The Me 262 – the first jet-powered production aircraft

On 18 July 1941, the eagerly awaited first flight of the jet-powered Me 262 took place in Leipheim, Germany. The aim was to prove what the aircraft, including its propulsion units, had been designed to do.
In 1942, the Me 262 was in every respect a pioneering piece of high-tech aviation: firstly, because of the aircraft concept itself and, secondly, because of the new jet propulsion system, which had been developed in parallel with the aircraft and prepared for series production.
However, discussions and developments had been taking place since the mid-1930s, as it had been shown that the efficiency limit of aeronautical propulsion by piston and propeller engines – due to their physical properties – was within reach. So a new idea for propulsion was urgently needed. And the need for a new aircraft design arose from the higher speeds that could then be expected.
Hans von Ohain’s air-jet turbine, patented in 1937, paved the way for this new type of propulsion, and Messerschmitt AG began developing an aircraft for this type of propulsion in 1938. Messerschmitt AG’s first objective was to design a “solid” experimental aircraft, i.e. one that was as risk-free as possible and whose flight could be controlled in complete safety. It was simply a question of an aircraft with harmless flight characteristics. But it soon became clear that the jet fighter was breaking new ground, both technically and aerodynamically. At the same time, the Bayerische Motoren Werke and Junkers-Motorenbau had already begun developing jet engines for series production.

On 27 August 1939, Hans von Ohain was able to demonstrate his idea in flight as the engine of a He178. However, the development of propulsion units led to a continuous increase in their weight and dimensions. As a result, aerodynamic modifications and adaptations to the airframe design became necessary. However, the first production-ready propulsion units are still awaited at the time of completion of the aircraft.
In order to at least carry out preliminary tests, Willy Messerschmitt himself suggested installing a makeshift piston engine in the nose of the aircraft. So on the evening of 18 April 1941, at Augsburg-Haunstetten, the Me 262 took off for the first time, powered by a propeller. In this configuration, a tailwheel was still planned. In December 1941, Junkers announced the final breakthrough: one of the development machines operated for the first time briefly at a thrust of 1,000 kiloponds.