Me 262 should have been used as a bomber?

[Roger Gaemperle]

Franek,

I am no Spitfire expert and had no other source than a websearch. For the Me 262 I had source material (which I can post if anybody is interested). So, if you don't recommend a websearch, I am sure you have source material (official Supermarine documents) for the Spitfire and could present this to this board. A speed comparison would also be interesting.

To me the speed and maximum ceiling of the Me 262 stated in the document I and Richard mentioned don't look like poor performance. So this is hard fact against "common knowledge". And "common knowledge" doesn't proof that the Me 262 was not able to fly as high as the Spitfire if the technical facts tell a different story.

I don't want to be small minded since even if the Me 262 could have catched the Spitfire, the result of the war and of the Me 262s benefits and shortcomings would not be different. But just as a matter of curiosity I would like to find out based on hard technical facts what is true and what is not.

By the way: obviously an unarmed Spitfire could not prevent Ar 234 to fly recon missions even over England. So, regarding reconnaissance it was a 1:1 for the Luftwaffe vs. RAF (except for the inbalance of number of aircraft employed).

Regards
Roger Gaemperle