Me 262 should have been used as a bomber?

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Roger Gaemperle

Franek,

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".

One report does not tell us anything about reliability in service. My impression is that Jumo jets had chronic troubles at high altitude and that little improvement was made before the war ended. For the same reason it was difficult for Me 262 pilots to fly in formations above 30,000 feet because the engines tended to flame out with changes in throttle settings. Obviously, any inability to operate as a team was another limit to success.

All this was well known to Me 262 pilots and their superiors. After a flyer from JG 7 claimed three Mosquitos (flying at heights not identified by the unit historian) Hermann Goering was apparently sceptical when he joked that it was a phenomenal achievement for a plane with engines that stop above 6,000 meters and self-destruct at speeds above 750 km/hr.

I'm not suggesting that you should dismiss test pilot reports, be they German, British or American. But don't get too comfortable with paper figures because experience in combat holds more weight.