re: #244 Targetpractice

The Me-262 was certainly a marvel of engineering, but it was also a waste of resources at a time when the Reich could barely afford it. Hitler’s directive didn’t really make much difference in the deployment of the plane, as the factories would have still needed to be moved to avoid the strategic bombing campaign. And once the oil refineries were bombed into bits, it didn’t really matter. Like a lot of programs pursued by the Germans, it was a waste of resources that could have gone into building proven weapons of war.

Biggest problem with the Schwalbe is the same one that plagues the US. They couldn’t make up their mind what its job was supposed to be. Plus the feudal system that was Nazi Germany meant every fiefdom was fighting to get their own jet fighter into service.

If they’d focused just a little I believe the Me-262 would have been in service a couple of years earlier. That would have ended the strategic bombing real quick.