America's first jet flight, 1942.

[arglebargle]

Got this link from my mother, who knows I like aviation history. Replicated here for those of you who also appreciate aviation history. Some interesting background info in this, and great film quality, considering the time. The base station bit is pretty funny.


[youtube]6mhF49AJrVg[/youtube]

 

[burmafrd]

early jet engines were very weak and very unreliable; and to compensate they were heavy and did not last long.

 

[WarC]

early jet engines were very weak and very unreliable; and to compensate they were heavy and did not last long.

Ayuh, the first jets including the Me262 were actually pretty poor dogfighters. Their low throttle was weak, and throttle response in general was slow. They also suffered from flameout if their throttles were adjusted too often (as during a dogfight). So early jet pilots were taught to seek high speed at altitude and use those two things to their advantage.

They were, however, very succesful despite those shortcomings. The Me262 for instance is reported to have over 500 air victories to 100 losses during the closing stages of WW2.

 

[LeonDixson]

Thank you arglebargle. I enjoyed that film immensely.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Excellent fine Arg. Keep them coming!

 

[burmafrd]

Ayuh, the first jets including the Me262 were actually pretty poor dogfighters. Their low throttle was weak, and throttle response in general was slow. They also suffered from flameout if their throttles were adjusted too often (as during a dogfight). So early jet pilots were taught to seek high speed at altitude and use those two things to their advantage.

They were, however, very succesful despite those shortcomings. The Me262 for instance is reported to have over 500 air victories to 100 losses during the closing stages of WW2.

That was never confirmed. The actual number was probably closer to half of that.

 

[arglebargle]

The scariest one for me was the Me 163, the German rocket fighter. Went straight up through the bomber formations, shooting, ran out of fuel and glided back down, shooting again, if something appeared beneath it. Most of the Me 163 pilots were originally glider pilots because of this.

Not particularly effective, still it must have been a terrifying thing to see shooting past you at ~700 mph. And probably even more frightening to actually be flying.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163