I don’t mean to butt in as you guys have had a terrific discussion here. You’ve really cleared up a lot of questions I had regarding the use of the P-38 in the European Theater. I’m glad I stopped in because I learned something new.
In regard to the Me-262, I had a conversation with a German history buff some time ago. He said the main problem with making the 262 operational in any great numbers was the materials necessary for the turbine blades in the Jumo-004 jet engine. I can’t remember offhand, but it was the sort rarer metal the Germans just didn’t have much of. They also had very short operational lives. As with any new technology, there were a lot of dead ends and necessary refinement before it becomes effective and readily available. Engine availability, performance and maintenance probably had the most to do with why the Germans didn’t have very many 262s operational at any one time.
And Cougar, 183 books is nothing. I’ve probably read that many in the past decade alone...oh, by December? That’s different. Why are you wasting time reading this?
If you haven't already started doing so, read that dissertation on long-range fighter escort that CougarGA7 linked to a few posts earlier. It is a gold mine of information. The first several pages are hard to read due to bad photocopy but they aren't particularly interesting either. The rest of the document is very readable.
As with any new technology, there were a lot of dead ends and necessary refinement before it becomes effective and readily available.
Agreed. The Germans had to proceed forward with development of the Me-262 and other jet aircraft. One wonders though if they might have been better in the short term to put a little more effort into an interesting design using more proven technologies like the Dornier Do 335?
No feel free to butt in. Your input is always appreciated.
You really do bring up a good point with the Jumo-004. The problem went beyond just the blades though. The issue with this new engine was that it ran at higher rotational speeds and therefore higher temperatures than previous engine designs. The best suited materials for these high temperatures would have been made of nickle and chromium alloys depending on the application. But for the Jumo these materials were in extreme short supply. This led to some creative processes in order to get the engines manufactured. For example, to save the limited chromium for blade construction, they tried building the combustion chamber out of steel which was then anodized with aluminum and baked to make it more resistant to high temperatures (I think the baking process is the same as what they use today for aluminum blocks in cars). This was only somewhat successful and as a result the Jumo engines of May 1944 when I mentioned the 7 total Me-262s were assigned to combat would only last about 10 hours before they would fail. This is the primary reason why only 1 of the 7 aircraft was serviceable at this early stage.