INTERESTING VIDEO - FLYING THE ME-262

[Phil Perry]

Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown, who died not long ago, detailed flying the 262 at the end of WW2. . .said the engine life was ten hours, and whilst taxying out for a flight, one of them exploded !

 

 

 

[kasper]

And that's why the current manufactured 262 use modern engines

 

 

[Yenn]

Wow!

 

It looks much better in the air than all those old photos of it on the ground.

 

 

[old man emu]

A very interesting fuselage cross-section. I wonder what its benefits were.

 

 

 

[Birdseye]

I've read in a number of sources that 10 hours for German engines of that era. Apparently the V-1 aka Doodlebug engine life could be shorter than 30 minutes. Good job they only needed 15 minutes to target.

 

 

[Oscar]

OME: I moved the AWM's 262 from Melbourne to Canberra, and had a decent opportunity to crawl all over it. Since that one was flown by the British as a test aircraft (the British markings, along with the German markings, are still visible on the airframe!) - it could have been the one Brown flew.

 

The 262 was designed and built - in separate plants - to be assembled in the field - and it's as rough as guts as a finished product.. The 'fields' were mainly grass strips, intended to be 'secret' airfields, and that's why all the wheels are very large - hence the fuselage shape: to contain the wheels!. When the gear is tucked up, it consumes a large part of the fuselage volume.

 

I personally consider the 262 to be one of the three most sensuous aircraft I've ever personally seen, after the SR71 and line-ball with the F7F Tigercat. It's even ahead of the Hughes Racer in my opinion - though the Hughes Racer is like a cut and polished diamond by comparison for finish - I saw it under restoration at the NASM.. In the flesh, the 262 has every line so 'right' to they eye - just don't look at the detail..

 

 

[cooperplace]

agree re the 262; also it calls to mind Keith Miller's comments about pressure in cricket, altho' he was probably talking about 109s.

 

You wouldn't include the Mosquito in your list?

 

 

[Marty_d]

I personally consider the 262 to be one of the three most sensuous aircraft I've ever personally seen, after the SR71 and line-ball with the F7F Tigercat.

In the eye of the beholder... my list would be incomplete without the Mk9 Spitfire, De Havilland DH-88 and Avro Vulcan. Actually who am I kidding, I'm a sIut for aircraft, there's no way I could limit it to top 3... hell I even find the Caribou attractive in it's own special way.

 

 

[Yenn]

The old De Haviland Comet stands out for looking good in my opinion. The jet one I mean although the twin is also pretty

 

 

[Oscar]

agree re the 262; also it calls to mind Keith Miller's comments about pressure in cricket, altho' he was probably talking about 109s.You wouldn't include the Mosquito in your list?

I absolutely LOVE Mozzies ( my now deceased ex-Father-in-Law was awarded a DFC for his work in one, did most of his photo reconnaissance work at '350 mph and less than 50 feet', and about the only thing he would wax eloquent about was his admiration of the Mozzie.) I was involved in the AWM restoration (and moved it from Sydney to Canberra), and visited Salisbury Hall and another Mozzie restoration site in the UK as part of that work. I think I've actually seen about 5 Mozzies in conditions ranging from very full 'museum' - not flying - class restorations or in lesser states of restoration.

 

To me, the Mozzie isn't 'sensuous' - more like 'very, very 'right' (though the tailfeathers are too small to be a complete visual balance, and indeed were not adequately powerful for slow-speed flight - an engine-out of take-off was almost always fatal, and my FIL suffered a broken back from a landing incident when a misjudgement of W&B for a new large camera put the CoG too far aft and he had to land way too fast in order to keep control, and there wasn't enough airfield.) To me, they look a bit like a finely-crafted, very effective tool - say, an Everwing hammer.. The FW190 is also like that, to me.