Messerscmitt ME262 - Early Prototypes
The ME262 was designed to meet the requirements of projekt 1065 for the German Ministry of Aviation (RLM - Reichsluftfahrtministerium) and was submitted for approval in June 1939 competing with the Heinkel HE280 for a contract for continued development. The HE280 was more revolutionary featuring a compressed air ejection seat, pressurised cockpit and powered by two Heinkel HES8A turbojets, in contrast the early design of the BMW-003 powered ME262 had its engines enclosed in nacelles within the wings. It had a tailwheel configuration and its tapered wing was not yet swept back.
On the 1st March 1940 the RLM declared Messerschmidt the winner and awarded them a contract to build three prototypes and a fourth airframe for static testing, they also however approved funding to allow Heinkel to continue the development of the HE280. Construction of the first prototype ME262-V1 began in January 1941 and it was ready for taxi trials by the 17th April 1941 although its engines were not.
ME262 V1 with Jumo 210 in the nose and BMW003 engines.
The development of the ME262 and design issues surrounding its engines mirrored the situation in England and the development of the Gloster Meteor. There was a great deal of doubt over how much thrust the BMW or indeed any turbojet could produce forcing Messerschmidt & Heinkel to adopt twin engine designs in the same was as W G Carter had. This was made worse by delays in the development of the early engines and once it became clear that BMW would not be able to produce engines for the prototype ME262 it necessitated significant design changes to accomadate the alternative Junkers Jumo-004 which was both heavier and larger in diameter. The engines moved to nacelles slung under the wings which were now swept back to maintain the center of lift, not as often reported to improve the aircrafts speed, the ME262 was in fact highly unstable at transonic speeds and would prove difficult to fly suffering many fatal accidents during its early development.
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The smaller diameter of the engine however made it possible to suspend the engines below the wings without requiring excessively long main undercarriage legs to achieve ground clearance.
The construction of the first prototype ME262 V1 began in January 1941 and it was ready for flight long before its turbojet engines, early bench tests of these were very dissapointing at just 570lbs of thrust, far too low for practical use. This led to the first prototype V1 being fitted with a conventional 750hp Jumo 210A in the nose driving a wooden propellor in order to flight test the airframe. It was ready for taxi trials on the 17th April 1941 and flew for the first time on the 18th April fitted with a tail wheel rather than the tricycle undercarriage that would be a feature of the later design.
The aircraft flew a total of 23 times on piston engine power up until 8th May 1941 when it finally received its pre-production BMW003 engines. The engines were rated at 1085lbs but the first flight was a disaster with both units failing, it was only saved from total loss by the by its piston engine and wooden propellor which allowed a safe landing. The ME262 would not fly again with BMW engines until October 1943 when it was fitted with redesigned BMW003a engines.
The second and third prototypes V2 & V3 were modified to take the Jumo004, this required a nacelle 10% larger in diameter and 16% longer. To counteract this the horizontal stabilizer was enlarged and the wings were swept back. V3 was the first to fly on the 18th July 1942 with Jumo 004AA0 engines of 1,850 lbs thrust, V2 was completed in July 1941 but did not fly until 1st October 1942. The development program was expanded during this time to include two further prototypes and fifteen pre-production aircraft. The last two prototypes V4 & V5 flew on the 15th May 1943 & 26th June respectively, V5 was the first to be fitted with tricyle undercarriage necessitating the main undercarriage to be moved back 3ft in the wing.
ME262 V3 in July 1943, note tailwheel configuration