Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a/U5 by Hobby Boss

1/48 scale
Kit No. 80373
Cost: $28.00
Decals: One version – Luftwaffe
Comments: Engraved panel lines; integrated metal nose weight; three-part canopy; detailed cockpit and landing gear; detailed gun bay; armament includes six Mk 108 30mm cannon and four Ruhrstahl wire-guided air-to-air missiles

 

History

The Messerschmitt Me 262 was a twin-engine, single seat, turbojet fighter that is widely recognized as the first operational jet fighter in the world. Unleashed against Allied bomber streams during the Summer of 1944, it struck fear into the heart of many an Allied aircrewman. With a top speed of 535 mph, it was about 120 mph faster at combat speeds than the P-51 Mustang — too fast for gunners to hit except through dumb luck. Although the British Gloster Meteor is also a contender for the world’s first jet fighter, having its operational debut on July 27, 1944, records as to the Me 262’s first day of operations are less precise, but it is known to have also seen combat for the first time during the month of July 1944. Another key difference: the Meteor was deliberately withheld from combat operations outside the British Isles, while the Me 262 was immediately put into the thick of the fight against Allied bombers. Of the two, it was the Me 262, and not the Meteor, that signalled a new era in air combat.

Development of the Me 262 began in the Fall of 1938, when Messerschmitt AG was awarded a contract to design a fighter around the new BMW 003 turbojet. The original design called for engines mounted in the wing roots, but this was soon dropped in favor of nacelles slung beneath each wing. Messerschmitt’s resulting design was outstanding, with relatively thin, swept wings capable of (at the time) as yet unachieved speeds. The Me 262’s exceptional dynamics are driven home by the fact that it was not until 1950 that the first American jet, the Republic F-84, could reach the same speed – with an engine capable of double the thrust.  Exceptional though it was, the Me 262 had its share of early teething difficulties. BMW’s first turbojets were unreliable, prone to both flame-outs and catching fire, but also offered unsatisfactory performance with too little thrust.

This forced Messerschmitt to fit a piston engine to the airframe in 1941 (for safety reasons, in addition to its turbojets) in order to probe its airworthiness in the first powered test flight. The Me 262’s first purely jet-powered flight took place on July 18, 1942 — but it was not the first jet fighter to fly. That honor went to the Heinkel He 280, a competitor that was, initially at least, the superior jet fighter design.

Ultimately, production models were powered by the more reliable Junkers Jumo 004. But even then, the shortage of strategic metals remained a factor. The indispensable compressor blades required for jet engines had to operate under such extreme thermal and mechanical loads that only special heat-resistant alloys could be used to achieve reliability, and the deposits for these rare metals were entirely in British hands. Junkers was therefore compelled to make the engines (including the compressor blades) out of steel, which meant the Me 262 had rigorous maintenance requirements. The Jumo 004 engines had to be dismantled and completely refitted after every 10 hours of service — otherwise the compressor blades could crack or even break loose in flight, with catastrophic results.

Initially the Me 262 had a conventional landing gear featuring a tail wheel, causing the engines to slant downward and directing their jet exhaust into the ground. This resulted in inadequate thrust to achieve take-off — until pilots realized that by braking at about 112 mph, they could make the tail lift and have the required thrust to get airborne. Messerschmitt devised a permanent solution in the form of a tricycle landing gear, which had the side effect of improving visibility for the pilot.

Political Meddling

General Adolf Galland, head of the German fighter force, flew the Me 262 for the first time in May 1943. His reaction was euphoric. Galland urged that the design be put into production immediately. But in a fateful meeting between Messerschmitt and Adolf Hitler in November 1943, when the jet was first presented to him, Hitler, obsessed with offensive weapons, asked Messerschmitt if it could be deployed as a bomber. Messerschmitt said Yes. Thereafter Hitler directed that the Me 262 be produced only as a bomber — any discussion of it as a fighter was forbidden.

As a bomber, the Me 262 A-2Aa could carry up to 2,200 lbs. (1000 kg) of explosives, and predictably, its performance was disappointing. The decision to deploy the Me 262 as a bomber not only delayed its debut in the role for which it was purpose-built, that of air superiority fighter; in part because Messerschmitt’s fighter used the same powerplant, it also hampered development and deployment of a true jet bomber, the revolutionary Arado Ar 234. It was not until September 1944, after ten precious months had been wasted, that the Me 262 was formally reclassified as a fighter.

The Me 262 first saw combat in July 1944 with Luftwaffe test unit Erprobungskommando 262 in Rechlin. In September 1944 the unit morphed into “Kommando Nowotny” commanded by Major Walter Nowotny (283 aerial victories, killed in action November 8, 1944).

The theme of “too little too late” is often linked to the Me 262, but it was not the fault of Germany’s aeronautical engineers. Hitler did not relent and order the formation of the world’s first jet fighter wing, Jagdgeschwader 7, until November 1944, largely because prior to that time he had refused to acknowledge Allied air superiority. In January 1945, Galland himself was ordered to form the second jet fighter wing, Jagdverband 44, which became an elite unit including aces such as Johannes Steinhoff, Heinrich Bar, Gerhard Barkhorn, and Walter Krupinski — all recipients of the Knight’s Cross.

All these units had a huge advantage in terms of speed, but it could sometimes be a drawback. Johannes Steinhoff, who would later be Chief of Staff of the West German Air Force, recounted that while flying the Me 262, enemy aircraft seemed to hang motionless in the sky. So rapid was the Me 262’s approach speed that lining up Allied bombers in the crosshairs was a task that had to be performed in seconds, or not at all. Pilots who slowed for a run at the bombers took a chance on being shot down by their fighter escorts, as sometimes happened.

But as pilots learned how to handle the Me 262, it became much more lethal. With a main armament of four Mk 108 30mm cannon (Galland said one hit from a Mk 108 would seriously damage any bomber, and three would send it down for certain) and launch rails for twelve 2.16 in. R4M rockets under each wing, it had devastating firepower. The R4M rockets were fired in salvos of six at intervals of 0.07 seconds, and could inflict serious damage. They were often employed against bombers as far out as 5,000 feet (nearly one mile) and followed up with cannon fire when the Me 262’s got in closer.

Superior, but with an Achilles Heel

The Me 262 had a huge advantage in firepower and speed, allowing it to engage or break off combat at will. But if a 262 pilot were lured into a fight with an Allied fighter, he could find himself outmaneuvered and on the defensive. The Me 262 was so blindingly fast that it could not possibly turn inside Allied fighters of the day, and an unattentive pilot could be tricked into overshooting his prey and — momentarily — find himself in the enemy’s gunsights.

In addition, the Me 262’s Junkers Jumo 004 powerplant had a tendency to flame out if the throttle was accelerated or cut back too quickly, and its pilots had to be gentle with it on take-offs and landings, accelerating and decelerating at a leisurely rate. Once the Allies realized this, they placed standing fighter patrols near Me 262 airfields, and a number of the jets were shot down on take-off or landing, when they were most vulnerable.

Of the 1, 430 Me 262’s that left Messerschmitt’s factory, only about 360, or 25 percent, saw combat. This was due to a variety of factors, from political meddling, to technical difficulties, to a lack of raw materials and fuel. Nonetheless, these jets inflicted losses out of all proportion to their numbers, accounting for 700 Allied aircraft destroyed during the ten months that they were in service. This figure gives one pause to think what Allied losses would have been, but for Hitler’s interference, and had the type entered service a year earlier — as Adolf Galland and others had urged.

The Kit

Hobby Boss’ Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1A/U5 is injection molded in grey and consists of 178 parts, including four clear parts for the multi-part canopy, and one white metal part for the forward wheel well which will serve as a nose weight. The cockpit is extremely well detailed, with raised relief on the seat, main instrument panel as side panels, as well as a nicely detailed control yoke and individually mounted rudder pedals. A decal is provided for the main instrument panel, but with such extensive raised relief it is not necessary; a bit of patience, a fine paintbrush and a bit of dry brushing will produce similar results.

Step 2, the two gun bay assemblies, reveals what makes this kit different. It features not four, but six Mk 108 30mm cannon, indicating that the Me 262 A-1a/U5 was a heavily armed version of an already formidable cutting edge jet fighter. Between the guns, detailed bulkheads and ammunition feed chutes, there is plenty here to keep modelers busy. These parts are to be cemented atop the white metal part forming both the nose wheel well and the nose weight, into which the detailed nose gear is cemented.

Although it will not be seen once the fuselage is sealed up, there what appears to be a detailed radio assembly that is cemented to the left rear fuselage interior. Next come the turbojet assemblies, which are quite detailed, down to details which will be invisible on the finished kit, namely internal ribbing on the interior surface of the nacelles. Three parts to be cemented to the interior of the center section of the wing form bulkheads for the main landing gear wells. There is an option to display the gun bay doors open or closed, but curiously, it appears modelers have no choice but to display the canopy open — not a bad thing, with such a detailed cockpit, but one likes options.

There is a separately mounted rudder and a cap for the nose featuring machined openings for the two additional Mk 108 cannon, into which two small gun barrels are to be cemented. Beneath the gun bay, there are also two fairly large panels to be cemented to the airframe, something I have never seen before in an Me 262 kit. The main landing gear are well detailed and should satisfy most modelers craving for authenticity. Those looking for R4M rails and rockets will be surprised, for they are not included. In their place are four Ruhrstahl X-4 air-to-air wire guided missiles. Designed to give fighters a chance to down the ever increasing number of Allied bombers from beyond their effective gun range, these rockets never saw operational service during the war, but have fueled many Luft ’46 configurations, including that for a deployed version of the Messerschmitt P.1101.

The subject of this kit, the Me 262 A-1a/U5, appears to be similar in configuration to the A-1a/U1 in that two of its four Mk 108 30mm cannon were replaced by the longer-range Mk 103 30mm cannon, and these were augmented by two lighter 20mm MG 151/20 cannon. Other sources claim that the A-1a/U5 had six Mk 108 30mm cannon. In any case, it would have been a heavy fighter designed to give the Me 262 an edge in firepower against both Allied bombers and their fighter escorts. This version would likely have been earmarked for units like Kommando Nowotny (led by veteran Austrian pilot Major Walter Nowotny, a recipient of the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds), or General Adolf Galland’s Jagdverband 44. Kommando Nowotny was the second unit to receive the Me 262, after Erprobungskommando 262, and focused its operations entirely against American bomber formations.

Many leading Luftwaffe tacticians did not agree with this strategy at the time; they believed the Me 262 should be employed against the bombers’ fighter escorts, so as to force them to jettison their drop tanks prematurely, leaving the bomber streams entirely undefended. But the Me 262 was used primarily as an anti-bomber weapon, and a fair number of them were shot down by Allied fighters as they reduced speed to attack the bomber formations.

Conclusion

This is an exceptionally detailed kit of a heavily armed version of the Me 262, which might well have seen service had World War II in Europe extended into the Summer of 1945 and beyond. Highly recommended.

References

• Profile Publications Number 130: The Messerschmitt Me 262; Copyright Profile Publications Ltd., Surrey, England; Copyright date unknown
• www.military.wikia.com
• Fighter by Ralf Leinburger; Copyright Parragon Books Limited 2008; Bath, United Kingdom
• www.luft46.com