The U.S. investigated the ME-262 to see how it stacked up against the Bell Aeracomet (first U.S. jet fighter, produced and flew in October of 1942) and the Hughes D-2 jet fighter (first flown on June 20, 1943 at Harper Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert).
The D-2's problem, however, was political. It used XF-11 (Spruce Goose) funds in order to keep it secret, and was so illegal that it "burned up" mere weeks after its successful proof of concept (a test in which it raced past some U.S. propellor-driven fighters in California).
Wow. Now that's a factoid which was totally beyond me!!!
I always heard the D-2 was a prop job, or did Hughes also back a prop job fighter?