Messerschmitt Me 262
The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe / Sturmvogel (English: "Swallow"/ "Storm Bird") of Nazi Germany was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. Heavily armed, it was faster than any Allied fighter, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II, the Me 262 was used in a variety of roles, including light bomber, reconnaissance, and even experimental night fighter versions.
Me 262 pilots claimed a total of 542 Allied kills, although higher claims are sometimes made. The Allies countered its potential effectiveness in the air by attacking the aircraft on the ground and during takeoff and landing. Engine reliability problems, from the pioneering nature of its Junkers Jumo 004 axial-flow turbojet engines—the first ever placed in mass production—and attacks by Allied forces on fuel supplies during the deteriorating late-war situation also reduced the effectiveness of the aircraft as a fighting force. In the end, the Me 262 had a negligible impact on the course of the war as a result of its late introduction and the consequently small numbers put in operational service.
Podcasts:
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by Blue Öyster Cult
Me262
by: Blue Öyster CultGoering's on the phone to Freiburg
Say's Willie's done quite a job
Hitler's on the phone from Berlin
Say's I'm gonna make you a star
My Captain Von Ondine, here's your next patrol
A flight of English bombers across the canal
After twelve, they'll all be here
I think you know the job
They hung there dependant from the sky
Like some heavy metal fruit
These bombers, ripened, ready to tilt
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Must they live that I might die
In a G-load disaster from the rate of climb
Sometimes I'd faint and be lost to our side
But there's no reward for failure, but death
So watch me in the mirrors, keep in the glidepath
Get me through these radars, no I cannot fail
Not when great silver slugs are eager to feed
I can't fail, no not now
When twenty five bombers wait ripe
They hung there dependant from the sky
Like some heavy metal fruit
These bombers, ripened, ready to tilt
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Must they live that I might die
Me-262 prince of turbojet, Junker's jommo 004
Blasts from clustered R4M quartets in my snout
And see these English planes go burn
Now you be my witness how red were the skies
When the fortresses flow, for the very last time
It was dark over Westphalia, in april of T45
They hung there dependant from the sky
Like some heavy metal fruit
These bombers, ripened, ready to tilt
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Must they live that I might die
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Junker.s jommo 004 (repeat many times)
Bombers at 12 o'clock high