Plate 059 — Aircraft
REF: BF-AIR-059Messerschmitt Me 262 - First Operational Jet Fighter
| At the outset of the war, the Luftwaffe was one of the most modern, powerful, and experienced air forces in the world, dominating the skies over Europe with aircraft much more advanced than their counterparts. The Luftwaffe was central to the German Blitzkrieg (lightning war) doctrine, as the close air support provided by various medium two-engine bombers, Stuka dive bombers and an overwhelming force of tactical fighters were key to several early successes. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Junkers Ju 87 Stuka Dornier Do 215 Junkers Ju-188 Dornier Do 17 Dornier Do 335 Pfeil Junkers Ju 88 Messerschmitt Bf 109 Messerschmitt Me110 Messerschmitt Me 262 Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, Heinkel He 111 Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Junkers Ju 52 USAF Plane List USN FIGHTERS LIST OF PLANES US AIR FORCE WW2 USN WW2 Torpedo Bomber - Douglas TBD-1 Devastator USN WW2 Fighters: P-38 LIGHTNING F-82 TWIN MUSTANG REPUBLIC P-47 THUNDERBOLT NORTH AMERICAN P-51 MUSTANG Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Boeing B-29 Superfortress B-24 D Liberator B-25 Mitchell, Martin B-26 Marauder
Battleship game Missions and Scenarios: | Messerschmitt Me 262The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) was the first operational jet powered fighter aircraft. It saw limited action during the end of World War II. German pilots nicknamed it the Turbo, while to the allies they were blow jobs.
Me262 DevelopmentAlthough often viewed as a last ditch super-weapon, the Me 262 was actually under development before the start of WWII. Plans were first drawn up in April 1939, and the original design was very similar to the plane that would eventually enter service. The first test flights began in April 1941, but since the BMW 003 turbojets were not ready for fitting, a conventional Junkers Jumo 210 engine was mounted in the nose in order to test the airframe. When the BMW 003 engines were finally installed the Jumo was retained for safety reasons; this proved wise as on the first flight with the 003's both of them failed in-flight and the pilot had to land the plane with the nose mounted engine alone. It was the third airframe that was to become a true jet plane when it took to the air on July 18 1942 in Leipheim near G?nzburg, Germany, piloted by Fritz Wendel. Instead of the planned 003 engines which were proving unreliable, the Junkers Jumo 004 had become available and was installed in its place. The 004 was heavier than the 003, and as a result the center of gravity of the plane would have been too far forward for safety. Moving the engines to the rear was a simple solution to the problem, but as they were mounted centered on the wing spars this wasn't easy to do. The solution was to bend the wings themselves to the rear, leading to the enduring myth that the plane was designed as a swept-wing fighter. Test flights continued over the next year but the engines continued to be completely unreliable. Although all modifications to the airframe design were completed by 1942, they didn't bother to start production until 1944 when the engines finally started to work. Even then they rarely managed to last 12 hours, and it was not uncommon to have them explode during their first run-up tests. Planes often ended combat with one or both engines dead. CIA / KGB intelligencegame. Run your own operation game. Travel around the world and set up espionage game, trade with state secrets, weapon systems, spy codes, WMD, hire secretaries, agents, lawyers and soldiers, establish secret agent stations, cells and bases and search for criminals and politicians. Involve in agent game. Game contains more than 40 missions including Nuclear Game, Cold War Game, Secret Agent, CIA Games, USAF, Prime Minister, RAF, Bin Laden, Sa Another problem with early jet engines is that they had poor thrust at low speed, it's only once the plane is up and running that they come into their own. They also throttled up poorly because it was very easy to burn more fuel than you need by opening the throttle quickly, thereby building up tremendous heat in the burner section melting the end of the engine off (literally). These problems made the plane very difficult to land. If there was any problem with the approach there was practically nothing you could do because the thrust would come on after you had hit the ground. Allied fighter pilots quickly learned of these problems and started attacking the jet fields during landings. The poor thrust at lower speeds also meant that the aircraft took a fairly long time to climb to altitude, at least compared to other late war designs, and that it burned a tremendous amount of fuel getting to operational altitude. This meant that it had enough fuel for only a short sortee, perhaps on the order of half an hour, even though the plane was literally filled with fuel in every available space. Even with all of these problems the plane was clearly pointing to the end of the propeller aircraft as a fighting machine. Once the plane was in the air it quickly accelerated to speeds well over 500mph, over 100mph faster than anything in the air. As long as the pilot flew the plane well, it simply flew right past the opposing fighters and tore into the bombers with its heavy armament of four 30mm cannons. In the hands of an even better pilot, the plane could run down P-51s so fast that the opposing pilots simply couldn't get out of the way in time. Me262 Operations
Me262 Variants
Me262 Post-war variants
(credits: US Navy History Center) | Unlike the British and American Air Forces, the Luftwaffe never developed four-engine bombers in any significant numbers, and was thus unable to conduct an effective long-range strategic bombing campaign against either the Russians or the Western Allies. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the most versatile and widely-produced fighter aircraft operated by the Luftwaffe and was designed when biplanes were still standard. Many versions of this aircraft were made. The engine, a liquid cooled Mercedes-Benz DB 601, initially generated up to almost 1,000 hp (750 kW). This power increased as direct fuel injection was introduced to the engines. The kill ratio (almost 9:1) made this plane far superior than any of the other German fighters during the war. In this regard it was followed by the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 at 4:1. This plane had relatively short wings and was powered by a radial BMW engine. The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka was a main asset for Blitzkrieg, able to place bombs with deadly accuracy. The leader of the Luftwaffe was Hermann Göring, a World War I fighter ace and former commander of Manfred von Richthofen's famous JG 1 (aka "The Flying Circus") who had joined the Nazi party in its early stages. Turn-based WW2 naval game, extension to the classic Submarine game (Battleship game) where ships/planes/subs can move. Contains plenty of game missions, game campaigns and 40 ship, submarine, airplane ana port artillery types, with combat maps up to 96X96 large. Fashion Tycoon is a business fashion management game. You'll build your multinational fashion company, destroy competition, hire employees, fashion models and businessman, establish company objects, run fashion shows and brand campaigns. Turn-based space strategy game represents World War 4 conflict on tactical level. Tycoon Strategy Game - build your own world business empire as an arms dealer tycoon. Travel around the world, trade with more than 400 weapon systems, hire secretaries, bodyguards, lawyers, fighters and tanks, establish companies and search for criminals and hostages. In the summer and autumn of 1940, the Luftwaffe lost the Battle of Britain over the skies of England, the first all-air battle. Following the military failures on the Eastern Front, from 1942 onwards, the Luftwaffe went into a steady, gradual decline that saw it outnumbered and overwhelmed by the sheer number of Allied aircraft being deployed against it. Towards the end of the war, the Luftwaffe was no longer a major factor, and despite fielding advanced aircraft like the Messerschmitt Me 262, Heinkel He 162, Arado Ar 234, and Me 163 was crippled by fuel shortages and a lack of trained pilots. There was also very little time to develop these aircraft, and could not be produced fast enough by the Germans, so the jets and rockets proved to be "too little too late." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||