[Richard T. Eger]

Dear George,

What's your point?

The Me 262 was constantly under development to the end of the war. The Lotfe bomber was obviously a development to improve the aircraft's employment in the bomber role, which it effectively demonstrated it was capable of doing. It came too late to be put into mass production. And, by the time it was demonstrated, emphasis on the bomber role had diminished in favor of the fighter role and, in specific, as a bomber interceptor.

Ironically, the aircraft was an answer looking for a purpose. Mis-used in its original guise as a bomber, it was also mis-used similarly as a fighter, to wit, the Nowotny dibacle. Subsequently, Steinhoff and company would not relent on their advocacy of the aircraft in the fighter-to-fighter role, to which it was ill-suited, wasting valuable time. Even when the target was forced upon the fighter force to directly attack the bombers, the strategy to do so was flawed, forcing another delay and frantic effort to redevelop a workable offense, which was finally put into effect in Feb. or Mar. 1945.

The Me 262 had been rushed into service long before the bugs had been worked out. These, alone, accounted for many of the combat problems. And, it wasn't just the engines, but the airframe, as well. In the fall of 1944 in a complaint by KG-51, they requested 3 spare noses for each aircraft, as the guns or gun barrels would work themselves loose in a mission, requiring replacement of the nose. Parts had to be beefed up because they were inadequate to the rigors of field and combat conditions.

It amazes me that, as late as April 1945, technical meetings were being held on developments of various variants as the nation collapsed around their ears.

In a mia culpa, it is far easier being an armchair critic when seeing what happened in hindsight.

Regards,
Richard