[drgondog]

Graham - First, I spoke to twin engine fighters and for you perhaps I should have amplified with either 'very successful' or some other less than absolute statement because the Yak 25, while interesting, was not really an example of stellar fighter versus fighter performance.

But it was a fighter and I will grant you the podded engines. They definitely hung from the wings. I accept that correction with good humor.

At the end of the day I wonder how well it would have competed against either the MiG or the F-86 in a furball - which is the question posed relative to the Me-262? It was slower and had dismal high altitude performance - designed to try to shoot down the b-47 and B-52 in air defense role.

Second, the Su-27 and the F-14 are both twin engine swing wing fighters with imbedded engines.. not podded.

As to the SR-71 it is Recon and the YF-12 Interceptor variant was never in production... but it does have podded engines for sure.

The F-4, F-15, the MiG 23, 25, 29, the Jauguar, the Eurofighter, the F-22, the Su 37, the Yak 38, the FA-18, etc, all twin engine Fighters or Fighter Bombers or Interceptors, all have imbedded engines because of weight and drag issues.

Last, I said I don't have the data on the 262, made that comment early, and referenced a source with some credibility on it's maximum Dive speed (which could have been even less than Yeager speculated based on inaccurate pressure readings).

I totally agree that the critical mach for the variants of the Me 262 through the E version were in the .86M range because not enough pitch trim could compensate for the nose down pitch created by lift being lost to compressibility shock over the wings but did you know that the performance for the HIII variant in the wind tunnel was .96 at 40,000 feet?

My comments were focused on a swept wing, 'up engined' state of possible for modern 262 versus Mig and F-86.

Regards,

Bill