Inside the Me 262 project

Air Classics, Apr 2003

by O'Leary, Michael, Larsen, Jim

THE SECOND FLIGHT Of THE FIRST NEW-BUILD ME 262 CONCLUDED WITH A LANDING
INCIDENT. HOWEVER THE AIRCRAFT IS REPAIR!BLE. WE EXAMINE THE HISTORY Of THE
fORMIDABLE GERMAN FIGHTER AND LOOK TOWARD THE FUTURE

One cannot imagine what thoughts must have been racing through the mind of the first Allied pilot to
encounter a Messerschmitt Me 262. The sleek, almost sinister appearing, twin jet was the fastest thing in
the sky and could outrun a Mustang by over a 100-mph. The aircraft also carried a daunting battery of
four 30mm cannon and was usually flown by the top pilots of the Luftwaffe.
Development of the aircraft that became the Me 262 started way back,in 1939. It goes without saying
that the design would stretch all aviation boundaries. Not only was the jet engine barely a working idea
but the advantages (and disadvantages) of the swept wing simply were not known. Oddly, the
performance benefits of the swept wing were not completely realized in the initial design concepts -
rather, that type of wing was utilized when it became obvious that the engines were going to be much
heavier than initially planned and the center of gravity would drastically change without sweeping the
wings. It was only later that the benefits were discovered!
As with so many projects over the course of aviation history, the airframe was ready before the
powerplant. A decision was made to flight-test the airframe, but without the jets. Some quick engineering
work saw a piston Jumo 210 V-12 fitted in the nose - at this point, the aircraft had a tail wheel and the
nose gear would come a bit later in the design. Junkers and BMW would have tremendous problems
producing an efficient jet engine while the German high command did nothing for the project - even letting
Hitler demand that the air superiority fighter be utilized as a Blitzbomber to stop advancing Allied ground
forces.
However, when all was said and done, the Me 262 entered service at a time when it was too late for
any weapon (excepting an atomic bomb) to aid in preventing the destruction of the Third Reich.
Flight testing of the Me 262 V1 prototype started on 18 April 1941 when Flugkapitan Fritz Wendel
(who had set the absolute speed record in the Bf 109R, only to be broken by Darryl Greenamyer in his
modified F8F-2 Bearcat) took the machine aloft from Augsburg. The piston engine did not provide the
acceleration demanded by the airframe and the Me 262 VI took every inch of the runway before Fritz
could get into the air. However, once airborne, the test pilot found the machine most pleasant to operate
although the piston engine allowed only a top speed of 260-mph to be achieved in level flight.
BMW delivered their 003 turbojets with a nominal power rating of just over 1000-lb-st each and these
were fitted to the prototype which was flown with the jets on 25 March 1942. However, as a precaution,
the Jumo was left in the nose to create a very strangelooking machine. Even with the jets, Fritz once
again barely cleared the airfield boundary as the Vl staggered into the air. At about 200 feet he was
gingerly starting a shallow turn and was ready to bring up the gear when one BMW 003 failed,
immediately being followed by the remaining unit flaming out! Shoving the Jumo's throttle all the way
forward, Fritz called on all of his considerable skill to complete a circuit and get the machine back on the
ground. This was just the start of the problems with the new form of propulsion.
Junkers and gotten two pre-production Jumo 004A-0 turbojets (1850-lb-st each) ready and shipped
them to Augsburg where they were installed on Me 262 V3. Flight trials were moved to Leipheim which
had a paved 3600-ft runway. After taxi trials, Wendel attempted to takeoff but found the elevator was
totally ineffective. He managed to stop the plane before the end of the runway. He reasoned that the tail-
down attitude was blanking out the elevators. On 18 July 1942, a team member suggested he tap the
brakes when the plane reached 112-mph. He did, the tail went up into the air, and the plane flew. "My
turbojets ran like clockwork and it was a sheer pleasure to fly this new machine. Indeed, seldom have I
been so enthusiastic during my first flight with a new aircraft as I was with the Me 262," the pilot
recounted.
With the Me 262, the weak point would always be the powerplant. The Jumo 004 was on the cutting
edge of technological development but the jet was in its infancy and there was a war going on - a war that
was rapidly turning Germany's early victories into distant memories. The engine required lengthy
development and some of the scarce metals needed for the engine were becoming increasingly difficult to
obtain. Materials for adequate heat-proofing were rare and it was not uncommon for a new engine to fail
on its test run. Even when they were working correctly, most engines had a life of just a dozen operating
hours.
Production of the aircraft built up and Erprobungskommando 262 was formed at Lechfeld on 19
December 1943. The experimental unit began receiving their first jets in April 1944 and scored their first
victory (a RAF de Havilland Mosquito) on 26 July 1944.
The first actual combat unit to receive the type was Kommando Nowotny which was formed during
September 1944 at Achmer under the command of Maj. Walter Nowotny. Becoming operation on 3
October, a B-24 was the first victory - shot down on 7 October. Nowotny, one of the Luftwaffe's most
skilled tacticians, started using Bf 109s and Fw 190s as top cover against marauding Allied fighters while
Me 262s were taking off and landing - a time when the aircraft were vulnerable since the early turbojets
allowed for only slow acceleration. On 8 November, Nowotny fell victim to a pack of USAAF P-51 Ds that
battled through the top cover of Fw 190Ds and shot him down while he was attempting to land.
Kommando Nowotny was disbanded after the commander's death but in their short existence they
had destroyed 22 Allied aircraft. However, they had also lost a stunning 26 Me 262s - only eight of those
due to mechanical failures or accidents.
The first truly operational Me 262 unit was JG 7 which had been formed out of the elements of
Kommando Nowotny and soon became the strongest Me 262 unit in number of planes and pilots. The
first few weeks saw frantic activity as aircraft arrived and pilots quickly trained. Based at Brandenburg-
Briest, commander Oberst Steinhoff built the unit into an effective fighting force in just six weeks.
By 19 November 1944, III.JG 7 had formed as the first Gruppe of the new Geschwader. However,
they suffered from a lack of supply - ranging from aircraft to parts and engines. Also, they lost ten Me
262s in just six weeks due to pilot error or mechanical problems.
For the Germans, the situation began to get a bit better by February 1945 when the Me 262s of III.JG
7 began to deliver concentrated attacks on the Allied bomber formations that filled the skies over
Germany. The unit was instrumental in establishing how the jet was to be implemented in the antibomber
mission. There was much debate among senior JG 7 pilots on the correct tactics to use against the
bombers. Even experts in this type of engagement were in variance. Luftwaffe 109s and 190s had
enjoyed great success in head-on attacks against the bombers. Prop fighters would approach bombers
from the front and aim their cannon at the cockpits. The closing speed meant that the fighters had only a
brief window in which to fire. The speed of the Me 262 made this type of attack virtually impossible.
The jet pilots returned to the older form of attacking bombers from the rear. With the speed of their
new fighter, they could quickly overtake the bombers to get in close and fire their cannon and quickly dive
away from the formation's .50-cal weapons. Steinhoff was of the opinion that the Me 262s should be used
for hitting the escorting fighters while prop fighters would attack the bombers.
Whatever the tactics, they were too little and too late. The Allies had taken over the skies with a vast
aerial armada. As an illustration, on 18 March 1944, III.JG 7 managed to launch 37 Me 262s to engage a
force of 1221 USAAF bombers and their escorting force of 632 fighters. At the end of the combat, a
dozen bombers and one fighter were destroyed for a loss of three Me 262s. On their most intensive day,
JG 7 flew 38 missions and shot down 14 bombers and two fighters for a loss of four Me 262s. Their best
efforts yielded less than a one percent loss rate for the Allies. The Germans had created a modern and
effective weapon but it was no match for the overwhelming Allied air superiority.
With the end of the war in Europe, there was a mad scramble to gain advanced German technology.
Fortunately, the Allies managed to get many advanced aircraft - such as the Me 262 - documents,
engines, personnel, etc. The Russians were also doing the same.
It did not take long before this technology was incorporated into the aircraft flowing from the free
world's production lines. After a few years, the allure of the Me 262 faded as newer planes became
available. Many of the survivors were simply scrapped or relegated to museums.
However, one individual did have distinct interest in the Me 262. Howard Hughes was obsessed with
speed. Using his extensive network of military and government contacts, Howard managed to get a Me
262A-1a/U3 transferred to his facility at Culver City, California. Sent back to the States in 1945, the plane
had been given the foreign evaluation code FE-4012. Sent to Freeman Field, Indiana, the aircraft was
reconditioned and given a very smooth finish for flight testing against the P-80.
At Culver City, the Me 262 was assembled and given a very thorough inspection. Howard had a new
mission for the jet - he wanted to fly it in the 1947 Cleveland Air Races. It must be remembered that in
those days the military raced jets at Cleveland and Howard wanted to go head-to-head against the best
the military had to offer reasoning that a cleaned-up Me 262 would be a strong contender. Eventually,
enough pressure was brought against Howard to make him give up on the idea. We have researched the
records and have determined that a civilian registration was not issued for the plane. However, rumors
persist that Hughes took the Me 262 up for at least one flight which made him the last pilot to fly an Me
262 - until Wolfgang Czaia.
As recounted in the February Air Classics, Project Me 262 was created to build five new Stormbirds.
This was a long and often torturous project that eventually saw test pilot Czaia briefly lift the first aircraft
aloft from the Paine Field runway on 25 November 2002 - some six decades since the prototype had
gone aloft in Germany.
On 20 December 2002, Wolfgang made an extremely successful 30-min flight during which the
aircraft's general handling characteristics were explored. The gear had been left in the down position, not
uncommon for a first test flight.
On 17 January 2003, the third test flight was undertaken. Bud Granley was flying a Cessna Citation
as chase plane and Jim Larsen was aboard to record the event on film. CNN had set up a video camera
in the rear cockpit of the Me 262 to film the flight and, according to plans, the gear would be raised on this
flight and a further testing of the aircraft's flight envelope would be undertaken.
Everything was going fine and the gear retracted smoothly. However, when the gear was extended in
flight the nose wheel did not fully extend and the mains remained retracted. The chase plane made a
close inspection and Wolfgang decided to blow down the gear with an emergency nitrogen bottle that had
been installed in the Me 262. This was done and the gear fell into place as planned with "three greens" in
the cockpit. The chase plane then did another close-in inspection and the gear did appear to be firmly
down and locked.
Wolfgang returned to Paine Field and made a normal landing. However, the left main gear leg began
to slowly fold. "At first, I thought it was the oleo losing pressure," said the test pilot and "I was able to
correct with aileron while keeping the nose pointed down the runway." The gear kept folding and
Wolfgang immediately realized what was happening. Coming to rest on its left engine nacelle, the jet
skidded off the runway, crossed a parameter road, went through the grass, and went through a ditch.
Wolfgang had, of course, stopped the engines and cut all power but as he commented, "I was now just a
passenger along for the ride."
Ahead lay a small ravine and the jet went into it still moving forward. In the ravine, a construction crew
had apparently dumped a large concrete block with which the Me 262's right wing and gear came into
contact, abruptly stopping the plane but also causing considerable damage to the wing and right main
gear. Although the concrete block caused damaged, it was probably fortuitous in its location because if
the jet had continued down the ravine there is a good chance it might have gone on its back.
The next day, the stricken bird was carefully lifted out of the ravine and moved back to the Me 262
Project facility where an examination of the damage could be undertaken. Fortunately, it appears that the
engines survived with minimal damage while the structural and sheet metal damage is all repairable.
Project manager Bob Hammer has estimated that the first Stormbird will be back in the air in six
months. "I am a optimist," states Wolfgang, "and I think we will be flying once again before that date." AC