Inside The Cockpit - Messerschmitt Me 262 [DIRECTOR'S CUT]

today's guest stands at the stepping stone of a new era in aviation history since the first power flight the piston engine happened the center of the aircraft we invented the rotary the inline and the radial engine and these power plants were the pulsating heart of any aircraft but when world war ii came into its closing phase a new contender appeared first based on theory and experimentation power was suddenly no longer a product of cylinder and propellers but came of the wailing shriek of the jet turbine the Messerschmitt me-262 [Music] hello everybody and welcome back to military aviation history I'm your host Bismark and today I'm at the flew craft schleissheim part of the Deutsche ba z 'm in munich looking at an iconic aircraft from world war ii while the Messerschmitt me-262 was not the first jet aircraft it was the first to be fielded and used in combat in significant numbers of both historical and technological significance let's explore the story of this very special aircraft and then have a look inside this one found here at the museum moved the Messerschmitt 262 we often concentrate on a true year on 1944 to 1945 and of course this is when the plane was introduced in the Luftwaffe when it flew against the Allies when it saw its success and failures however there is there's one point I want to make clear of this video is that the story of the 262 is far more than that to understand this birds legacy and history we need cracked open the whole story from the late 1930s over to those final months in world war 2 of course I can touch upon everything but I hope to shed some light on the most important aspects and also highlight those elements in the development of the me-262 that are usually not discussed Germany as many other nations had been experimenting with the concept and design of jet turbine since the late 1920s much of this early work was conceptual and there was enough success for at least the pioneers to press onwards nevertheless the overwhelming majority in fact the whole industry really remained locked on the piston engine in Germany initially only Heinkel developed a jet aircraft the Heinkel 178 powered by the high co s free a jet engine and this was the first aircraft to fly before turbojet but it failed actually to make a lasting impression in 1939 interestingly a year earlier in mid 1948 the German Air Ministry put plans into motion and would result in the 262 in a meeting with representatives of the industry they are being told to explore the possibility of integrating a jet by an engine into an aircraft design Messerschmitt as well as other companies put to paper their first concepts featuring one or two engine designs to companies in fact worked on providing an engine BMW food a subsidiary Brahmo final product shown here and Junkers final product shown here in 1949 the Air Ministry submits technician rating and technical specification on a future jet aircraft capable of seeding 900 kilometers an hour from April of that year it is still peacetime message with begins designing the P 65 now it should be noted that throughout this time Willy Messerschmitt is joined by various aeronautical engineers that often do not get any credit for the help in designing the eventual maybe - six - there's volume avoid well frank dangle Carl Altaf lighter Eisenman and of a cliff show knows only a few months after this in June 1949 P 10 65 is familiar to the air ministry it is a twin-engine interceptor in a taildragger configuration anticipated to go on a maximum of 950 kilometers an hour with endurance of one hour and armed with one mg 151 and one mg one 520 that might sound puny for world war ii but it was heavy firepower for a time when most aircraft were only using guns in the vicinity of 30 cal construction began in september 1939 just as Germany invades Poland kicking of world war ii in europe only a little while later construction began of the humo or four engine thus the groundwork for the me-262 was laid even before the war started although naturally the design would go through various iterations in the coming years of the 262 we can see a split in the development of the fuselage and a jet turbine right around this point in time and this is going to become a major critical point in the years forward the design makes good progress overall in early 1940 the Air Ministry orders 20 prototypes to be built and the final specifications of the plane are drawn up amongst these are some interesting novelties such as a drag chute in fact and air brakes neither of which retained in the eventual design around this time to as significant upscaling of the weaponry as proposed with free MK 108 instead of the earlier lighter armament by June of that year the first prototypes p10 65 v1 and v2 are in the works and the first engines are also being tested one of the most critical design changes comes in November 1914 the engines are now started to be hanged below the wings rather than worked into them this made it easier to produce and would give the me-262 its trademark looks and proved to be although aerodynamically not ideal of great value for maintenance by the end of the year next to the prototypes the Air Ministry already submits orders for a small pre-production series yet while the fuselage progresses and nicely the engine still lag behind and BMW is not able to keep the schedule just a few months later the me-262 conducts its first flight but it is in fact driven by a piston engine the anaemic 700 horsepower you would 210 and this is enough to well-tested general air characteristics of the airframe the Air Ministry also starts to push the companies working on the project to up their pace it deserves to be mentioned that the Heinkel 280 flew in March 1941 also equipped with two engines the Heinkel s Abe s yet when approached by the Air Ministry to on whether he believes that the 280 was ready Henkel remains skeptical in citing the engines as his major concern nowadays some consider this to be the defining moment at torpedoed the Heinkel yet to the expense of the later - 6 - but we have to be cautious there considering their personalities is unlikely yes that message would have been equally honest but the Heinkel aircraft did have its problems - just because it flew in March 1941 didn't mean it was ready just like Oscars first jet-powered flight two months later in Britain didn't mean that the RAF already had and yet in any case the Heinkel jet is kept in the race until early night for free at this point the development of the 262 is going well but the project is about to run into trouble both BMW and Junkers work on two separate engines and have relative success but it's not progressing as smoothly as hoped while BMW struggles with the performance and reliability Junkers is instructed to ensure they can actually produce the energy with less scarce resources and it being less fuel consuming and this is going to be one of those main problems with getting the two 6-2 itself into the air in fact seeing the time frame pushed back significantly in order to accelerate the process of getting the plane airborne Messerschmitt approaches the air ministry asking whether he could install an experimental rocket engine as an interim solution but this suggestion is denied by mid-1942 BMW is in fact out of the race and cancels and engines during a first flight with their engine the p3 302 it failed miserably and the pilot who still managed to land safely only because of the auxiliary piston engine in the nose and redesigns east-end success as the 109 all free jet engine but in any case not used on a 2 6 2 the complexities of the power plans and this failure in particular tempers the spirit of the Air Ministry whom now canceled the majority of their orders and instructs further testing coming to the rescue of meta Schmidt where the Junkers engines as they allow the aircraft to actually undertake its first flight in a pure jet configuration on the 18th of July 1942 based on this first test flight the aircraft has changed from a tail dragger to its final tricycle design and the plane systems like radios weapons and armor protection are drawn up a dive break is still in the picture but the drag chute was lost on the way the Air Ministry also regains confidence in orders new pre-production machines overwhelmingly telling everybody to just hurry up and actually it anticipates a monthly output of 20 machines by 1944 so to sum up the present situation we are now in the closing months of 1940 - while the junker engines work they are not yet ready for serious production plane itself is shaping up but has yet to iron out many of its kinks especially its behavior at high speeds the air ministry aims for an introduction in 1944 which given how things turned out to be was a good estimate the Luftwaffe pilots start to push for an introduction in 1943 neither the plane nor in fact the engine is already you got to remember that the pilots look at the tactical dimension of this aircraft and those that to get to fly it fly the best and most reliable prototypes while the machine might work well if this does not mean that it is ready for combat duty this is where I will have to touch upon the good all discussion of who killed the me-262 I don't think there is so much who or any sort of unique causal explanation but a combination of factors that ultimately ensure that the me-262 comes in at a time it does in the past most have blamed Hitler chief among the evidence was of course gallons autobiography sighting the incident where Hitler seized the aircraft for the first time and tells everyone to make it into a bomber this story is often repeated without really a consideration of the overall context without taking any a way of the plane that might fall upon Hitler the incident might very well have happened just as Galan told us although there are in fact at least three maybe four different accounts of the same meeting that I know of let's expand our scope just a little bit I've already alluded to the issues Messerschmitt has with the aircraft this is the first Jets the Germans have that they test to such a rigorous degree Jets are new unexplored territory mistakes are made and experimentation not tried and proven concepts allowed them to advance likewise the engines are the cornerstone of what is achievable at this point for the last 30 odd years everyone has been building piston engines all the old rules now go out of the window with the turbine throughout the development of the aircraft the project keeps being slowed down because the people that work on it negate on charter territory it is only by the summer of 1943 that the first new Juma will force the less resource-intensive version start rolling out for testing and at the same time without having the engines the Air Ministry already orders a run of 100 machines only weeks later it transpires that the aircraft still has no pressurized cockpit which would be required indeed the plane is still lacking a truly finalized concept of the most essential elements there is another striking aspect that is often forgotten when we talk about the me-262 and its role as either a bomber or fighter in february 1943 and notice goes out to the industry stipulating at any future fighter design needs to be capable of carrying bombs as a fighter bomber in march 1943 Messerschmitts and the air ministry agree that a 262 needs to be be capable of equipping at least a 500 kilogram bomb Messerschmitt himself submits and notice expanding the scope of the 262 to a fighter bomber role just days later and in May 1943 this is a formalized project in the project began fear calling the me-262 above a fighter and a Yabu a fighter bomber in September Messerschmitt submits a fervor conscious of the - 6 - as a fighter bomber carrying over 1 1000 kilogram bomb or 2 500 kilogram bombs as a reminder Hitler's confrontation with the 262 was only in November of that year which means that not only that Messerschmitt have eight months in which the company knew that the plane to be accepted in the first place had to be able to carry bombs but it was actively incorporating this aspect into the design this was still during the development cycle and not after it and the 262 was not ready for production at this point in time after seeing the - 6 - of course Hitler's insistence certainly had an influence and that the planes main role was now shifted from a fighter role to that of a fighter bomber this is the effect that Hitler has on the project and it is not a prude however this does not mean that the planes start to roll out to the front line units with any additional delay the messerschmitt company knew as I said about the requirements months ago had agreed to them and had made sure they would be feasible likewise the pylon saw the actual devices carrying the bombs they aren't exactly jet signs and they can be made available very quickly never mind what you an absolutely silly idea it was to insist on bombs on the 2/6 tour this is not the cause for the delay the cause is the simple fact that the technology is cutting edge fully understood and in need of substantial experimentation and the events surrounding the me-262 creates this dire situation in which the Luftwaffe and the Air Ministry evermore desperately try to get the aircraft up and running but simply running themselves into a wall of what is humanly feasible and what is not given the circumstances of the time as the aircraft is brought to the front lines they are now used as fighter bombers with mixed success however as a fighter platform the aircraft shows remarkable promise on the 18th of July any a little while after becoming operational and me-262 succeeds in shooting down a mosquito for the Germans this is a telling success as the mozzie was a constant annoyance that had yet to be countered by the Luftwaffe while the Obama operations run in France on a relatively small scale another comet trial is running at home it takes another two months into a September 1944 for the aircraft to be fully cleared for front-line service and even that is with a few caveats again the engines the gear and the weapons remain a cause for concern this tells us that the aircraft was not yet ready in the traditional sense at this point Messerschmitt also has yet to provide a trainer version of the aircraft making conversion to it even more difficult until now no pilot had experience with a jet aircraft and Disko again causes delays and prevents a rapid introduction into the force the production of it the me-262 is taking blows and decentralization thereof has already begun this is made even worse when the Allies start to push into Germany in late 1945 a whole production highway between Stuttgart and Munich in the south of Germany is established and this does give the Germans the theoretical numbers that they need to put out a reasonably strong fighting force all in all about six thousand new engines are built around 1,400 airframes are completed it only about 400 planes make it as one finalized piece to the squadrons I want to quickly talk about the aircraft we have here in schleissheim as it is a unique piece of history next to one that was recently restored in the US this is probably the most remarkable me-262 left in the world as it is fully original and in perfect condition the aircraft itself was built in late 1944 and is a perfect representation of this sort of decentralized production I talked about earlier the fuselage for example here was built in Austria in a subterranean Factory while the wings here are building your Stuttgart obviously a lot of the construction was handled by forced labour it flew with jd7 as vice at the Rhine and in the end of April 1944 the pilot deserted to Switzerland he landed in Dubin Dorf and even though he had to force a hard touch down the gear held firm and the swiss army inspected the aircraft but never really sought to put it into the sky the runway at Juba Dorf was too short anyway and there was never any attempt to bring it somewhere else thus it was kept there on display in 54 it was gifted to the deutsche museum here in Munich and it received a protective coating not very pretty but it served for the time in the early 1980s the museum then commenced restoration work sadly and no one is sure nowadays why exactly things happened as they did when they uncovered the original paint coat the staff only took a few photographs and then removed the original cam of 1945 as well back then we knew even what restoration works done now so this was sadly a simple reality that mistakes were made regardless a new camera was added based on the original pictures from the aircraft from 1945 with the complex history of this aircraft just prior to opening the new exhibition in 84 the Directorate decided to over paint the swastika markings on the tail and made no attempt to place the aircraft into its historic context this was very much sort of a product of its time in recent years the museum has begun to develop a more critical approach to the me-262 and for 2021 when the new exhibition is planned to open the aim is as I understand it to not just brush over parts of its history because they are inconvenient but essentially to tackle the challenge head-on show the technical progress show the technical realities and also place it into its historic context with the warts-and-all let's quickly go over the aircraft's design the aircraft is ten point six metre in length twelve point six meters is the span and it stands at 3.5 it is powered by two Junkers Jumo or 4 B turbo jets producing a maximum thrust per engine of around 2,000 pounds this propels the aircraft to a max speed of 900 km/h empty weight was around 3,800 kilograms with a maximum load of weight of 6,400 kilograms the aircraft is armed with a heavy constellation of 430 millimeter mi MK 108 with a capacity total capacity of 360 rounds now due to their firing characteristics they aren't the easiest to shoot at at high speeds but if you do hit with them hohohoh they will do some damage now the aircraft is of an all-metal construction you had multiple longer runs just like the one you see right here and those are of course covered then with a sort of metal sheet the aircraft was intended for many different roles from fighter to fighter bombing bombing in itself reconnaissance and night defense practically it was only used as a fighter and a fighter bomber we also see some peculiar conversions like a single me-262 150 the millimeter cannon meant to be able to one-shot be Seventeen's from very far away the idea wasn't practically sound to secure ahead to the average pilot still needed to close to the same distance as he would wave he was armed with the 30 millimeter cannons at which point the volume of fire and the ammo supply of those guns made them much more practical than the 50 millimeter a slightly better alternative was the use of 24 55 millimeter Dom fire r4m rockets that would be fired on mass against bomber formations the rocket pots if you ever see one actually made out of wood hinting to the dire of course a research shortcoming that she only faced in the closing months of the war somewhat of a staple of Messerschmitts designs the aircraft also features four wing slats on a leading edge with an interruption here just because of the engine starting on the nose the prominent opening we see there is for the gun camera moving through the port wing we've got the pitot tube on the leading edge there for your speed measurements and of course navigational lighting read here which will be mirrored in green on a starboard side now you might have noticed these writings here before in German aircraft the treyton nicht schieben and neat unfasten they're essentially warnings do not walk on do not push and do not touch now above the wing on the port side we also got the first fuel Inlet for the front fuel tank here two additional ones can also be found behind the cockpit for the rear tank both tanks also have an auxiliary let's have a look at the gear space quite simple straight pull and push with a flap to cover the lower half of each wheel front wheel and the gear space here tricycle landing gear of the me-262 of course again it's a simple extend and retract nothing fancy rather simple to be honest you also find two rectangular cutouts on each side of the front gear these are the empty case dispensers for the 30 millimeter MK 108 which the me-262 had for at least in this configuration and the rear side of the fuselage we also have flare dispensers operated by the pilot inside but then looking inside the rear fuselage we've got the main compass the motor compass as it was known and the radio equipment the fan trip of ours acting and playing on Center for the Bukit fu g 16 now i was nice at the museum is that several of the lower cover plates are detached and this gave me a good look inside and it was actually quite incredible being able to poke my head in there to the point where i nearly forgot to film at one stage but what you'll see here is just this section in front of the pilot between him and the guns in fact if you look close you also see a cutaway window there on the port side now these tubes were are in this section just in front of what you just saw those are the fuel pumps one per each engine and you'll also just be able to make out the rubber lining on the side of the tank there just below the pilot another point of axis put you to the remove cover sheets again the cutaway window from earlier and then we have a blue tank here for the compressed air lots of wiring in this section of course coming from the cockpit to development systems nicely kept together although i do imagine the sceptile's are not exactly world war ii Luftwaffe standards very tidy do very nicely maintained by the staff and sometimes you do see some older cloth bands which might still be visible here too okay let's move a little bit to the outside again inside of the wing here you might already have wondered what free one 16.5 stands for in part one and I was the German code for the material that was used here it's an aluminium zinc manganese alloy the standardized material used in various aircraft I believe the bird like looking at logo there is the company symbol of AVS aluminium foil speckies engines or the producer of set metal heats believe it or not there were are cases in well mainly self of Germany where these alloy plates suddenly turn up randomly being used for roof covers of all jets and so on for many years then suddenly somebody finds them here we have an old visual cue that is also used on a BF 109s it's a visual reference land on the flat deflection of the actual flaps pilot can just look out of the carpet see the line here he's riding and then he knows the the fly and going over to the tail we also have a look at a trimming mechanism for the horizontal stabilizer deflection there alright let's hop inside at least that's what I would normally do at this point but I always yield to the preference of the owner who kind of give us access to these aircraft and for this one it's such a rare bird of course that an Museum was naturally hesitant but they were kind enough for me to be on the wing and film the inside of it there which I greatly appreciate I don't think they have done this before in Munich at least not in recent memory as far as I know what you will see here is really the paradox of the me-262 you know it's a jet it's cutting edge for the time but you can really see how they had to cut corners and the cockpit is simple it's part Anik bit clumsy even no surprise here some of these devices were built on little sheds in a forest somewhere by anyone the Germans had left essentially often forced labour it's one thing to read about it and it's the other to see how simple and awkward the cockpit actually is but it is functional and that's what counts in the end you'll also find that essentially any picture of an original me-262 cockpit will have subtle - glaring differences even due to the decentralized production so what we'll see here is essentially how this particular model is set up and it's only a guideline for over to six twos not that they are many left so we have to cede the shoulder straps and I'll get to the control stick soon we have armored glass up front I presume the damage occurred over time and those famed black lines outlining it are for the heating system the defrosting system a very simple holding string here for the canopy deploying outwards to starboard tell me if that reminds you of something and we've got the rebbe side up front I'm not sure on this one I'll need to ask the museum again I'm not sure if it's original in any case it is a very 16 B or should be already 16 B notice the functional but somewhat ungainly extended mounting bar there which could be swiveled in some cases all right port side control panel here the flywheel there is for the gyro no trim the small yellow handles are the port and starboard fuel currently set to OFF next position would be the aft fuel tank fully moved forward engage the front tank the larger handles out-of-focus there are the throttles and the red handle would be the horizontal stabilizer trim moving forward then we have red push buttons for flaps tapas to extend botanist will retract the blue ones are for a year top to retract button to deploy the indicator to the left shows the compressed air reserve and the fly wheel above that is to open the oxygen supply the light indicators number at a 5-2 e7 give you a visual return on the gear deployment port nose and starboard oxygen flow is then indicated by the lower blue dial and a top 2 showing the reserve of that precious o to the top red swivel here is for the emergency gear release in the lower one does the same for the flaps and the handle to the right that's the front wheel brake you can pull on that behind it would be the usual spot for clock missing here the flick switch in the middle there would be or could be for the rocket assist takeoff it also has this rogue label they are saying compressed air I don't know exactly why maybe this fixed purge actually had a different use in this model front instrument board here we're going really simple it's essentially a not to the basic six nicely visible these are mounted on a wooden panel by the way just so you know there's that scarce resource issue again top left to top right I've got your airspeed notice to break between the two 400 markings there it shows tasks once you go above 400 kph and artificial horizon and then your Vario meter or vertical speed button left to right we've got the altimeter the repeater compass and then of course the home and indicator the afm to below that we see a vertical black stripe that would be the ammo counter standardized it would usually be a sustainer I know not the s set 100 moving to the right of that we've got the engine gauges 2 for each you'll actually see different versions of indicators for the same thing here although I cannot say if this is due to restoration or due to the original being like this up top we've got the tachometers for the jumo all four B's your motors a very faint smaller inner scale going up to 3,000 rpms that's used during startup left tachometer is also showing a red line on the outer scale just below 9,000 rpm straight down black dials exhaust gas temperature gauges to either side of those brown dials the exhaust gas pressure the brown dials below those we've got the oil pressure and then working in words the black dials we've got to the fuel injection pressure gauges yellow gauges on the bottom showing the fuel reserves in litres left one for the rear right one for the front the small holes - iris I'd would usually house a fuel warning lamp and usually to the right of the right yellow gauge would also find a heating selector for the cockpit but Germany had other things to worry about in 1945 I guess might also have been removed during restoration below all that we have the central pedestal of the SW a 10 B the owl's loser child react as essentially a fancy German way of saying that with this the pilot would operate the r4m rockets system left flicks switch arms the system the right flick switch allows continuous fire and set offset salvos the fighter bomber version of the me-262 would also have a similar pedestal its inertial custom for the bombs in this position let's move to the starboard side control panel we've got push buttons for the plane's electrical system such as radio navigational lights and a lot the switches below that are 40 your front glass heating and the flares and you'll also see it emergency jettison for the canopy we have your styles and switches for the radio the iff and then of course we have the engine starters and tachometer brush buttons even though this particular aircraft was only used as a fighter that was an emergency jettison for the bombs this was standard as mentioned in part one the me-262 was actually planned love bombs many months before hitler ever saw it as part of revised specifications to the industry more information on that in the previous video final piece of the puzzle here the control stick I'm a bit unsure about this one usually when you swing back to safety catch it deploys as a trigger switch for the main guns they're now uncovered top button would probably be for the rocket release while the button to the left of that would be optional for bombs depends how its wired of course but that's my best take its Luftwaffe standard and the handbook indicates this as well there's more button for your pinky is for the radio while the big offset button is to load or rather charge the cannons as a technological product the me-262 is quite a marvel many pilots that flew hers in high tones of the experience and the fact that the Germans managed to in fact push her into service to see some limited tactical success in the closing months of the war also shows the capabilities of this aircraft the Allies to try to make sure that they got as much know-how as possible from this aircraft in order to further their own concept and designs following the surrender of the Third Reich but at the same time it serves to remember that the me-262 suffered from quite a few issues it wasn't flawless and its production was also indicative of the downfall of Germany in 1945 as the Third Reich fell to pieces it was desperation and a ruthlessness that allowed the me-262 to get airborne and that part of the story is also part of the aircraft story I hope you enjoyed today's episode and if you did please consider supporting us on patreon to have fun more content like this and you will also get exclusive access to behind-the-scenes footage from today's shoot I also want to thank the Fluke left slice time of the deutsche museum here in munich for their unparalleled access to this aircraft if you want to visit the museum yourself check out the link down below as always please consider liking sharing and subscribing and have a great day good hunting and see you in the sky these are meant for clicking just any of them

Channel: Military Aviation History

Views: 283,798

Rating: 4.9362745 out of 5

Keywords: Me 262, jet, Messerschmitt, Luftwaffe, fighter, wunderwaffe, wonderweapon, secret, ww2, aviation, avgeek, history, education

Id: LpmOT6l9qwY

Length: 33min 43sec (2023 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020