consTRUCTion

Me 262 ieaves the production (ine at a heavjly assembly piant situated in the woods, possibly eim, adjacent to the Munich—Stuttgart Autobahn. The Swallow's Anatomy The me 262, unofficially named the Sclìwalbe, or swallow, mas optimised for simple and cheap construction. The type's structure is described by Dr RLFRED PRICE LTHOUGH THE BASIC structure with single l-section main- Structure of the Me 262 spars, with flush-riveted stressed airframe was essentially skin fitted into recesses in the A nothing new, the aircraft did underside of the fuselage. The centre introduce a number of innovations in portions, between the fuselage and aircraft design, most notably the engine nacelles, had a sweptback wing's thickness-to-chord ratio, leading edge and swept-forward which was kept low to provide high- trailing edge. The outer portions of speed aerodynamic efficiency. These the wings were tapered and swept• notes describe a typical Me 262A. back, with square-cut tips. The ABOVE The Rheìnmetall-Borsig MK108 30mm cannon. A sweepback at the wing leading edge technician hoids one of the 330g (11oz) high-explosive rounds. BELOW An Me 262A-1a of JG7 with 12 55mm folding-fìn Fuselage was 18° 32'. The wings had rocitets mounted on a wooden racle under the starboard wing. The fuselage was an ali-metal detachable tips and full-span semi-monocoque structure of near- automatic leading-edge slats. triangular section with rounded Frise-type ailerons were fitted in two corners, the wing passing through sections on each wing, Slotted flaps the base. It was assembied in tour were mounted inboard of the ailerons sections: the nose cone, which and had maximum extension of 60° housed the guns and ammunition, and a backward movement of Sin. the centre-section, which included the cockpit; the rear fuselage, and Tail Assembly the tail section. The cantilever tailplane was mountec half-way up the fin with mass- Wings balanced rudder and elevators. The Me 262's wing structure Trim-tabs were fitted to both comprised two low one-piece elevators and a geared tab fitted to cantilever wings of ali-metal the rudder for trimming.

64 Aeroplane, June 200^ 49 Pilol's instrument panel 68 Roll-down window DIinds 87 Rudder horn balance 98 Fin spar attacttment 115 Pori outDoard flap segment messerschmitt me 262B-1a/U1 50 Cockpit front pressure 70 Rear fuel tank filler 88 Rudder trim tab sloping bulkbead 116 wing detachable bottom skin bulkbead 71 Cylindrical cockpit 89 Elevator mass balance welght 99 Master compass transmitter panels 1 Camera aperture 28 Fuel tank mountings 36 Starboard navigation llght 51 Rudder pedais pressure shell 90 Hmge control 100 Rear fuselage trame and 117 Aileron control rod 2 Sun camera 29 Fuel feed pipe 37 Wing tip fairing 52 Hydraulic reservoir 72 Cockpit rear pressure 91 Elevator geared tab stringer structure lIBAileron geared tab 3FuG 2^S^eptund\^30\e 30 Tank filler access 38 Starboard linked "Frise-type" 53170lit(37 Imp gal) fonward bulkbead 92 Port elevator rib conslnjction 101 Tailplane control rods 119 Port aileron rib structure radar antenna e 31 Starboard Inboard aileron panels auxiliary fuel tank 73 Electronic equipment racks 93 Rudder-mounted tail 102 Signal cartridge launchers 120 Wing tip fairing 4 Antenna masi leading edge siat 39Aileron hinge control linkage 64 (vlainwheei door 74 Starboard side equipment navigation tight 103 I.OOOkg-thrust (2,205lb) 121 Port navigation light 5 NosewheeI leg door 32 Flap hydraulic jacks 40 Geared tab 55 lylain undercarriage wbeei bay access door 94 Tailplane single mainspar assisted take-off 6 Nose undercarriage leg strut 33 Engine nacelle fairing 41 Outboard slotted flap segment 56 Hydraulic accumulator 75 Antenna mast and rib structure 7 AfI-retracting nosewheei 34 Outboard automatic 42 Flap guide rail 57 Cockpit side console panel 76 FuG 16ZY D/F loop antenna 95 FuG 218 Neptun tail radar 8 Torque scissor links siat segmenta 43 Drive Sbaft and hmge links 58 Rudder trim bandwbeei 77 Antenna lead-in warning antenna 9 Hydraulic retraction jack 35 SIat guide rails 44 Armoured glass windscreen 59 Engine throttle levers 78 Canopy aft fainng 96 Tailplane mounting 10 Nosewheel door 45Revi 16Bgunsight 60 Pilot's seat TOVariable incidence bulkbead 11 Extended cannon barrete on 46 Circuit breaker panel 61 Safety harness tailplane trim actuating 97 Rudder hinge two lower guns (antenna 47 Control column 62 Starboard inboard rear electric motor control linkage and blasi proteclion) 48 Cabin fresh air intake, flap segment 80 Trimming tailplane mass balance 12 Cannon barrel apertures lever operated 63 Side-binged cockpit canopies, sealing piate weight 13 Starboard engine intake starboard opening 81 Tailplane pivot mounting 14 Detachable cowling panels 64 FuG 360 Naxos radar 82 Fin structure 15 Hinged cannon bay doors tioming equipment 83 Starboard tailplane 16 Cannon barrel mountings S6 Radar operator's insirument 84 Aileron horn balance 17MK108 30mm cannon panel with Neptun 85 Starboard aileron 18 Inboard ammunition radar indicator 86 Communications feed chutes 66 "Kick-in" boarding steps antenna cable 19 Cannon bay upper tie-rod 67 Radar operator's steps 20 CartrJdge case ejector chutes 21 Ammunition bays; 100 r.p.g, for upper guns, 80 r.p.g. for lower pair 22 400lit (60 Imp gal) 122 Pitot head iettisonable auxiliary fuel 123 Outboard automatic leading tanks (21 edge siat segments 23 Tank pylon 124 SIat guide rails 24 Compressed air botlles, 125 Wing rib structure tour per side 126 Ivlainspar 25 Electrical relay panels 127 Port angine nacelle 26 Cannon bay rear bulkbead 128 Port mainwheei 27 Forward main tuel tank 129 MainwbeeI shock 900lit (198 Imp gal) absorber leg strut 130 Mainwheei leg pivo! mounting 131 Hydraulic retraction jack 132 Mainspar steei boom cap 133 Wing/tuselage fonvard attactiment spigot 134 Port inboard leading edge siat segment 135 Main engine mountings 136 Geartìox-driven genetator 137 Movable exhaust ptug drive servo-motor 138 Junkers Jumo 004B-1 angine 139 Nacelle Etep 140 Accessory equipment gearbox 141 Engine oil tank 142 Starter motor fuel tank 143 Engine starter motor 144 Starter motor housing/centre-body fairing 145 Port engine intake consTRUCTion

Undercarriage Both the main engines and their This was of tricycle type witfi starter motors ran on J-2 fuel, 87- me 262H-1ariahterdata hydraulic retraction. Hydraulic brakes octane petrol mixed with 5 per cent Dimensions were used on ali wheels. The diesel oil. The Me 262A-1a fighter Span 41ft OMin (12-5m) mainwheels retracted inwards into carried four fuel tanks in the Length 34ft 9;^in (10-6m) tfie underside of the wing centre fuselage, two of 196 Imp gal, one Height llfteXin (3-5m) section, and the nosewheel retracted of 38 gal and one of 132 gal Wing area 233-58ft' (21-72m) rearwards into the fuselage, capacity, There was also provision Wing loading at normal Ioaded weight 60-4lb/ft^ to carry two drop tanks under the Engines forward fuselage, with a total Weights Empty, equipped 9,742lb (4,420kg) The most significant part of the Me capacity of 132 Imp gal. Normal Ioaded (no external stores) 14,101 Ib (6,396kg) 262's construction concerned the two Junkers Jumo 004 B-1 or B-4 Accommodation Performance eight-stage axial-flow gas turbine The pilot's cockpit was mounted over Max speed {clean) 513 m.p.h. at sea levei, units, each deveioping 1,980lb the wing trailing edge, and was 541 m.p.h. al 19,500fl, thrust, mounted in a nacelle slung protected by 15mm armour plates in limiting safe Mach No 0-83 under each wing. The engines were front of and behind the pilot, and by Max initial rate of climb 3,940ft/min started by means of a Riedel two- a 90mm toughened glass wind• Time to 19,500ft 6min 48sec cylinder two-stroke starter motor built screen, Access was gained via K1 Range Normal fighter internai tankage, 300 miles at s/l, into the nose cone of each jet unit. a sideways-hinged canopy, am 650 miies at 29,500ft Armament Fighter Four 30mm Rheinmetall-Borsig MK108 cannon, 100 r.p.g. for uariants the two upper weapons, 80 r.p.g. for the two lower. Later modified to Me 262A-0 Pre-production fighter version, 13 aircraft built during carry 24 R4M unguided on wing-mounted wooden racks March and Aprii 1944. Most sent to test establishments Fighter-bomber Two 30mm MK108 cannon with 80 r.p.g. Two 250kg (550lb) or one 500kg (1,100lb) carried externally Me 262A-1a First production fighter version, armament four 30mm under the nose cannon. Morethan 1,000 built Tactical reconnaissance version One 30mm cannon in the extreme Me 262A-1a/U3 Tactical reconnaissance version of the A-1 fighter. nose. Two Rb 50/30 automatic cameras in vertical split pair Armament reduced to one 30mm cannon, carried two Rb 50/30 aerial cameras in a vertical split pair. Built in small numbers

Me 262A-2a Fighter-bomber version of the A-la fighter. Armour removed, and additional fuel tanks mounted in the rear fuselage. Racks for two 250kg or one 500kg mounted under the nose. More than 100 built

Me 262B-1a Two-seat conversion trainer, fitted with dual controls. Second seat fitted to the rear of the first, in place of the rear fuselage fuel tank. Produced in small numbers

Me 262B-1a/U1 Two-seater modified for the nightfighter role, Fitted with SN-2 Liechtenstein, later Neptun, airborne interception radar. Also carried the Naxos equipment for homing on emissions from the British H^S radar. Produced in small numbers

Me 262 B-2a Definitive nightfighter variant. As the B-1a/U1, but with length increased by just under 4ft to accommodate a fuel tank in the rear fuselage. Produced in small numbers

ABOVE RIGHT This Jumo 004 being moved into the Deutsches Museum in 1957 gives a good idea of the primitive jet's dimensions. BELOW Me 262A-1a WNr 111711 was used for research work by the Messerschmitt company, and was later moved to America.

66 Aeroplane, June 200j HEUI ERGinE - HEUI PROBLEmS messERSCHmin IHE 262 Database The radicai new Jumo 004 jet engines gaue the llle 262 outstanding performance - prouided they uiorhed properly. Dr ALFRED PRICE ejtplains tiow difficulties uiitli production greatly limited Its potential capability Engine noubles

TTHE END 0FTHE 1930sit temperature Steel alloys, were in ABOVE An engineless was reaiised that the laws of desperately short supply in Germany, Me 262 sìts among physics dictated the The munitions industry's needs the trees next to a maximum speed propeller- exceeded supply and stockpiles of stretch of road A pressed into servìce driven fighters couid attain — these matehais depleted with each somewhere around 500 m,p,fi. The month, There was iittìe to spare for as a makeshift aìrstrip in 1945. problem centred on the inefficiency the jet engine programmo, Those ABOVE Flame spurts of tfie propeller as a means of working on jet engines endeavoured from a Jumo 004 converting the rotational power from to design around the problem, and after start'up. Note a pislon engine into propulsive thrust. performance carne secondary to the ignited spillage As an aircraft neared that speed, building engines that couId be mass- on the concrete propeller efficiency fell drastically. produced using available matenals. below. For high-speed flight, the gas In the case of the Jumo 004, turbine was more efficient than the Junkers engineers used substitute piston engine. The Junkers Jumo matenals which were often not up to 004 gas turbine, the unit which the job. The engine's combustion powered the Me 262 after spring chambers, for example, were 1942, developed 1,850!b of thrust fashioned from mild steeI with a and weighed 1,590lb, Like their spray-coating of aluminium baked on counterparts in Great Britain, German to prevent oxidisation. During engineers wod^ing on the eady gas running, these gradually became turbine engines for aircraft were distorted, thus limiting the lite of beguiied by their simplicity. There the engine. were no propeller conversion losses, Early production Jumo 004 B-1 no reciprocating parts, and thrust engines had a running lite of only was more or less Constant 10-12 hours. Pilots had to be very throughout the speed range. careful in handiing the throttles it On the down side, however, the they were to avoid the risk of engine gas turbine ran at far higher failures, flameouts or engine fires, temperatures, much greater One of the most difficult problems rotational speeds, and proved concerned getting the correct tuel ABOVE Soldìers of the 7th Army ìnspect the compressor and considerably more difficult to control flow to the engine throughout the Me Riedel starter motor on a captured Me 262 at Giebelstadt. than previous types of aircraft 262's performance envelope. Too problems, meant the B-1 engine than Its predecessors and generally engine. Designers of the earty gas much fuel and the turbine blades contained too many failings to allow less temperamental. Some control turbines faced a host of new wouid burn out, too little and the mass production to begin. problems remained, but the problems which, in many cases, they engine wouId flame out- At altitudes After much hard work to eliminate couId wait no longer. The design of had to resolve from first principles. above 13,000ft the engine became weaknesses in the design, the Jumo the 004 B-4 was frozen in June German engineers working in this increasingly temperamental, and if it 004 B-4 emerged, with a nominai lite 1944 to allow for mass production. In fìeid faced further constraints, By the suffered a flameout it was necessary of 10 running hours before it needed September 1944, production reached mid-war period chromium and nickel, to descend below that altitude before an overhaul, and a total lite of 25 significant levels and during that ttie Steel-hardening elements usually attempting a relight. The short running hours. The new vanant was month 90 Me 262s were El considered necessary for high- running lite, along with many other less sensitive to throttle handiing delivered to the Luftwaffe. EU

Aeroplane, June 2003 67 fIGHTEROR BOmBER?

In may1944, Hdolf Hitler ordered that the me 262 mas initially to go into action only in the high-speed bomher role. Despite uiide condemnation, there were sound reasons for adopting such a course. Dr ALFRED PRICE esamines the motiues for the order, and its effect NTILTHEAUTUMN 0F1943 the Me 262 had been considered solely for the bomber-destroyer role. By Uthen it was clear that the Aliies were assembling forces for a major invasion operation in the following year, to be launched against a point ABOVE The key players in the in nortfi-west Europe, When the blow development of the Me 262 fell, the tight to secure the meet at Berchtesgaden in beachhead wouId decide the 1943. Shaking Hitler's hand is outcome of the war If the invasion Generalmajor Adolf Galland, wìth Generalfeldmarschall succeeded, the German Army wouId Erhard Milch just visible be squeezed inexorably between the behind the Fùhrer. Nearest Eastern and Western fronts. If, on the the camera is Generalmajor other band, the invasion was Hans Jeschonnek, Chief of defeated, Allied losses woold Staff of the Luftwaffe. probably be so great as to preclude a further attempi for some time, LEFT A close-up of the During that time the German Army streamlìned bomb rack couId concentrate its forces on the under the fuselage of an Me Eastern Front, and try to secure a 262A-2a, carrying an SC 250 general-purpose bomb. major victory there. The criticai initial hours of a 262 V6. Willi Messerschmitt was in did not press it to do so. For his part General Gùnther Korten, Inspector of landing operation wouId be fraught attendance, and aftemards the Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch, in Fighters Generalmajor Adolf Galland with difficulty and confusion. How FiJhrer asked whelher the aircraft charge of aircraft production for the and other senior staff officers, as well much more difficult wouId the couId carry bombs. Messerschmitt Lufhwaffe, acknowledged the as Albert Speer and officiais from his invaders' task be, if the Luftwaffe assured him it couId, either one usefulness of aircraft as a fighter- armament ministry. seni 50 or 100 high-speed bombers 1,000kg(2,200lb)or two 500kg bomber But he considered that it Hitler listened without great lo bomb and strale the troops (1,100lb) bombs. That was the wouId do better initially as a bomber- interest to details of the new fighter coming ashore? Just a lew hours answer Hitler wanted to bear. This destroyer, and he concentrated the production programmes, unhi the Me delay in securing the beachhead was the "Blitzbomber" he sought, an work on readying the Me 262 for 262 was menlioned. He asked how might be decisive, if German aircraft with the speed to punch service in that role, That divergence, the Blitzbomber was progressing, armoured units reached the scene through the Allied tighter screens and between Hitler's wishes and the how many had yet been built? Milch first and drove the invaders into the plani its bombs on the invaders. course of the aircrafl's development, replied that no Me 262s had yet sea. In the evenl, the landings on From then on, the Me 262 fighter- set in motion a train of events that been built as bombers, the aircraft Ornato beach on D-Day ran into bomber fealured prominenlly in threatened to shake Ihe Me 262 was being manufactured exclusively severe difficulties, and had there Hitler's counter-invasion plans. Yet he programmo to its very foundations, as a fighter There was an awkward been additional harassment from faiied to communicate the strength of Matters came to a head on May silence, then Hitler lost his scores of high-speed bombers his feelings to those responsible for 23,1944, when Hitler ordered a top composure and the meeting strafing the troops as they came preparing the aircraft for that role. levei conference at his Berghot developed into a blazing if rather ashore, the landing couId bave Significantly, in the months that residence to discuss Ihe latest one-sided row. The Allies might faiied disastrously. followed, the Messerschmitt company Luftwaffe production programmes. launch their invasion of Northem In November 1943 Hitler had did not iniliale detaiied design work Among those present were Europe any day and the aircraft he watched an impressive demons- on a fighter-bomber version of the /?e/c/7smarsc/7a//Hermann Goering, needed lo defeal the landings did not Iration of high-speed flight by the Me Me 262, and senior Luftwaffe officers Erhard Milch, Luftwaffe Chiet of Staff exist. He was particulady angry al the

68 Aeroplane. June 2oos mESSeRSCHIÌÌITT me 262 Database

way he had been misied on tbe Me 262's ability to carry bombs. Hitler then dismissed everyone excepi Goering, and delivered a blistering attack on the latter for his incompetence in mishandiing the matter. At the end of the audience, the Fuhrer declared that he now held Goehng personally responsible for seeing the Me 262 into service as a Blitzbomber as rapidly as possible, New aircraft coming off the production lines were to be delivered onlyto bomber units. The conversion for the new role involved removing much of the armour piate, installing extra fuel tani

An Me 262 fighter-bomber of KG51 prepares for a mission at Rheine in eastern Germany in the autumn of 1944.