this thread is a continuation of a digression from the "Blackhawk Down" threads...
a quick note on the ME-262; fantastic aircraft. very maintenance intensive. hard to fly (and by the time it saw service, Germany had 14 year olds with 100 hours flight time soloing in a high-performance het wthout any dual instruction). as already stated, Hitler was idiotic for trying to make it a light bomber instead of an interceptor. however, I still don't believe it would have impacted the war if used as such. here's why; the 262 would have been very successful at knocking down Allied bombers, but the vast majority of heavy bomber sorties were against "strategic" targets that had little effect on Germany's warfighting capability. bombers had the most impact on "tactical" targets that were close to the forward edge of battle, but the Allies stuck to the strategic bombing doctrine which was rather ineffective.
a side note; one reason Hitler was so fixated on having a good light bomber was that the de Havilland Mosquito and Martin Marauder light bombers were very effective in the ETO and the Luftwaffe was not successful at knocking them down (compared to taking out Allied heavy bombers). a Mosquito interrupted one of Hitler's speeches, and I think it became a neurotic fixation.
a quick note on the ME-262; fantastic aircraft. very maintenance intensive. hard to fly (and by the time it saw service, Germany had 14 year olds with 100 hours flight time soloing in a high-performance het wthout any dual instruction). as already stated, Hitler was idiotic for trying to make it a light bomber instead of an interceptor. however, I still don't believe it would have impacted the war if used as such. here's why; the 262 would have been very successful at knocking down Allied bombers, but the vast majority of heavy bomber sorties were against "strategic" targets that had little effect on Germany's warfighting capability. bombers had the most impact on "tactical" targets that were close to the forward edge of battle, but the Allies stuck to the strategic bombing doctrine which was rather ineffective.
a side note; one reason Hitler was so fixated on having a good light bomber was that the de Havilland Mosquito and Martin Marauder light bombers were very effective in the ETO and the Luftwaffe was not successful at knocking them down (compared to taking out Allied heavy bombers). a Mosquito interrupted one of Hitler's speeches, and I think it became a neurotic fixation.