Me-262: Could it have been introduced sooner?

[el cid again]

A request for the Me-262 in EOS family of RHS was part of the Ju-87 thread. Here is one authoratative opinion by William Green in Warplanes of the Third Reich, p 619:

It was to be claime that, but for tardiness and interference on the part of the erstwhile leaders of the Third Reich, the Me 262 could have been introduced into service six months earlier and in sufficient quantity to provide Germany with effective air cover. But was any such claim justified?

That there WAS delinquency on the part of Germany's leaders in bringing this warplane to fruition is indisputable, high-level indecisiveness and exaggerated caution encouraging hesitancy on the part of the Technischen Amt of the RLM in affording this radica aircraft full support. That there WAS interference in the development of Messerschmitt's jet fighter is equally undeniable, an outstanding example of this being the notorious Fuhrer-Befehl stipulating that the Me 262 be produced primarily as a "Blitzbomber", and this faint-heartedness and meddling were to be cited as primary factors in delaying the service debut of a warplane that, termporarily if not permanently, could have had a profound effect on the air war over Europe. But in the final analysis, DID these factors materially affect the operational deployment of the Me 262?

However justified these charges may have been, the simple fact remains that Junkers failed to resolve the problems posed by the series manufacture of the turbojet powering the Me 262 until mid-1944, and thus could not commence volume deliveries to Messerschmitt until the followeing September-October. Furthermore, the consensus of opinion of those actually engaged in the design development and testing of the Me 262 was...that the fighter was introduced into service at the earliest practicable stage in its evolution; that any earlier deployment of the warplane on a large scale would have been entirely premature.

...despite the tremendous impetus given to production of the Me 262 once both airframe and power plant had attained a stage in development rendering this practical, it was simply TOO LATE! More enthusiasm and less interference on teh part of Germany's leaders at an earlier stage in the development cycle of the Me 262 could not have affected the issue to any major extent.

To this add the problems transferring the technology effectively to Japan. It was not ever accomplished, in spite of serious effort - effort that came close enough that Japan was able to manufacture jet engines and design similar aircraft - although the engines were so weak the aircraft did not have good performance. Actual transfer attempts of airframes failed, one ending up in the USA in 1945, the other sunk. Even our RHS assumption that a twin engine aircraft would require about 15 months of time for the entire process (from decision to negotiate to delivery to units in the field) is highly questionable for a jet aircraft - or for any aircraft very late in the war. Realistically, by the time the aircraft might have been operational in Japan, the game would be over - and it would be 1946.

[Dili]

I dont think so. The engine material technology wasnt up to par. The engines only lasted a couple hours in 1945.

[Mike Scholl]

I think Cid's basically right on the German assessment.  If they hadn't gotten sidetracked with Hitler's Bomber fantasies they would have gotten more use and better results out of those they did build---but they wouldn't have arrived much sooner and the engines would still have been a problem.   1946 might be a bit optimistic for the Japanese to try and get even a copy into meaningfull service with their own industrial, materials, and supply problems.  You can't build a jet engine in a neighborhood garage....

[el cid again]

Perhaps I should have said "at least 1946" - that being a best case scenario. My point being it was too late for the war in RHS terms - which ends in 1945.

It is my sense that we are all on the same page. I wanted to explain to our new German poster (who created the Ju-87 thread) and anyone else who felt I was too hasty to reject the Me 262 what the foundation of the reasoning was.