The Winning of World War II Great Fighting Machines Axis Fighters

[Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] in defiance of the surrender terms imposed by the treaty of versailles at the end of the first war the germans under the nazis began rebuilding their luftwaffe in 1935. like the british royal air force however most german aircraft were obsolete by the start of world war ii under the command of reich's marshal hermann gehring an ace fighter pilot in the first war and successor to the red baron germany forged ahead with its aircraft production in the training of veracruz early german fighters that saw action in the spanish civil war with a heinkel 51 and errado 68 biplanes and the monoplane's messerschmitt 109 and heinkel 112. the latter however losing out to the me 109 in the roof waffle competition to be the principal german fighter when it went into mass production over 30 000 me 109s and all its different models were produced more than any other aircraft in history this despite the fact that the fw 190 which was developed later in the war was a better fighter you will also see jet and rocket powered fighters along with italian aircraft in the pacific the japanese fielded the superior mitsubishi zero or zeke by allied codename it was without question the world's best carrier aircraft until later in the war when it was outclassed by the american grumman hellcat and vaught corsair [Music] [Music] captain clandestine existence until hitler openly repudiated the treaty of versailles in 1935 the german luftwaffe then went into a heady phase of rapid expansion as the resurgent german aircraft industry began to find its technical and commercial feat under the new regime its initial products were unexceptional most ephesus was placed on types which could easily be produced in large numbers to allow the air crews of the new air force to gain experience rapidly and cheaply but there were some more modern designs such as the heinkel 70 reconnaissance aircraft on which german industry cut its technological teeth the chief architect of the new luftwaffe was hermann goering a first world war fighter ace and staunch supporter of hitler since the early twenties it was he who encouraged the development of new monoplane fighters such as the heinkel 112 and messerschmitt 109 which became the envy of other air forces in the interim however the luftwaffe may do with biplane fighters such as the heinkel 51 and erado 68. the latter distinguishable by its tall tale although obsolescent even as they entered service these aircraft proved admirable trainers for germany's new generation of fighter pilots [Music] the messerschmitt 109 was germany's best known fighter of the second world war it is striking testimony to willie messerschmitt's design team that this first generation monoplane fighter was still in production and development right up to the spring of 1945 by this time well over 30 000 had been built making the 109 the fighter produced in larger numbers than any other before or since the 109 resulted from a pre-war requirement for a modern fighter with retractable landing gear and a low monoplane wing of cantilever construction the first prototype flew in september 1935 powered by a rolls-royce kestrel engine but on later prototypes the yonkers jumo 210 was used development was typical of the german system at that time and the 109 made several record-breaking flights as well as enjoying a number of competition successes the early production b and c variants were used in small numbers but with considerable success during the spanish civil war which lasted from 1936 to 39. these versions paved the way for the 109 d with a more powerful dame le benz engine this was armed with a 20 millimeter cannon firing through the propeller hub and a pair of machine guns in the forward fuselage decking above the engine the first variant to enter service in substantial numbers was the 109e generally known as the emil this first appeared in 1938 and was the mainstay of the luftwaffe fighter arm throughout the campaigns in poland and france during the battle of britain and the subsequent campaigns in north africa the balkans and the early stages of the war in russia this had formidable extra armament in the form of two twenty millimeter cannon mounted in the wings survivability was enhanced by the use of self-sealing fuel tanks and the provision of armor protection for the pilot the 109e was powered by a 1050 horsepower daimler-benz 601a inline engine with fuel injection which gave a maximum speed of 348 miles an hour and a range of 410 miles the messerschmitt 109 had a very distinctive appearance with its square cut flying surfaces strut braced tail plane narrow track landing gear and heavily framed cockpit canopy the narrow track of the landing gear which retracted outward into wheel wells under the wings simplified production but made the fighter difficult to handle while taxiing on the ground the cockpit was also rather narrow making it something of a squeeze for larger pilots while the heavy cockpit framing did nothing to improve vision this was a serious defect in a fighter and a revised canopy was eventually introduced later in the war spurred on by mounting losses particularly to the royal air force's spitfire mark v the germans responded with an uprated version of the 109 the gradually changing nature of the air war is reflected in the fact that while the emile had been conceived as an offensive fighter the new 109f was planned more for the defensive role with emphasis on rate of climb and service sealing rather than speed and firepower thus although the aircraft was powered by a 1200 horsepower daimler-benz engine which increased the top speed to 373 miles an hour it only had armament of a single 15 millimeter cannon and two machine guns even though more than 2 000 of the f variant were produced during 1941 to 42 it was nowhere nearly as popular with its pilots as the emil generally known as the gustav the 109 g was the definitive variant 23 500 were built by factories in germany austria hungary and romania between 1942 and the end of the war early gustavs were powered by 1475 horsepower daimler benz 605 engines but these were later uprated to horsepower with methanol water or nitrous oxide injection this gave vastly improved performance throughout the flight envelope with top speed at high altitude increased from 406 to miles an hour early gustavs had a single 20 millimeter cannon and a pair of rifle caliber machine guns but later models had three cannon and a pair of heavy 13 millimeter machine guns some machines even featured a 30 millimeter cannon in the nose while field conversion kits were provided to allow the aircraft to be adapted for the ground attack role with additional underwing armament range was also increased by the provision of a ventral drop tank the gustav was used on every german front and in the right hands was a potent fighter in most air-to-air situations measurement introduced the k version in 1944 this had a 2000 horsepower dame levens engine which increased top speed to 452 miles an hour but the type was only produced in comparatively small numbers before the war came to an end in dog fights against british hurricanes and spitfires the 109 had a decided advantage because of the fuel injection system used this allowed the fighter to be nosed over in a negative g maneuver without the engine stalling by contrast the british fighters had rolls royce merlin engines with conventional carburetors this meant the engine would cut out if a spitfire or hurricane tried to follow a 109 instead they had to half roll and then dive in order to preserve positive g which gave the german pilots a good chance to break away and lose their pursuers the heavy armament of the 109 g and k made them formidable interceptors and allied bombers suffered a terrible toll at their hands this was particularly true of the american b-17s and other bombers which generally maintained their policy of daylight bombing throughout the war the agile 109s their inline engines and slim wings presenting a small and elusive target for the bombers defensive machine guns were able to get in close and deliver a devastating hail of fire [Music] the 109 was flown by most of the german aces including adolf galland and verna [Music] mulders the top scoring ace of all time was eric hartmann who racked up 352 victories flying 109s before being finally shot down and captured by the russians the messerschmitt 109 although outclassed towards the end remained a highly competitive fighter throughout the war the k variant pushed its design potential to the limit but even in 1945 an experienced 109 pilot could tackle the best of allied bombers and fighters with every hope of success by this time though many of the most experienced pilots were dead or in captivity and the allies were encountering novices with only a few hours flying experience who were unable to extract the best from their machines the messerschmitt 110 is now remembered chiefly as a radar equipped night fighter indeed it's true that this poorly conceived aircraft found its most effective role in a guise for which it was not originally intended and took a heavy toll of raf bombers in the second half of the war it had in fact been designed as a heavy escort fighter with sufficient range to accompany german bombers in daylight on deep penetration raids it was believed that a combination of high performance and heavy firepower would offset the superior agility of opposing single seat and single engine fighters and that this would make the messerschmitt 110 a decisive weapon which would multiply the effectiveness of the tactical bombers the type first flew in prototype form in may 1936 powered by a pair of 910 horsepower daimler benz inline engines but there were delays in this power plant's production so some early models only had 700 horsepower yonkers jumos the aircraft was developed too late to play a part in the spanish civil war and the first major production version the 110c didn't emerge until april 1939. this had 1110c didn't emerge until april 1939 this had 1100 horsepower dame leben's fuel-injected engines which delivered a top speed of 349 miles an hour at around 23 000 feet and gave a range of about 500 miles depending on loaded weight and weather principal armament was two forward firing 20 millimeter cannon and four machine guns in the nose plus a single rear wood firing machine gun at the back of the long greenhouse cockpit the measurement 110 performed creditably during the early campaigns against poland belgium france and holland destroying enemy fighters with little difficulty and then turning to ground attack work it revealed its shortcomings during the battle of britain though when it fell easy prey to nimble raf hurricanes and spitfires so serious were the losses in fact that the luftwaffe ended up in the ridiculous situation of having to send messerschmitt 109s to escort the 110s their only advantage over their single-engined stablemates was the fuel capacity to stay with the bombers longer once this fact became apparent messerschmitt developed the 110d variant which dispensed with the 20 millimeter cannon and carried extra fuel in a large ventral tank extending the aircraft's range till further this was followed by the f version which was basically similar and then the g which had more powerful 1475 horsepower engines the 20 millimeter cannon were reinstated and some aircraft were also fitted with guns firing directly upwards this arrangement enabled them to attack allied bombers from directly underneath where they were most vulnerable most 110 g's became knight fighters with the third crew member to monitor the lichtenstein airborne interception radar and direct the pilot onto a target while the knight fighters exacted a heavy toll from the aircraft of raf bomber command the messerschmitt 110 was also developing a reputation as a potent ground attack aircraft particularly in russia its heavy forward-firing armament and ability to carry bombs on external hardpoints made it invaluable to the hard-pressed troops in the front line the lack of effective soviet fighter opposition until towards the end of the war gave the 110 an extra lease of life and its long-range endurance allowed it to loiter over a battlefield to seize upon targets of opportunity or respond quickly to urgent requests for help [Music] the 110 was also used to help protect german cities and industrial targets against the daytime bombing raids by american flying fortresses however its resurgence as a day fighter was short-lived because once the united states developed long-range escort fighters of its own particularly the p-51 mustang the messerschmitt again found itself hopelessly outclassed due to its lack of maneuverability in a dogfight at the outbreak of war in 1939 italy had almost as many fighters as britain and france combined however nearly half of them were obsolescent biplane types with fixed undercarriages such as the fiat cr-42 falcon which had fought on the nationalist side during the spanish civil war italian industry had been slow to respond to changing demands particularly in the development of more powerful engines despite a good record in the pre-war schneider trophy races italian warplanes including bombers such as the caproni 133 were almost universally fitted with underpowered radial engines when italy entered the war in 1940 the fiat g50 frechet or arrow was italy's first monoplane fighter of all metal construction it had retractable undercarriage and an enclosed cockpit but italian fighter pilots tended to be conservative and later production models had a semi-enclosed cockpit the g50 had two heavy machine guns firing through the propeller arc and was powered by an 840 horsepower fiat radial engine which only gave a top speed of 293 miles an hour even by the standards of 1940 it was therefore both underpowered and under gunned and the situation didn't improve until the g55 centauro fitted with a much more powerful inline engine entered service just before the armistice in september 1943 looking very similar to the g50 but distinguishable by the streamlined fairings over the cylinder heads which reduced the frontal area of the engine cowling the marquee mc200 sayeta or lightning was only marginally superior designed in 1936 the lightning first flew in december the following year an all-metal low-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit it rapidly proved itself a real thoroughbred in terms of handling characteristics and agility however it was still powered by the same 840 horsepower fiat radial engine and only had a top speed of 313 miles an hour at 15 000 feet while armament was still restricted to a single pair of machine guns firing from just behind the engine cowling through the propeller arc as with the g50 the fighters pilots disliked the enclosed canopy and this tool was replaced by a semi-enclosed version after the first couple of hundred aircraft had been built alongside the cr-42 biplane the mc200 formed the backbone of the regia aeronautica's fighter arm in 1940 and was soon involved escorting bombers on raids against the island fortress of malta it later saw action in albania and greece where it acquitted itself surprisingly well against british hurricanes the lightning also saw service in north africa and on the southern flank in russia but by 1942 its moderate performance was proving totally inadequate and it was progressively used in the fighter bomber role later production models were fitted with the same wings as the improved mc202 folgore and could carry 706 pounds of bombs the type was also used as a shipping escort in the mediterranean fitted with drop tanks to extend its range [Music] for all its inadequacies the mc200 served the italian air force well during the early period of the war and was flown by a total of 20 groupie or wings over 1100 were built but losses were heavy and by the time of the armistice only 33 survived these continued in service as trainers until 1947. in 1940 the italian air force came to the belated conclusion that its fighters needed better performance than could be provided by the air-cooled radial engines then in service recognizing the superior qualities of the messerschmitt 109 maki acquired an 1175 horsepower daimler-benz 601 liquid cooled inline engine and fitted this to a modified mc200 this prototype of the mc202 folgore or thunderbolt first flew in august 1940 and the improvement was immediately noticeable the more powerful engine and streamlined nose gave a top speed of 370 miles an hour and handling qualities remained as delightful as before [Music] maki promptly ordered more engines and began building them under license and the mc202 entered service in the summer of 1941 seeing its first action over libya in november early models had the standard dame le benz engine but later ones the slightly less powerful 1075 horsepower version license built by alfa romeo more than 1100 full gories were produced and the aircraft was a marked improvement over the mc200 although by 1943 it was again outclassed by contemporary allied fighters its rugged construction and agile performance made it well liked by its pilots and when two extra machine guns were fitted in the wings it became the best italian fighter of the war at its peak the folgore equipped 19 groupie and it saw action from stalingrad to tobruk by the time the allies invaded sicily in july 1943 however losses left only about a hundred still operational and when italy surrendered some 10 weeks later this figure had fallen to a mere 53 in april 1942 marquis introduced the improved model mc205 veltro or greyhound this was driven by a license-built version of the more powerful 1475 horsepower daimler-benz 605 engine and could achieve a top speed of 399 miles an hour however it came too late to stave off the italian collapse and of the 265 velcro's built only 66 remained operational at the time of the armistice most of these fought on alongside the germans with italian air force units still loyal to the fascist cause japan's dream of expansion into china southeast asia and the pacific rested on the broad shoulders of the imperial japanese army and navy each of these powerful services had its own air force and each had acquired an invaluable amount of operational experience in the war against china which had been going on since 1937 faced in china by an opponent strong in numbers but short of advanced military equipment the japanese thought that the modern fighter should possess principal qualities of agility and range this led them to a certain extent to neglect fire firepower protection and other flying qualities japanese policy in the 1930s was very similar to that of the italians and they were also late to develop monoplane fighters the first types which appeared in the middle of the decade had fixed landing gear to reduce mechanical complexity but although this reduced weight it increased drag so early japanese fighters were not very fast both the army's nakajima ki-27 and the navy's mitsubishi a5m were powered by 710 horsepower nakajima radial engines which gave top speeds of 286 and 273 miles an hour respectively armament was also light merely comprising a pair of machine guns these two aircraft both entered service in 1938 and over 4500 were built from these origins the army and navy went on to introduce a number of more advanced fighters before the second world war but failed to continue development of even more sophisticated machines with the result that they were soon outclassed nor could japanese production match that of the united states japan entered the second world war with the infamous attack on the united states pacific fleet's main base at pearl harbor and other installations on a wahoo island in the hawaiian chain several battleships were sunk or damaged but fortunately the american aircraft carriers were at sea and escaped detection although surprised both strategically and tactically the americans rallied strongly and it was not long before the shortcomings of japanese aircraft began to become apparent the most famous japanese fighter of the war and one of the classic aircraft of all time was the navy's mitsubishi a6m ryzen or zero codenamed zeke by the allies the a6m remains the most celebrated warplane of the pacific war and over 11 000 were built in various models this carrier-borne fighter resulted from a very exacting requirement in 1937 which demanded the same agility enjoyed by the a5m coupled with a top speed of 311 miles an hour an endurance of six to eight hours flying time with ventral drop tanks and a fixed forward firing armament of two 20 millimeter cannon and two machine guns was also required balanced ailerons with geared tabs contributed to its high speed performance the first prototypes flew in april 1939 powered by 780 horsepower mitsubishi radial engines although the machine demonstrated all the required handling qualities top speed was too low and before it went into production 950 horsepower nakajima engines were installed thus powered the a6 m2 went to war in china in 1940 it was so successful that not one of its opponents survived to carry home details of the new fighter so it came as a complete surprise to the americans a year later what then became quickly evident was that the japanese not only possessed the world's finest carrier-borne fighter but one which was at least the equal of its land-based contemporaries as well like most japanese military aircraft the zero suffered in the long run because refinements such as armor protection and self-sealing fuel tanks had been sacrificed for speed range and maneuverability in the first months of the pacific war though the zero swept all before it because no allied fighter of the time could match it but bombers were helpless in its gun sights the next model was the a6 m3 with both squared off wingtips which improved the rate of roll and a more powerful 1130 horsepower engine which boosted top speed to 336 miles an hour this thirsty engine did however reduce range from over 1900 miles to barely 1500 miles later sub-variants had greater fuel capacity but from the autumn of 1942 it was clear that the zero was beginning to lose the battle for air superiority over allied fighters to remedy this situation mitsubishi introduced the a6m5 in 1943 this was basically an m3 with rounded wing tips a degree of armor protection for the pilot and heavier caliber machine guns it also had individual ejector exhausts for the radial engine's 14 cylinders boosting speed by 10 miles an hour despite these improvements the xero's rather flimsy construction and lack of self-sealing fuel tanks could make it a death trap as some of these american camera gun shots show a single half-second burst from a u.s navy hellcat or corsair could send a zero plunging in flames of course in skilled hands a zero could often evade the more powerful and more heavily armed american fighters on one occasion the great japanese fighter ace saburo sakai found himself alone in a dogfight with no fewer than 15 hellcats rolling spiraling and looping he evaded the fire from 90 machine guns and brought his zero home without a scratch on it the last major production variant of the xero was the a6 m6 which had a 1210 horsepower engine water methanol injection and at long last self-sealing fuel tanks the m7 model was a dive bomber and the m8 which had a 1 500 horsepower engine arrived too late to have any effect on the course of the war by this time most of the skilled veterans of the early war years had found watery graves and their young replacements were either unable to cope in combat situations against superior aircraft or were thrown away in kamikaze attacks on allied warships [Music] one irony in the zero story is that it was powered throughout by air-cooled radial engines the germans and british began by using liquid cooled inline designs because of better streamlining and high altitude performance but later themselves reverted to radials because these performed better at the lower heights at which most aerial battles took place so although it was eventually outclassed the zero was in many ways a fighter ahead of its time most captured enemy aircraft which were still flyable were passed to the allied technical air intelligence unit this vital organization dissected each type that came its way assessing it in mock combat and passing on the lessons learned to operational units [Music] [Applause] so one such type was the twin-engined kawasaki ki-45 toyou or dragon killer which the allies codenamed nick the prototype of this army aircraft first flew in january 1939 but the production model didn't enter service until august 1942 powered by two 1050 horsepower nakajima radial engines this heavy two-seater fighter could reach 340 miles an hour its armament consisted of a 20 millimeter cannon and two heavy machine guns in a fixed forward firing installation plus a single trainable machine gun in the rear of the cockpit just over 1700 were produced including a rather primitive night fighter version which not only had a 37 millimeter forward firing cannon but also two 20 millimeter guns inclined to fire obliquely upwards at the bellies of allied bombers a trick copied from the germans [Music] the futuristic and menacing looking messerschmitt 210 was in fact one of the most disastrously unsuccessful warplanes of the entire war it led to willie messerschmitt being forced to resign as chairman of his own company and even caused hermann gerring to exclaim at one point that he would have lived longer if the aircraft had never been produced designed from 1937 as a twin-engined multi-purpose fighter and attack aircraft to replace the messerschmitt 110 the new two-seater fighter first flew in september 1939 but proved so troublesome that it didn't begin entering service until a year later [Applause] its handling qualities were appalling resulting in numerous crashes from uncontrollable spins but a lot of the problems stemmed from trying to build too much new technology into an unproven airframe example of this is the pair of remotely controlled 13 millimeter mg131 machine guns mounted in barbettes either side of the rear fuselage although these could be elevated and depressed to fire at almost any angle aiming them was almost impossible and their mechanical complexity rendered them so prone to malfunction that the aircraft crews usually ignored them then there were the equipment bay doors under the nose designed to carry either cameras in the photo reconnaissance roll or a pair of 1100 pound bombs these clamshell doors resulted in such aerodynamic instability that only an almost suicidal crew would open them in flight another problem was the complex arrangement of ailerons flaps and dive breaks which were intended to help the pilot but only serve to make the 210 even more unstable with a vicious tendency to flick into a spin some of these highly undesirable flying characteristics were eventually solved by fitting wing leading edge slots and lengthening the fuselage but these modifications were not introduced until production had already been halted in 1942 a few new aircraft were built after this but most production line facilities went to the messerschmitt 410 which was very similar in appearance but much more forgiving in the air the messerschmitt 210 was powered by two 1050 or 350 horsepower daimler-benz 601 in-line engines which gave a top speed of 385 miles an hour a service ceiling of 23 000 feet and a range of nearly fifteen hundred miles apart from the two machine guns in the barbettes it had fixed forward firing armament of two twenty millimeter cannon and a pair of machine guns extra bombs could also be carried on external racks the irony with the 210 is that the luftwaffe was so impressed with the design specification that they ordered a thousand even before the aircraft first flew but only 352 actually entered service and many of them were converted to 410 standard with 1750 horsepower engines [Music] the aircraft only saw very limited service over russia england italy and tunisia before it was finally abandoned in 1944 [Music] is [Music] if the messerschmitt 210 is the german air force's disaster saga the fokker wolf 190 is its success story it was without question the finest single-seat single-engine fighter fielded by the loft buffer although out shattered in numerical terms by the messerschmitt 109 it was really the german fighter from the autumn of 1941 onwards design work began in 1937 and the first prototype flew in june 1939 one obvious difference from the 109 was the wide track landing gear which retracted inwards to lie with the wheels flush under the wing roots this arrangement provided much greater stability while taxiing taking off and landing it was only one of several features which endeared the 190 to its pilots the air-cooled bmw radial engine which was chosen as the power plant surprised many people at a time when the more streamlined liquid cooled inline seemed to be in favor but it proved a wise choice indeed most of the more successful allied fighters in the second half of the war were powered by radials instead of inlines radial engines are bulky and produce extra drag but the 190s 1700 horsepower engines were enclosed in a narrow cord cowling which minimized detrimental effects the engine having a cooling fan at the rear coupled with a slender fuselage relatively short wingspan to increase aerobatic ability and a canopy of early bubble design to improve the pilot's vision these features made the 190 an airplane to be reckoned with right to the end of the war the small low wing foggewolf 190 which was of all metal construction first entered service during the winter of 1941-42 and helped protect the battle cruisers sean horst and gneisner during their famous channel dash the fighter came as a nasty surprise to the royal air force with a top speed of 382 miles an hour at an armament of four 20 millimeter cannon plus a pair of machine guns it was faster more heavily armed better protected and more agile than even the latest marks of spitfire when it first appeared and as allied casualties mounted wolf 190 production was stepped up with over 250 being built every month in factories scattered around germany in a dog fight the 190's main failing was the tail trimmer this was designed ingeniously to help high g maneuvers but resulted in a number of high-speed stalls because these were not understood at the time there were several fatal crashes if pilots avoided these though the 190 was a superb and agile fighter as it proved over the beaches at dieppe in august 1942 in this day-long aerial battle 190s claimed 97 out of 106 kills against raf aircraft as the war progressed the fokkerwolf 190 was deployed on all fronts and proved itself well capable of handling almost any type of operational condition or tactical situation it proved so flexible that it was optimized in both offensive and defensive situations being used both as a hit-and-run radar with external bombs and drop tanks and as an interceptor against the steadily growing numbers of american daylight bombers the autumn of 1943 is one which surviving american air crew remember with horror and the focke wolf 190 was largely to blame on one bombing raid against schweinfort in october 190s shot down 79 bombers out of 228 and seriously damaged another 121 some of the fighters carried eight-inch rocket tubes under their wings to blast the allied aircraft out of formation leaving them easy prey german propaganda films afterwards were full of shots of downed flying fortresses later variants of the 190 included the model d with a 1770 horsepower yonkers jumo inline engine and a top speed of 426 miles an hour some of these had water methanol injection to boost performance and a 30 millimeter cannon firing through the propeller hub in addition there was the high altitude ta-152 which had extended wingspan and could almost reach 50 000 feet as well as having a top speed only just under 500 miles an hour although only some 200 were built and they could not always operate because of the chronic fuel shortage in germany towards the end of the war they could intercept any allied intruders on their own terms even before the war began towards the end of 1939 german designers and engineers were working steadily towards the creation of the first operational jet propelled military aircraft in the forefront of this work was the heinkel team and although their model 280 never entered service it was a remarkable aircraft as the world's first turbo jet fighter designed to fly despite a strong measure of official skepticism the heinkel team persevered privately with their project flying the basic airframe first as a glider in 1940 to check that it was aerodynamically sound [Music] its first powered flight propelled by 1100 pound thrust turbo jets took place momentously on the 2nd of april 1941. if only heinkel had been on better terms with the german air ministry the 280 could have been the first jet aircraft to see combat in the world as things turned out though for political reasons which were covered up by technical jargon the ministry rejected the 280 in favor of the rival messerschmitt 262. this the third prototype heinkel 280 was powered by two 1543 pound thrust turbo jets which gave a top speed of 578 miles an hour at over thirty thousand feet [Music] it was armed with three twenty millimeter cannon and could run rings around a fokker wolf 190 but it lacked range and was not ordered into production despite this heinkel persevered with further trials which they funded themselves using different engines and tail plane [Music] configurations [Applause] so ah it was during these experiments that a german test pilot made history as the first man to bail out of an aircraft using an ejector seat that aside if politics hadn't got in the way the heinkel 280 could have been in service almost a year earlier than its closest rival this was the messerschmitt 262 which reached operational status at the beginning of october 1944. six years earlier the german air ministry had officially inaugurated development of a jet engine the principal work being undertaken by bmw and junkers messerschmitt worked fast and had produced a basic design by june 1939 this was approved in march 1940 and an order was placed for three initial prototypes but by the time they were ready just over a year later there was still no suitable engine available a single piston engine and propeller were therefore fitted to the first prototype to assess the aircraft's handling characteristics the 262 was an attractive design with a triangular section fuselage whose broad lower surfaces merged into the modestly swept wings the aft fuselage was finally tapered and ended in a tail unit with swept vertical and horizontal surfaces a twin-engine design had been decided upon because jet engines were as yet unproven and it was thought a single engine would cause center of gravity problems so the third prototype was finally fitted with a pair of eighteen hundred and fifty two pound thrust jonker's jumo turbo jets in slim underwing nacelles it first flew in july 1942 and although it was badly damaged shortly afterwards a pre-production order for 15 aircraft was increased to 60. [Music] the first prototypes had conventional tail wheel landing gear but on production models tricycle undercarriages were fitted from this point the messerschmitt 262 could have been developed into an invaluable interceptor it could have taken on the allied escort fighters while leaving the bombers to conventional aircraft but fate intervened because when the aircraft was first demonstrated in front of hitler in november 1943 he saw its main potential as a high-speed bomber [Music] undeterred messerschmitt continued to develop it as a fighter with a formidable array of four 30 millimeter cannon in the nose shortly after production began in may 1944 however hitler learned of this and ordered the aircraft's conversion into a bomber this just served to delay things again and the 262 didn't enter service until september flying its first sortie on the 3rd of october even then there were problems because pilots could not initially adapt to the high speed of up to 536 miles an hour nor the engine's slow response to throttle demands which was a common fault in all early [Music] jets [Music] do as well as being used as an interceptor the messerschmitt 262 was widely operated as a fighter bomber and with radar and a second crew member as a night fighter [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] but even in its brief operational career it captured the imagination of the allies being far superior to the british meteor and all examples captured during the advance into germany were subjected to intense and curious [Music] [Applause] examination [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] clearly demonstrating the german inventiveness discussed earlier the messerschmitt 163 comet was one of the most radical interceptor fighters of the war and has the distinction of being the only aircraft solely propelled by a rocket to have seen combat other than in the kamikaze role during the 1920s and 30s dr alexander lippisch of the german glider research institute produced a number of flying wing designs one of which was adapted for flight trials fitted with a valtter liquid propellant rocket motor the experiments were so successful that he was given his own design bureau at messerschmitt in january 1939 with instructions to develop a rocket-propelled interceptor his team planned the new fighter around a volta engine fueled principally by hydrogen peroxide methyl alcohol and water which delivered a thrust of 1653 pounds the engine unfortunately was a constant source of problems not the least of which was a fuel leak which could literally dissolve the unlucky pilot as though in an acid bath the fuel was also highly volatile and any residue could explode on a hard landing the diminutive delta-winged measuresmit 163 only saw service in limited numbers but was highly effective taking off on a two-wheeled dolly it could accelerate to nearly 600 miles an hour at 30 000 feet before its fuel was [Music] exhausted [Music] operationally the aircraft would normally make one powered attack on an allied bomber with its armament of two thirty millimeter cannon then bleed off its residual speed in gliding passes before landing at nearly 140 miles an hour on its single skid despite the fact that some 400 meshes 163s were built they only scored seven definite kills between their operational debut in august 1944 and the end of the war in may 1945. thus despite their early lead the axis fighters finally lost to superior allied design mass production particularly in the usa ultimately swamped the german and the japanese air defenses by their sheer numbers [Music] [Music] [Music] you

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Length: 60min 38sec (3638 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 02 2018