Originally Posted by mmarsh

Against slow moving Bomber Formations yes, against fighters a different story.

1. First of all in order to engage fighters the 262 would have been forced to massively throttle down otherwise it would have overshot its target. Reducing the throttle would have cost the 262 the only advantage it had over Allied fighters. Furthermore while its top speed was exceptional, its acceleration was painfully slow.

2. Secondly the 262 had poor maneuverability at low altitude <10,000ft where most dogfights took place it would have never been able to stay on the tail of a fast juking aircraft like a Spitfire or P-51. Because of this 262 pilots were told to avoid combat with slower speed fighters.

To make a 180 degree turn the 262 moved like a bus in Mud. The 262 rate of turn was terrible and it also massively bled speed while turning. A allied fighter tactic was to allow the 262 to make its pass on the bombers, wait for it to begin it to begin its turn, then gun the throttle in order to catch the decelerated 262 either in the turn or just coming out of it.

3. Last problem with the 262 as a dog-fighter was its armament. The 262 carried 4x30mm cannon. In 1945 the 30mm packed a real wallop but it was a low velocity projectile. Against a Heavy Bomber this isn't a problem because the Bomber flies mostly straight and level, but against a fast juking fighter its slow speed made it difficult to hit anything. A single hit however would usually des

This is why the US held off on adopting cannon weapons on fighters until after Korea, it was the invention of the multi-barrel cannons that were able to increase the ROF.

Hello mmarsh,

correct observations - but please bear in mind that the Me-262 was solely developed to engage bombers and never fighters. The Jet fighter would have been the Me (P.1101). In the transisition time of the airforces switching from prop to jet - any jet could not have out-manouvered a prop. In the 1944-50's era, the best prob besides the Ta-152 or FW D-12 series and "sexiest" aircraft to me was the Hawker Tempest, especially the Tempest II - it excelled as a fighter as well as a ground attack aircraft.



Regards
Kruska

Hello Atasas,

back on-
F-117 is number two
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Not even # 1000 - I mean how ugly can an aircraft get?

To me in that category - either a Go229



Or the modern German equivalent of a F-117 "Lampyridae"






Regards
Kruska

Not bothered about Nr2 would/could be even prototypes (never properly in production- kinda not really plane then?) and above mentioned ( Lampyridae and Go239) are nice too, but SR-71- Blackbird is / was and will be sexiest for long time to come

Modern crap Nothing sexier than again a Fokker ..DR1 dreidecker ....

the topic is sexiest... its like fancying granny

Fancy a unpersonal abstract air tunnel formed object if you like ..i like old ..at least those got lines and character

Originally Posted by 334

Fancy a unpersonal abstract air tunnel formed object if you like ..i like old ..at least those got lines and character

Hello Henk,

yes - undoubtetly the Focker DR1 was a sexy beauty - what Atasas seems to forget is that "Grannys" used to be sexy too in their 18'teens

In that category it would be the Fokker D.VII to me - AFAIK the first all metal construction and probably the maybe best fighter in WWI.



Regards
Kruska

Shure is a pedigree beauty Andy ...1000times more attractive than any Toyota MR2 styled turbo junk lol
Für ze Engländer an allied beauty ..the Royal factory's SE5 Scout .. Dawn patrol anyone??
Just imagine taking grandma for a spin at 120km /hour on a beautifull sunny saturday morning ...sign me up please dont care if its made of bedsheets ,balsawood and dope ...

Hello Henk,

you bet - as for the "romantic" part - nothing would come close to these WWI beauties - were the British and French had great looking birds as well.

BTW, I think the "Flying Circus" is back

Anyone got any idea if some enthusiastic, crazy Brits or Yanks might have signed up this "Formation" ?!!



Regards
Kruska

Talking about revived sexy grannies ..I know you'll love this one Andy ....
Zeppelin NT