Quote:
Originally Posted by Franek Grabowski
Remi, read it again, the first aircraft able to intercept Spitfire XIX was MiG-15. The wing was identical as in Mk I.
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Which doesn't mean aircraft were unable to intercept it, I guess it had to do with the relative late introduction and rarity of the XIX, rather than it's undeniably good performance. The Luftwaffe certainly had greater headaches in 1944-45 than high flying PR aircrafts. Technically, interception of it would have been possible even on 1942 technology, meaning the odd-numbered 109Gs here with GM-1 here.
Lone, high flying and fast targets are always difficult targets for interception. Radar might not pick them up, it tooks a lot of time to climb to their altitude in which they may slip away, and require accurate vectoring. Blandford's book gives some surprising examples of that, with He 177s penetrating the English airspace at high altitudes around 9000m with inpunity... and it wasn't because the huge heavy bomber was extraordinary fast or faster than the RAF interceptors.
As for the 262 as bomber, it's puzzling why, as the LW had a perfectly good and suitable desing for that purpose, in the form of the Arado 234. The 262 at best could have been just another Jabo, with greater speed but greater vulnerability of the engines to ground fire...