Messerschmitt Me 262A-2a
Schwalbe (Swallow)
Serial Number:
VK893
Period: WWII
Collection Ref: 85/AF/69
Location: RAF Museum London, Milestones of Flight
The most advanced fighter of the Second World War, too
few Messerschmitt Me262s were deployed by the Luftwaffe at too late a
stage to affect the course of the air war over Europe.
"What an aircraft! It was as though the Angels were pushing!"
Luftwaffe fighter ace Generalleutnant Adolf Galland, describing his first
flight in an Me262.
Preliminary design work on what was to become the Me262 began in 1938.
Persistent problems with the turbojets intended for the aircraft delayed
the project and the first flight by a Me262 using only jet power did not
take place until July 1942.
In December 1943 Hitler decreed that the Me262 Schwalbe (Swallow) should
only be manufactured as a fighter bomber. Senior Luftwaffe officers believed
that the Me262 was more valuable as a fighter, and Hitler's wishes were
initially ignored much to his subsequent fury.
Small numbers of Me262 fighters and fighter bombers were used operationally
by the Luftwaffe from mid 1944. Allied pilots found the Me262 a formidable
opponent and special tactics were adopted to meet the new threat. However,
chronic supply shortages meant that few Me262s saw combat and the true
potential of the Me262 was never realised.
What makes this a milestone aircraft?
The Me262 was the only jet fighter to see air-to-air combat in World War II and its appearance was a great shock to the Allies. It was a significantly more advanced design than its British contemporary and many of its aerodynamic secrets were eagerly incorporated in later post-war combat aircraft.
The jet engine was the second major
step forward in flight, after the Wright
Brothers' achievement in 1903.
Visit the Me262 on display in Milestones of Flight at RAF Museum London.
