Me 262 should have been used as a bomber?

[Graham Boak]

To describe the He 162 as "difficult" is understating the case. It was difficult (though not exceptionally so) to fly in normal flight. In extreme combat manoeuvres it was a killer. It suffered from a problem, unknown at the time of its design, called inertia coupling, caused by having large masses offset from the aircraft's axes of manoeuvre (in this case the engione). This problem was first analysed in the UK after the death of a test pilot in the UK, in a classic report by W.G. Pinsker of the RAE. It was also analysed in the US after the death of NAA test pilot George Welch in an early F-100.

[CJE]

It was a naturally unstable aircraft which could have been an advantage in dogfights, but it had no automated systems to compense its unstability in normal flights. I guess it was "difficult" to land (probably with a high landing speed - by the standards of the time) with a great sensibility to gusts because of its engine positionning.

[HAHalliday]

As an afterthought - what would it have mattered if the Germans has built thousands more conventional fighters ? What use would they have been without the fuel to fly them ?

Gasoline was the Achilles heel of their war effort. Hitler deprived them of their largest, most reliable source by attacking Russia in June 1941 (almost to the eve of the invasion, Stalin had been delivering on his treaty obligations with blind regularity). After that, the Wehrmacht had to make do on what could be squeezed from coal and from Roumania. Moreover, by July 1944 the Roumanian oil fields had been taken out of production - by the Red Army. From then on, the panzers and Luftwaffe were literally out of gas (think of the Battle of the Bulge, when the armoured divisions were hoping to capture the fuel stocks that would top off their tanks ! Can you imagine Patton driving forward, hoping that the Germans would conveniently leave fuel stocks for him ?

Fuel shortages had reduced Luftwaffe flying training to a joke. The average pilot starting combat in 1944 had less time than an Allied pilot newly "winged" and still with operational training ahead of him.

As to the He.162 - it was not "difficult to fly" - it was a deathtrap which killed at least one skilled German test pilot and one British test pilot after the war. The idea of Hitler Youth taking glider lessons and then going on to flying '162s into combat was criminal and ludicrous.

[CJE]

As an afterthought - what would it have mattered if the Germans has built thousands more conventional fighters ? What use would they have been without the fuel to fly them ?

Right.
But let's push the reasonning to its limits.
Had they had thousands more fighters, maybe they would have prevented the 8th AF from shattering their synthetic oil plants?
But we are on the brink of a new "what if?" and I am not into that kind of game. What did really happen is complex enough to understand, we don't need to look for what could have happened.

[Franek Grabowski]

And what did happen if Hitler had shaven off his moustaches?

[CJE]

The face of the world might have not been changed, but his would!

[John Vasco]

Back to the original question. I think the answer is yes. The role of the fighter bomber, from Erprobungsgruppe 210 in 1940 to the modern jet fighter-bomber, is fairly simple. Get in quickly (and undetected if possible), hit the target, and get out quickly again, with the capacity to defend yourself if needs be. The only variable being 'hit the target', as even with all of the modern laser guided systems, the present-day jet fighter-bombers appear to be no more successful in hitting designated targets than the pioneers in 1940. The 262, in its time, was as good as anything before or since in fulfilling that role. No more, no less.

[Jon]

No chance, the 262 should have been developed as a fighter and only a fighter, mainly as a bomber destroyer.
I firmly feel that with the strong Allied fighter cover offered late war,the 262 even in large numbers would still have not acheived anything.
As we now know many 262's fell in action, more 262's would just have been more kills for the Mustangs and Thunderbolts.

Just wish the Meteor could have met it in combat

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Jon

No chance, the 262 should have been developed as a fighter and only a fighter, mainly as a bomber destroyer.

By 1944 the Luftwaffe had just as great a need for a daytime close support aircraft that could survive in the West. The Fw 190 F wasn't it (see what happened to SG 4 in Italy) since German resources weren't great enough to provide it with escorts on the necessary scale. The 262 on the other hand had a better chance without escorts.

[CJE]

On the return leg, yes. But how fast and manoeuvrable was the 262 with two bombs?
And why not build more Ar 234s in this case?