My gosh ... can you even imagine what a sight that must have been! I've often thought about what that would be like, and think that if I ever witnessed it, my heart would have nearly burst with pride and gratitude, and I know I would have wept as they went over.
That jet was the Messerschmitt 262, and was the first operational jet fighter ever (though some argue mistakenly that the distinction belongs to the Brits' Gloster Meteor ... the Meteor took flight first, I believe, but the Me262 was in active combat against the Allies while the Meteor was only flying observation patrols, from what I'm told). A wonderful proof that the human element trumps superior technology was when Lt. Urban Drew, in his prop-driven P-51 Mustang "Detroit Miss," was credited for shooting down two Me262s, though he also destroyed a third, shooting it before it ever got off the ground.
Man, what fun to hear your dad's stories! God bless him -- as God blessed every American with your dad and guys like him.
Since you’re enjoying these anecdotes- when dad was working for Bechtel some years ago he discovered that one of his coworkers had been in the same little French town on the same day that he was- it was up near Biche- anyway dad’s unit was coming into the south end of town while his friend was in a farmhouse on the north, engaged with some German infantry- until the Germans rolled up some tanks and pointed the guns at the farmhouse. They didn’t fire on it because they wanted the house as a command post, but they did take dad’s friend prisoner.