Me 262 Bomber and Reconnaissance Units

Me 262 Bomber and Reconnaissance Units cover

Me 262 Bomber and Reconnaissance Units

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Description

When the revolutionary Messerschmitt Me 262 jet first appeared as a bomber in the skies over north-west Europe in late 1944, it represented both a new dawn in aeronautical development and a great shock to the Allied air forces and armies. The Me 262's path to deployment as a bomber aircraft was tortuous and is surrounded in controversy. In mid-1944, Adolf Hitler, having seen the impressive and formidable performance of Me 262 prototypes, stated his firm desire to see the aircraft enter service, not as an interceptor, but as a bomber. In this aircraft he believed he had the weapon which would be able to attack the Allied armies with impunity if, as predicted, they landed on the coast of France. There was nothing which the Allies had in their air forces which could touch the Me 262. Although, due mainly to problems associated with delays in engine deliveries, its debut was too late to contest the Allied landings in Normandy, when it finally did enter initial service with Kommando Schenck, under the command of Knight's Cross holder Oberstleutnant Wolfgang Schenck, in the autumn of 1944, the bomb-carrying Me 262s conducted several hit-and-run raids against RAF airfields in Belgium and Holland. From then until the end of the war the Me 262 remained one of the most feared weapons in the Axis arsenal, and it was only the overwhelming Allied air superiority and the continuous dwindling of Axis supplies that finally grounded the planes. This book covers the complete history of the Me 262 bomber and reconnaissance units during World War II.

Table of Contents

(chapter titles are provisional and are to be decided/confirmed and subject to revision)
Chapter 1: Hitler, the Jet and the Bomb /Chapter 2: Kommando Schenck /Chapter 3: High-speed intelligence /Chapter 4: Jet-bombing operations /Chapter 5: Too little, too late /Appendices: Technical specifcation and performance; tables for Me 262 A-2a and Me 262 A-1a/U3 and a selected bibliography

Product details

Published Jul 24 2012
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781849087490
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Dimensions 10 x 7 inches
Series Combat Aircraft
Short code COM 83
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Robert Forsyth

Robert Forsyth is an author, editor and publisher,…

Illustrator

Jim Laurier

Jim Laurier is a native of New England and lives i…

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