The best German jet combat aircraft design of WWII?

anetos05 said:
The Germans designed plenty of jet aircraft but which of them were actually good?
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German jets were better than anything else, but too few in numbers.
As interceptors they had to employ the zoon-and-boom tactics established during WW1.
Me.262 was not as maneuverable as piston-engined fighters, but when you can retreat at 600 knots, who cares about maneuverability?
Not so good when they were assigned to bomb Rhine River bridges.
 
The Me-262 and Gloster Meteor were arguably the most revolutionary and outright superior aircraft with regards to flight performance compared to other aircraft of the era. And both actually saw combat and went beyond the prototype or low volume production stage. Which cannot be said about many other jet or rocket powered aircraft of WW2.
 
What range is needed? Is it strictly fighter v fighter or a bomber interceptor? Does it have to fly and fight at night? ect ect
 
"Best" is a matter of what is best for a particular job. An interceptor and a ground attack aircraft tend to have quite different qualities. The Me-262 was certainly very capable as an interceptor but had its fair share of downsides, many of which were due to the jet engine being such a "work in progress." Their engines had very short lifespans and were prone to catching fire. Most of its piston-engine equivalents could outmaneuver it, of course the Me-262 could just use its speed to get away. But that's not really an option when the Me-262 is low on fuel and on landing approach.

The Germans put more light flak around airfields and usually had fighters ready (including some very capable types like the Fw-190D) on standby to try to cover the returning Me-262s but even so they suffered many losses from such tactics.

Adolf had a fascination with trying to use it as a fast bomber, and while it had the speed it doesn't seem to have been particular successful at that job. If anything it just diverted them from being used more effectively as interceptors.
 
See its very difficult to say what "design" was best, since most of the very advanced late-war designs never actually flew. If we discredit drawing board projects, then the best would have probably been the P.1101. Had a single jet engine (lower cost and maintenance), and maximized its efficiency rather than simply slapping it underneath the wings like on the very early jet fighters. Top speed was estimated at 980km/h. 1753215360493.png
 
EmoBirb said:
The Me-262 and Gloster Meteor were arguably the most revolutionary and outright superior aircraft with regards to flight performance compared to other aircraft of the era. And both actually saw combat and went beyond the prototype or low volume production stage. Which cannot be said about many other jet or rocket powered aircraft of WW2.
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Arado 234
 
To me it's an inept question. It's apples and oranges. The best jet bomber? The best jet interceptor? The best jet dogfighter? Because these are totally different requirements leading to totally different configurations.
I've grown so tired of this Pokemon card generation mentality of always trying to determine who/what is the best/strongest/fastest/sturdiest of any given thing. Can't we just appreciate things without always having to compare and assess them?
 
Stargazer said:
To me it's an inept question. It's apples and oranges. The best jet bomber? The best jet interceptor? The best jet dogfighter? Because these are totally different requirements leading to totally different configurations.
I've grown so tired of this Pokemon card generation mentality of always trying to determine who/what is the best/strongest/fastest/sturdiest of any given thing. Can't we just appreciate things without always having to compare and assess them?
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What does "best" mean? Most effective? Most advanced? Easiest to build?
 
In my opinion the answer is: none.

The Me 262 suffered from serious problems of compressibility buffeting diving from altitude and had to be escorted by high altitude piston fighters.

The Me 163 flew too fast for the pilot to fire and killed more German pilots than all Allied fighters.

The Heinkel 162 lacked range, speed and 30-mm cannons, it was designed as an easy-to-fly aircraft for inexperienced pilots, but none of that turned out to be true.

The Heinkel 280 fell victim to the transition between the construction of centrifugal and axial turbojets and possibly a future operational version would have suffered problems of transonic turbulence with vortex generated between the turbojets and the underside of the wings and between the tailfins and tailplanes.

The fuselage of the Me P.1101 was poorly designed and demonstrated so many drag problems in the wind tunnel that production was cancelled.

The Focke-Wulf Ta 183 T-Tail was a death trap for a pilot who tried to eject at more than 700 km/h with a Heinkel Kartusche ejector seat.
 
Stargazer said:
I've grown so tired of this Pokemon card generation mentality of always trying to determine who/what is the best/strongest/fastest/sturdiest of any given thing.
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I'm not in to Pokemon but am pretty sure it didn't exist during my childhood and youth in the 1960s and 1970s when same flavor of discussion, and dissin'and cussin', was sometimes read and/or heard.
 
I think it's rather self evident that usually "best" means providing the highest technical performance (and consequently usually the associated leap in combat performance as well) over other contemporary aircraft of the same class under most circumstances. And/or with regards to conducting the same mission as contemporary aircraft of the same role.

It's rather disingenuous and useless semantics to even assume something like production numbers or ease of maintenance. Someone who's fresh on the forum and possibly has a healthy but not particularly in depth interest in military aviation won't care about such things (which are undeniably important in the real world, under real circumstances).

For comparison however combat aircraft is more vague, although I'm also leaning towards assuming OP meant fighters/interceptors.
 
Best in term of performance probably the Me-262, Me 163 and Ta-152H
 
Before Pokémon we had Top Trumps cards where you could match the SR-71 against the Harrier in a very meaningless game so it's not new.

I take major issue with the idea that 'best' is easy to define and answer though. What was the best tank of WW2? You could make an argument for Sherman, T-34, Panther or Tiger with various factors considered.

If we consider the original question - could you answer what is the 'best' US jet? If you want to carry cargo the answer is not "F-22".
 
You could just as easily say the best German combat aircraft were the conventional prop-aircraft that never got made due to wonder weapons --and the best tanks and U-boats were those whose steel went to Bismarck.

But, from a global perspective--such research was a net positive...I just wish said research came from less bloody means.
 
The delta one, of course ;)

Lippisch DM-1:
 

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He-162... it makes the most sense logistically, if they had gotten it to work.

In terms of absolute performance... major questions exist about duct design for many of the late war proposals. This rules out the Lippisch P.15 and Junkers EF.128 for me, as well as most of the late war Messerschmidt designs and the Fw P.VII Flitzer.

I'd probably continue refinement of the Me-262 and He-162, while giving contracts for prototypes of the Blohm und Voss P.212/3 and possibly the Hs-135 and/or He 1078 (at least gliders for aerodynamic testing).
 
Primarily as a recce aircraft, surely the Arado 234 is worthy of consideration?
 
Four jets reached production, if you count the Me 163. He 162, Me 262, Ar 234. Anything else was experimental at best, so, in my opinion, had yet to prove itself. All designed to different requirements. Take your pick. If you really want to.
 
If you're asking about the best WW2 German combat design, I would consider the Ju 88 for its sheer adaptability.
 
Had someone ignored the idiotic Austrian art student, the Me262 would have been a lot of trouble. Fast and heavily armed, it could have torn up a lot more bombers than it did.

Germany needed interceptors, and the Austrian Art Student didn't understand that.
 

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