The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (Swallow) was the world's
first operational jet fighter, being the most advanced aircraft
of its time to fly and achieve operational status.
Design of Messerschmitt Me 262 was commenced in 1938 when
the German air ministry (RLM) issued
Messerschmitt
with a design contract for an airframe capable of fitting
two radical new axial flow turbojets that
BMW
had at the design stage. It was thought that these new
BMW
turbojets would produce in the region of 600 KG of thrust
and would be available for installation by December 1939.
From the beginning the
Messerschmitt
team envisaged that the design would be a possible candidate
as, interceptor fighter, and when presented to the technical
office on the 7th of June 1939 as the project 1065, and the
suitability of the proposal for the interceptor fighter role
was emphasised although no operational capability had been
called for by the original contract.
The project 1065 outlined an all metal low wing cantilever
monoplane with a fully retractable tailwheel and undercarriage
and two
BMW
P 3302 turbojets in the wing roots. On the strength of
of this proposal,
Messerschmitt
was ordered to proceed with the construction of a mockup of
project 1065, which was duly inspected by the representatives
of the technical office in January 1940, and some weeks later,
on the first of March 1940 a contract was awarded for detail
design and construction of three airframes flight testing
and a static test airframe. The official designation Me 262
been allocated to the project. At the same time,
Heinkel
received a prototype contract
Heinkel
He 280 design, of which had been proceeding independently
of work at
Messerschmitt's
Augsburg factory.
By this time it had become clear that
BMW
had been over optimistic in its forecast of the time necessary
to develop a turbojet of sufficient reliability and power
for actual flight testing. The
BMW
P 3302 powerplant itself, which had now been officially
designated
BMW
003 had a considerably larger diameter than originally
expected, and in consequence, it installation in the wing
roots as planned by the
Messerschmitt
team was no longer practical. Consequently a complete redesign
of the project was undertaken and submitted to the technical
office on the 15th of May 1940. The new proposal envisaged
a larger aircraft with the turbojets housed in a centrally
mounted nacelles situated at approximately a quarter span.
The fuselage was an all metal semi-monocoque of near triangular
section, with rounded corners, and the wing, which passed
through the wide fuselage base, was also an all metal structure
with a single built up I. section the mainspar and flush riveted,
stressed skinning. The mainspar embodied a few degrees of
sweep back outboard of the turbojet nacelles. The outer wing
panels, being both swept and tapered and carrying automatic
leading-edge slots and Frise type ailerons. The main wheels
retracted inwards into the underside of the fuselage and the
tailwheel retracted aft.
This new proposition was acceptable to the technical office
at the beginning of July 1940, and the first metal cut was
at
Messerschmitt
Augsburg factory on the three Me 262 prototypes. During the
following month, but the results being obtained by
BMW,
with the proposed powerplant for the new aircraft were discouraging
initial bench running of the
BMW
003 had now revealed a maximum thrust of only 300 KG.
Nevertheless, in the summer of 1939,
Junkers,
had also been the recipient of a turbojet development contract,
and this
Jumbo
004 was foreseen as an alternative powerplant for the
Me 262 in the event of
BMW,
failing to overcome the difficulties with the
BMW
003. The
Jumbo
004 was being developed under Dr.
Anselm
Franz and embodied no novel or uncertain features in order
that it could be brought to production status as quickly as
conceivable. Even at some sacrifice in performance. Like the
BMW 003.
The prerequisite was for 600 KG of thrust.
The
Jumbo
004 was first run in November 1940, but quickly ran into
severe difficulties, and thus the availability of flight cleared
turbojets could not be predicted, in February 1941. The decision
was taken to complete the first Me 262 prototype with two
Walter
HWK R II -203b. rocket motors in stead of the
BMW
003 turbojets. The
Walter
HWK R II -203b gave 650 KG of thrust. But as this powerplant
also had to be cleared for flying, the suggestion to perform
the initial flight testing of the Me 262 with rocket motors
was discarded as it seemed likely that
BMW
003 turbojets would be available almost as soon as the
Walter
HWK R II -203b rockets and little time would be saved.
This clip shows the Messerschmitt Me 262 on a Luftwaffe airfield,
preparing to take off.
The Warplanes of the Third Reich.
ISBN-10: 0385057822
German Aircraft of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0370000242
Hitler's Luftwaffe.
ISBN-10: 051718771X
For a complete list of
sources
