"Willy Messerschmitt, Stellungsnahme zum Projekt ..." Topic

…‘Volksjäger' – was the He 162 vs. the Me 262 a bad idea ? Production and engines compared.

"In late 1944 Willy Messerschmitt issued a statement from Oberammergau that argued against the development and production of the planned Heinkel He 162 'Volksjäger'. The two companies, Heinkel and Messerschmitt were commercial rivals, although the war situation had gone far beyond that point. In his latest video Kris from the 'Military Aviation History' channel on youtube (see link below) looks at Messerschmitt's warnings that the development of a 'cheap', 'mass-produced' and untested 'disposable' new jet at this late stage of the war would disrupt existing types – while competing for the allocation of scarce resources – even though – as a recent publication argues – a cheap, easy to construct single-engine jet fighter was exactly what the German war effort required. It is doubtful though whether Messerschmitt could have anticipated such rapid development of the single-jet Heinkel fighter that first flew on 6 December 1944…"

Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

Actually, an excellent idea, though production quality due to sabotage by slave workers, and poor wood glue (the main factory for that was bombed by the allies, and the replacement wasn't as good as the original, apparently).

One engine for a jet fighter, and yet with the speed of the Me-262 seems like a great idea to me. Only half the armament of the Schwalbe, but it was VERY heavily armed, so excellent for attacking heavy bombers.

Also, by the time these started entering service, pilot training was virtually nil, so untrained pilots on such high speed aircraft with tails and other surfaces that could fail was not a good mix.

Luckily for our bomber crews these came too late and in too few numbers to make any impact at all.

If they'd been available a year earlier, things would have been much worse for them.

Agree….

Amicalement
Armand