Me.262 fighter jet: shame and degradation of the Luftwaffe
The future, its forerunners and false prophets
The Third Reich fighter jets had nothing to do with their descendants. Me.262 “Schwalbe” was created under the influence of its predecessors and combined the characteristics of piston-era aircraft, unacceptable for a jet aviation. First of all, it is noticeable in its wing with a thick profile and low sweep.
After the war, no one used the technical solutions incorporated in the Me.262 design. None of the post-war fighters had wings with such a profile or nacelles located under the planes (outside the main landing gear).
With the jet age, the Schwalbe was related only to the principle of operation of a turbojet engine. Everything else was a lie.
Experimental model, which in the confusion gave "good" to start the series.
Haste cost the Luftwaffe dearly. And the Schwalbe itself turned out to be a dead-end branch of aviation development.
Reactive Me.262 and piston Thunderbolt P-47D had a normal take-off weight of about 6,5 tons
The wing area of the Thunderbolt was 28 square meters. meters In "Schwalbe" - 22 square. m
Record weight "Thunderbolt" by the standards of single-engine piston fighters was compensated by the size of its wing, an area of 1,6 times larger than that of La-5.
Designers "Thunder" no illusions. They had to create a fighter to confront the same piston aircraft. Despite the huge mass, “fatty” kept the proportions and interrelation of characteristics peculiar to its rivals. Of the benefits is the proportional growth of the “payload,” which meant powerful armament and equipment, expensively richer compared to lighter machines.
Top down - P-51 Mustang, Me.109, P-47, FW-190
With specific indicators 220-230 kg / m2 The Thunderbolt could be considered a successful fighter while it was the only type of combat vehicle capable of effectively escorting bombers and fighting at heights over 8 km. At the very least, the P-47 could “raise” a significant amount weapons, fuel, avionics and various systems for long-range flight and to make some vigorous maneuvers at high altitudes.
With the advent of other fighters equipped with “high-altitude” turbocharged engines, the Tandera quickly launched the initiative to the more balanced Mustangs. Along with Lavochkins, Messerschmitts and Spitfires, they preferred to enter into battle with values of the specific load of 200 and less than kg per square meter. meter wing.
The wing load of the jet Me.262 approached 300 kg / m2
The Germans slashed his wings without looking. The load on the Me.262 wing exceeded the specific indicators of all jet aircraft - ten years ahead! All MiG-15 and "Sabre", which were created for air combat, and not for flying in a straight line.
Value 300 kg/m2 corresponded to the first generation of supersonic fighters (MiG-19, the second half of the 1950-s).
But supersonic aircraft engines had afterburner chambers and developed crazy cravings. And how did the Luftwafl optimism begin?
Howls, whistles, but does not pull
"Junkers" Jumo-004 - the world's first serial turbojet engine with KNFX 880.
Run in a large series of turbofan engines with such characteristics in the most neutral epithets can be described as an adventure.
Two “whistles” under the wing provided “Schwalbe” with a total of less than 1,8 tons of thrust. This is very bad. There can be no comparison with the fighters of the post-war period. "Schwalbe" was inferior in thrust to the piston peers!
On paper, the Me.262 overtook piston fighters at 150 km / h. But any maneuver is always associated with a loss of speed. And again, the Swallow did not have time to pick up speed.
Desperately pulling the fuel knob was fraught. The sudden movement caused the flame to stall and stop the Jumo-004. For Schwalbe, this meant a fire engine and another disaster for non-combat reasons.
Painfully stretched for a second. All the pilot could do was wait and wait while low-powered engines accelerate his plane. But will the enemy fighters wait?
Unlike turbojet engines, piston thrust was created by a propeller group
Even without analyzing the geometry and efficiency of the propellers and the mass of the air thrown by them, it is known that under normal conditions thrust from the take-off mass is required for flight under normal conditions. The thrust of fighters of the WWII period could reach 0,5.
The larger the fighter, the more powerful the engine. The heaviest ("Corsair", "Thunderbolt"), whose take-off weight was close to the indicators "Schwalbe", used units with appropriate sizes and indicators.
18-cylinder engines with 2000 or more horsepower, which rotated 4-meter propellers, provided thrust over 3 tons in those modes where speed was typically set.
Against 2х880 kilograms of force developed by the Jumo-004 thrust. The difference is one and a half times fatal in real conditions.
Due to insufficient engine thrust, Schwalbe required runways with a length of at least 1500 meters. From the idea of powder accelerators quickly abandoned - such jokes all got the order. The impossibility of basing Mee.262 on ordinary field airfields put the Reich's air force, which was already breathing its last, in an absolutely desperate position.
Ubermenshi built the "fighter of the future", not having the necessary experience and technology. The result was a replica of a heavy piston fighter with cut off wings and an exceptionally frail motor.
But how he whistled, how he whistled!
Whistling and shaking
In theory, the advantage of jet thrust is to achieve near-sonic and supersonic speeds. But it had nothing to do with German crafts. According to reports, the Schwalbe designated the speed limit 869 km / h (less than 0,8M). When it was exceeded, "strange" effects began, such as deafening blows, loss of control and delaying into an uncontrolled dive.
German ubeninenergy cut the wings, forgetting to change their profile.
In the era of jet aircraft, much sharper profiles and wings are used that use laminar flow. To improve the road stability and prevent the spread of air flow disturbances over the wing, various tricks are used in the form of forkiils and aerodynamic crests.
6 combs on the wing consoles of the subsonic MiG-17, obviously made just like that?
To find out these moments and features of the flight at transonic speeds, it was necessary to carry out more aerodynamic tests, and not to rush to launch in the Messerschmitt-262 series.
It is curious that during the war years only one North American managed to design and launch a fighter with a laminar wing. The aircraft was called "Mustang". Although the P-51 did not fly at speeds at which there was a strong need for such a wing, the laminar flow helped reduce drag in flight and lower fuel consumption. What mattered in the long-range raids when accompanied by bombers.
By enemies from the belly of the ta-ta
The only tactic to use such ambiguous fighters was an attack at high speed on the "boxes" of strategic bombers. But here story Schwalbe acquired a dramatic turn.
Creating the "Luftwaflu", the Germans made a mistake in everything, even in the choice of weapons.
At first glance, it sounds powerful: four automatic guns caliber 30 mm.
650 shots per minute, 4 barrel = 13 kg of red-hot lead per second!
The MK-108 aircraft cannon was exceptionally light, only 63 kg. The German system weighed less than the Allied air cannons at much smaller caliber. Created by Soviet barbarians, the WN-23 hardly fit into the 66 kg, another well-known gun “Ispano” of the caliber 20 mm had weight with a magazine under the 70 kg!
Ease, compactness, fire!
The secret to the lightness of the MK 108 was that it was missing ... the trunk.
The trim length of 540 mm was found to be sufficient for the 30-mm air cannon, which in its purpose required flat shooting. The length of the so-called The "trunk" was only 18 calibers. For comparison, the "Hispano Ciuiza" had a barrel length 80 caliber!
The initial velocity of the projectile (540 m / s) contrasted sharply with the performance of other air cannons that were recognized during the war. The Soviet ShVAK - 800 m / s. In "Hispano-Suize" - 880 m / s. Domestic large-caliber H-37 - up to 900 m / s!
Let me explain, here the conversation is not about the calibers and the power of ammunition. Taking into account the conditions of air combat and the lack of time for aiming, the shells of the air cannons must fly along a strictly predictable trajectory. Aircraft guns are simply required to have
Compactness, manufacturability, an abundance of simple stamped parts, a high rate of fire - everything did not matter. Uberpushka MK 108 could not main thing, for which any firearm is created. Launch projectiles with the necessary speed so that they reach the enemy.
As experiments have shown, the deviation of the MK 108 projectile at a distance of 1000 meters was more than 40 meters!
The target range of the gun (150-200 meters) was several times smaller than the target range of defensive machine guns of bombers.
Another MK 108 problem was frequent failures. Because of the cold, one of the four guns fired at high altitudes. Although anyone cares ... The gun had problems and more serious.
Taran - the weapon of heroes
Shooting from the MK 108 at a calculated distance required experience and ice exposure. Taking into account the tactics of Me. 262, attacking at maximum speed, aim and shoot had at the last second before the collision with the target.
In practice, after the first shot, the Me.262 pilots preferred to turn aside. The next moment, they were concerned about another problem - no matter how they were finished off by the escort Mustangs.
Instead of the formidable weapon 4х30 mm each Me.262 carried four useless "crackers". In the best traditions of German engineering turned into 300 kg of dead ballast.
Mk 108 is in fact the best that was created by the gloomy German gunsmiths. Other air guns of a similar caliber, suitable for installation on a fighter, were in principle absent. The only possible competitor, the obsolete MK 103 by that time, did not fit due to the prohibitive mass (141 kg) and insufficient rate of fire. There was the possibility of returning to smaller calibers, the very successful MK.151 / 20, but then the Nazis, as they say, suffered ...
The total inefficiency of cannon armament has given rise to experiments with unguided aircraft rockets. The missiles, at least, were launched from a distance of 600 ... 1000 and from the "Fortress" system, when there was still enough time to aim, without risking ramming the target and not being substituted for machine-gun fire. There are no exact numbers on the combat use of the R4M system, however, given the post-war interest of the air forces of many countries in equipping fighter-interceptors with NAR units, the missiles could be the only effective Me.262 weapon.
Technique created by geniuses
"Whistle", inferior in terms of thrust-to-weight ratio, acceleration qualities and maneuverability of piston fighters. Armed with guns without a barrel. Requiring two types of fuel, highly qualified specialists for maintenance and high-quality airfields (which looked especially funny at the end of the war). And also - mandatory fighter cover with "ordinary" Me-109s, because. the jet plane after takeoff was completely helpless in the air. All the time until its speed exceeded the speed of piston fighters.
In order not to die in the first seconds after takeoff, an experienced ace who had completed a retraining course and was familiar with all the features of the Schwalbe had to be in the cockpit of the Me.262. Amazing takeoff manipulations. Absolute avoidance of maneuvering in the horizontal plane and any maneuvers that lead to loss of speed. One wrong move of the RUD is death. Landing with one engine running is death.
Pilot ace. Sniper pilot Such every day was getting smaller.
The bottom edge of the engine nacelle hung half a meter above the ground: instead of an airplane, the Germans turned out to be a vacuum cleaner. For the operation of the Schwalbe, long and clean runways of concrete were required. The requirement, it should be noted, is very arrogant for aviation during the Second World War period.
The creators of the "Luftwaffe" knocked out recognition and funding for themselves, demonstrating to the leadership of their own "Robot Fedor” is a project that only superficially resembled the technology of the future. Having neither the necessary materials, nor technologies, nor even a concept of the principles of operation of such equipment.
In an effort to impress the authorities and "push through" the plane at any cost, the creators of Me.262 made gross miscalculations even in such matters as the composition of weapons. Where, it would seem, only proven and known solutions were used.
This is not about "childhood diseases." All of the above are incorrigible deficiencies in the design of the Me.262, due to the inability to build a combat-capable jet in 1944.
The interest of the Germans in jet engines was explained by the deplorable state of their aircraft manufacturing and engine-building industries. In which it was easier to run such crafts, than to create your own analogue of "Griffin" or "Double Wasp."
Same age "Schwalbe" - fighter "Gloucester Meteor"
All of the above fully applies to the British project "Gloucester Meteor". Who made the first combat missions simultaneously with the German, in July 1944 year.
The “Meteor” F.1 was distinguished by a more successful design, primarily due to the “Welland” engines, which had the best specific indicators in 1,5 times. Rolls-Royce "Weather" developed 720 kgf thrust with a dry weight 385 kg. Against 880 kgf with dry weight 719 kg at the German Jumo-004.
To the credit of the Royal Air Force, they realized the experimental nature of the car and did not build far-reaching conclusions. Nobody tried to build "Meteora" thousands of pieces. The jet machines did not take part in the battles against piston fighters: the combat missions of the Meteor were quickly reduced to the pursuit of Fau missiles flying strictly in a straight line.
Due to the continuous evolution and replacement of the "Welland" on the TRD of the new generation "Meteora" remained in service until the middle of the 50-s. Of course, the late modification of F.8 had little to do with the “Meteor” of the 1944 model.
Meteora, like Schwalbe, has sunk into oblivion. And no one else built such monsters.
The great future of jet aircraft
It was impossible to build a full-fledged fighter jet in the 1944 year.
But it became possible in 1947.
The first domestic turbojet serial engine VK-1 (РД-45) exhaled 2,6 tons of flames and fire with a dry weight of 872 kg. It was different from German crafts. four times a great resource, it did not require complex tricks using two types of fuel (takeoff on gasoline, the main flight - on kerosene / diesel. fuel from Jumo-004).
Everything that was before is just an experiment, a technical search. During the years of WWII, each of the great powers conducted research in the field of jet aircraft. And only the Germans decided to launch models into mass production and send them into battle against the most advanced piston-era aircraft.
Required quality growth: 2,5 times the best specific performance with 3 times the absolute value of thrust! These were the initial conditions for the creation of a Jet Fighter.
Only such figures opened up prospects for creating legends like the MiG-15. Which, along with the "Sabra" forever crossed out the era of piston aircraft, so great was their separation from their predecessors. And then ... And then - only higher, the aircraft went to the stars.
Information