Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/15

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Re: There's something about German design ...
From: marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)
Date: Mon Jan 15 16:20:02 2007
References: <c0c.eba5011.32dd64b8@aol.com>

At 06:14 PM 1/15/2007, ISILVERMN@aol.com wrote:
 >On 1/15/07, Marc Small wrote:
 >
 ><<The German jets were duds.  To my knowledge, none ever shot down an 
 >Allied
 >fighter, though Allied fighters shot down a number of ME-262's. >>
 >
 >Not a fair agrument Marc.  The Me-262's were under direct orders to go 
 >after
 >the bombers, and expressly NOT to engage the 
allied fighters.  In the context
 >of the numbers of 262's available, they were quite successful.

A VERY fair comparison, Ira.  The ME-262's had a 
lousy record against bombers due to their short 
legs, and were then shot down when they returned 
to refuel.  Had Germany possessed sufficient fuel 
to allow itself to have prop fighters guarding 
the jet bases, this might not have been the case, but such it was.

The reason for the poor record of the ME-262 
against bombers is simple:  the B-17/B-24 flights 
were flying in at roughly 180 mph, while the jets 
came in at 400 mph, giving them only a few microseconds to aim and fire.

WWII in the air in the ETO was a battle of 
attrition.  Had Germany fielded a jet force in 
1942 (as it might have done), then the battle 
would have been more fairly fought but, by 1944 
and 1945, the minor annoyance of the 262's was 
just that, a minor annoyance and a case of far too little and far too late.

The Germans lost this battle by a failure of 
doctrine, training, equipment, and support.  They 
did not lose it from ability:  the oncoming 
German fighters, such as the Pfiel, were 
outstanding and the better German pilots, though 
few in number, were great.  But they lost it on 
the grand scale and not on the lesser point that 
an ME-262 was a remarkably good aircraft.

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!



Replies: Reply from raimo.m.korhonen at uusikaupunki.fi (Raimo K) ([Leica] Re: There's something about German design ...)
In reply to: Message from ISILVERMN at aol.com (ISILVERMN@aol.com) ([Leica] Re: There's something about German design ...)