would have had a proper jet engine by the beginning of the war. He was delayed by a good 5 years, and when he restarted working on his project independently in 1934, he did so with almost no money, yet he had a working turbojet in April 1937. 5 long years of delays, and no money! Reverse that, and imagine what he could have achieved by the late 30s.
Ja, das ist richtig, und kein Land kann Krieg gegen die ganze Welt führen!
At the heart of this story is a superficial view. The basis of this progress is the engines. Those are the only things worth looking at. 1. They could only be produced by the summer of 1944, so it is worth measuring the progress of different countries. UK, of course, was a couple of months behind, with the DH Goblin and RR Derwent engines, but it was already better than the JUMO 004 in 1944. 2. The benefit of introducing jet fighters to the Allies is not clear. They were operating away from bases, they needed range and reliability. 3. The Allies did enough for their superiority. For example, there was an exchange between many UK and US enterprises. 4. Axial compressors were not superior in any way, but their development made German motors more complicated. Centrifugal compressors are still used on engines of that size now. 5. The JUMO 004 turned out to be of no use to anyone after the war. Even scarce metals from the USSR did not make it a rival to DH Goblin or RR Derwent. That is, German engineers miscalculated, and with the Me 262 they hurried. German pilots were no less successful on FW 190D-8. 6. After the war it became obvious who had better motors. Straight into 1945.
The Germans lost the air war in 1940.
Good summary
😮great information. Thanks
The meteor and vampire were around the same time and were reliable but unlike the Nazis who shoved the ME262 into combat were still undergoing traits. The meteor was used to chase down V1 flying bombs.
The Vampire flew for 36 years.
You mean the *Germans. National Socialism was a political party. It would be like saying the Democrats or the Republicans put the Mustang into combat, no, the Americans did.
"Long slow approach to slow the Me-262 down"??? Didn't German pilots know about forward slips? That will slow any aeroplane down, sleek or not.
@1:05:30+ "B-17s and Mosquitoes that were destroying their cities"??? I believe that they meant "B-17s and Lancasters"...
It's annoying how so many people add these tiny indescrepancies as if trying to discredit or mislead people. "This plane was considered the first jet fighter but let me use phrasing to confuse people and say that the british jet got the first jet fighter kill, as if that changes which actually came first" I realize some people have poor english skills and some of this stuff is being edited by using goofy A.I. but youtubes so full of crappy inaccurate material sometimes I just can't tell the difference these days half the time.
The debate is if a V1 can be considered a kill. It is an opinion, and many other opinions differ, which is normal. As for AI, which seems to be a word used by many people without having a clue, when the video was made, there was no such things as AI… It is amazing how today people are already incapable of understanding the difference! At this rate 10 years from now people will not be able to understand if they are AI themselves, or real people.
No, if there is a debate that I have openned it is if your phrasing here is misleading, or if it is intentionally misleading or the result of a factor that would indicate it was simply accidental. Such as poor interpretation or communication skills or bad machine translation. You don't seem to understand yourself. I've raised little in the way of discussing if a v1 is a kill, though that may have been what you were intially talking about. So there's a misunderstanding right there. (As to debating if a V1 is a kill or not, it is an unmanned machine meant for a one way attack like any bomb, rocket, or uncontroled dumb-fired missile device and I would not count it as a manned aircraft kill in the same fashion of shooting down a aircraft of the day. The V1 is incapable of recognizing an attacker to evade or fight back like a fighter or bomber. I simply would have given the pilot a good commendation and noted his service on his record, as knocking out a V1 is still commendable and good work.)@@Dronescapes
the HE-162 was the first ever 'do not eject jet aircraft'
Total bs: Germany did not have the FUEL for extensive aircraft development
My Dad's first Big Boss was involved in the Engineering for the NAZI Jet Engines, he was a Close Colleague of Werner von Braun and were in schools together. They were both brought here after the war. Together my Dad and this Gentleman procured Specially Coated Fan Blades for the Compressor and I'm sure it affected my Uncle's Turbines. My Dad said that he and this Gentleman were key to landing the Contract for the C-5A Transport Engines for the TF-39. This was in the mid 60's. My Dad said that he worked on the Compressor for the TF-34 ( A-10 Warthog) too. Did you know that GE had to shoot Birds into the Engines while testing? They used two lb. Chickens. How do I know that? My Mom got a Big Award for finding and Delivering those Chickens to GE! She saved the Day so to speak! Someone recently told me that the British sent over the Original Wittle Engines to General Electric. Very interesting story on KZhead about the Wittle Engines. He was a British Aviator from what I can remember.
Whittle was the inventor of the turbojet. That engine was shipped, in 1941, to G.E. And it became the first jet engine to fly on U.S. soil (1942), powering a Bell XP-59. It was also Pratt & Whitney’s first turbojet. On the channel you can find Whittle’s biography, as well as G.E. Documentary about his engine.
No war in itself is killing. If more of your enemy die you can your soldiers. War is just not a good idea 😢
Saw the Frank Whittle documentary and I was full of admiration for the man same time Very angry too, If only the RAF the British government and big manufacturers would a had some respect and appreciation for British inventors can anyone imagined how different things would a been today? WW2 what WW2 the nazis would a been wiped out as soon as they started WW2 British fighter jets whipping their air force out of the sky, today we wouldn't be facing WW3 and Britain would still be the King (much better for the Whole world too) Not America, another great documentary from you guys THANKS
Plus the Millions of lives that would a saved and the huge suffering all this would a been avoided by the British fighter jets on top even years after the war RR was the only really reliable n durable Jet engine on earth Both the Russians n Americans used in the Korean war in their fighter Jets B4 Britain did so Ironic n very sad too
Gloucester? That’s where I live lol
The world was very fortunate in that Heinkel'sHe-280 was never sod to Japan in 1940-1941
They did not see the value.
▪ The British Meteor deliberately had an air-frame built to a known design, so if there were problems it could not be put down to the airframe, only the jet engine. ▪ The British made sure they had a proper reliable jet engine before going into airframes, rather than flying them with poor underdeveloped engines, as the Germans did.
Engines under the wing mean that you can adjust the design to accommodate a different engine. The design process is more complicated than you realize. It is not a matter of drawing something and then building it. The Allies only won the war because of a higher manufacturing capacity, not because they were technically superior or right.
@@Willy_Tepes If you have a known frame design, that makes matters easier. If you are trying to say the Germans were ahead technically and scientifically, you are *wrong.*
It is clear that the Germans were way ahead in technology and the only reason to deny such a thing is ideological. Shake off the brainwashing Dude!@@johnburns4017
They would of just ran out of oil sooner.
Główna wada he 280 byl układ ogonowy. Przy większej prędkości dostawał wibracji grożącą odpadnięcia tylnego usterzenia.. czytałem opinie pilotów doświadczalnych. Z he280. Przebudowa tylu była możliwa ale przegrał wyścig z jaskółka . To byla najwieksza porażka henkla. Silnik który cały czas liczył ze bedzie napędzał he280 nie dokończono. Owszem poleciał ,ale nie miał osłon silnikow ,,przeciekaly.
16:20 If I'm remembering the specifications correctly, the Me 262 used the Jumo 004 engine, while the He 280 used the BMW 003, not the reverse. If the He 280 had been pushed forward into production, it would likely have changed the progress of the war, resulting in Germany losing the war somewhat more slowly than it did. Extending the war would simply have multiplied the range of paper projects, both for aircraft and armored vehicles, that German design bureaus were producing, and in one of the more extreme possibilities of alternate history, might have resulted in the US using a nuclear weapon against Berlin. With the benefit of hindsight, the Reich was going to lose the war almost from the start of the war; the only question was how long it would take for it to collapse and how much of Germany would be dragged down with it.
''III Reich'' - and its Luftwaffe - practically lost the war when the first bombs and torpedoes of Japan Imperial Navy Airforces exploded in Hawaiian airfields and in battleship row of Pearl Harbor. Untill that the endgame was, meaby, a little inconclusive(?)
One can be most critical to Hitler and his generals for a hell lot moves such as not killing the British at Dunkirk or attacking the USSR before having finished with Britain when they had the chance. But not on this issue of using jet fighters. The only "incompetence" I see is people who think Hitler or Goering rejected the jet engines by incompetence. It was the most sane decision to take : jet engines required a lot more materials, a lot more manpower and of course massive amounts of fuel, better trained pilots and mechanics all while they were not even a tested technology and the first ones were expected to be literally unusable after a few flights. It was calculated that the overall cost of a jet fighter when adding up materials, production costs, training of pilots and mechanics and of course fuel was the equivalent of the cost of 10 propeller planes which by then were already a mature technology, made literally by car factories, working with an engine that roughly worked like that of a car (thus training of mechanics was easier and faster) and of course pilots could be trained as fast as in 2 weeks and a few flights. Of them all German generals were stuck in the fuel, the jet engine was just this voracious fuel gobbling engine which would dry up the low German petrol reserves in no time. As such it was the sane decision not to go forward with the jet engine. It offered little advantage, just a small fighter plane that went 200 km faster than propeller fighters, sure nice, but it was not by any means a game changer, not during the war. 10 propeller fighters could beat one jet, not the other way around. Now when Germans were losing and as such their armies retracting, their consumption of oil and materials dropped and as such they tried to use whatever they had, thus the introduction of the jet fighter into the battle. Which basically did absolutely nothing. The Foo Fighters frightened more the American pilots than the Me 262.
If they had come earlier: good night!
No matter what, those turbojets were over engineered, short lived, unreliable, and prone to catastrophic flame-outs. They were so bad that even several years after the end of the war the Soviets rejected two different versions of German axial turbojets, and opted for the British centrifugal turbojet, derived from Whittle’s, the inventor of the turbojet. The Soviets used it in their formidable MiG 15, and it worked, as we all know, extremely well. Only around 1955 the axial turbojet became a mature engine, but it was not the German version, which was largely discarded as it still had all the flaws that plagued it since birth. The British were actually ahead of the Germans all along, but for a variety of reasons, including strategic, logical ones, and certainly making a huge mistake by not supporting Whittle’s idea in 1929, which would have been the perfect transitional turbojet, they did not truly operationally deploy a fighter jet (the Gloster was barely operational). If the Brits would have pushed on the accelerator, their turbojets would have been way ahead of Germans. On the other hand the Me 262 was, excluding the engine, a great aircraft, as Germany was quite ahead, also having amazing wind tunnels that the Brits could only dream of. All those massive German investments paid off in terms of infrastructure, but in terms of “minds”, where money is not always everything, the Germans were not always ahead. Perhaps that is why, even recently , when the Germans managed to dominate in F1 (Mercedes), they needed to move to Britain, and use plenty of British brains. F1 being the pinnacle of Motorsport is a good indication of engineering skills. With the exception of Ferrari, and perhaps French and Japanese engines, successful teams are mostly based in Britain, and make large use of British minds, which is very interesting, as it is not always tied to throwing money at things.
Hitler got the last laugh. My 1961 VW Bug had 36 HP, and no fuel gauge, just a petcock to turn with my foot when the engine sputtered.
IF HITLER WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO HIS COMMANDERS WE WOULD ALL BE SPEAKING GERMAN
The He 280 was fast af 500+mph
How they built them while being bombed and hidden is unreal.
In my humble opinion the ME-262 is the most beautiful majestic beast to ever fly. The beast is in its nose. 4x30 MM Auto Cannons.