the lead designer of the Messerschmitt Me 262, was officially commissioned by the Luftwaffe in April 1939. The aircraft was to be powered by two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engines, a radical new ...

In the context of its time, the Me 262 was truly extraordinary. Today, jet engines are much more common, roaring through our skies relatively unnoticed. This is only the case, however, because of ...

The F.8 variant featured two Rolls-Royce Derwent 8 jet engines that were wider than the Swallow in design and sat directly in the middle of the wings instead of underneath. The Me 262 Swallow had ...

The Me 262 arrived too late to change the European air war dominated by Allied bombers and fighters. But the fighter jet's swept wings and turbine engines gave it an unmatched speed of 540 mph ...

Upon inspection after the war, it was acknowledged by many aviation experts that the designs of the airframe and engine of the Me 262 were years ahead of other aircraft of the era. Its secrets ...

The Allies also adapted to the Me 262; they specifically targeted the jet's airbases and destroyed the factories producing them, reducing their numbers and the Germans' ability to replace engines.

While it wasn't the first jet-engined aircraft that flew, the ME-262 was the first operational jet-fighter. So many technical and political troubles struck its development that it began its career ...

With a top speed of 540 mph, Germany's Messerschmitt Me 262 was by far the fastest fighter of World War II. It was powered by jet engines, a new technology that was not always reliable.

Despite its great speed advantage, the Me 262 was not as maneuverable as top-of-the-line piston fighters and it had a tendency to stall due to a tricky compressor. The jet engines burned out ...

The Nazis began tinkering with what would become the Me 262 as early as 1939. The program began under the power of a piston ...

Engine reliability issues delayed the start ... And because of the presence of the Me 262 jet fighter on the aerial battlefields above war-torn Europe, the British accelerated their own production ...