First Jet Aircraft

However, the curved wing and turbo thrusters of the combat aircraft gave it an unsurpassed 540 km/h (869 km/h) airspeed - making it 193 km/h (120 mph) quicker than the propeller-driven P-51 Mustang, which was the best US warplane. Previously, historical sources had attributed the delays to Adolf Hitler's order to construct a variant of the Me 262 for bombers.

When the Me 262 went into battle on 25 July 1944, its benefits became apparent to both Germans and Allies. Its four 30-millimeter cannon also enabled it to rip up any enemy aircraft in sight, and it could also bear R4M "Hurricane" missiles to shoot slow Allies and destroy their airborne formation.

Germans who flew the Me 262 finally won 502 flights against 102 defeats. According to Luftwaffe Magazine, the Gloster Meteor jet and the US Lockheed P-80 did just as well or better than the Allies who made their debut very later in the year. However, less than 300 of more than 1,400 Me 262 manufactured landed in battle.

US air raids devastated several hundred German jet planes on the surface as they bombarded both plants and airports. In the end, the last Me 262 had to leave German motorways from temporarily base points because the airports were in rubble. Lots of Me 262 never arrived on the front line wing because German traffic on the road was practically devastated at the end of the Second World War.

The shortage of fuels, replacement parts and skilled pilot also paralyzed the possible effects of the Me 262 on the battle. US troops took at least nine Me 262 prisoners and hired several Germans to pilot them. Thus it was guaranteed that the inheritance of the Me 262 would continue by affecting the first generation of the US military's own jet aircraft.