Me 262 Flies again!

Video outlining the Me 262 project.
http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=164395&page=1

Pretty damn cool. I've always read that if they had just gotten better engines the 262 would have really been something to worry about...

...well, and more of them as a whole.

So this is what rich people buy. COOL! Wish I could own one....

Several years ago there was a company making full scale P-51 Mustangs out of some sort of poly material. Very interesting. Showed it at EAA and advertised...never went anywhere. Case of bad marketing and "buyer surveying" in my opinion.

Then there are the Polikarev I-153 and I-16 fighters down in New Zealand. Exact 1:1 replicas of the WWII Soviet fighters except for the American radial engines.

It's amazing what a CAD machine can do for you now.

There are a few 1/2 scale P-51's flying around. Pretty cool,while flying unless someone told you it was 1/2 scale you wouldn't even know.

I used to be a ramp monkey at GRR in Grand Rapids, MI.

Guy landed one of those subscale -51's. Looked authentic until he landed and then we had questions. When he taxied up next to a Cessna 172 and it was damn near the same size we were all laughing. Cool none-the-less.

I believe that there are 6 or 7 now that are flying. I do know that they have enough to build 3 more but they just need buyers. I think they were going for about 3 mil. They are so accurate that they had to add lead weight to the nose for the lack of guns.

I read an article about these a year or so ago. They borrowed an Me262 from one of our military museums. They then took it apart and reverse engineered the original. For the use of the plane it was also restored as they examined it and put it back together. The museum gets a free restoration and the company got a really good look at all the things they needed too. If I remember right the engines used are derated to about 40% or something close to that figure. I can't remember the exact figure but I do remember that the engine combination is capable of a lot more thrust than the airframe can take.

One of the coolest airplanes EVER, in my opinion.

Would've given the Germans total air superiority if they'd come out with them two or three years earlier.

Origional Jumo 004..........1,980 lbs of thrust and weighed over 1600 lbs

General Electric J-85..........2,850 lbs of thrust and weighs 395 lbs!

The only mustang made from composites were the 3/4 scale Thunder Mustangs. That's what you probably saw at the Osh and/or Sun-N-Fun. It's powered by a Falconer V-12 and actually outperforms the full size mustang. Really the only place you see them now is at Reno unless you see a privately owner thunder mustang. There was an accident or two involving it's flight characteristics and it didn't end up doing to well. The control forces on the thunder mustang at high speed were also much lower than the full size. I've got a little time in a P-51 and the controls are very heavy at combat speed and hardly move 3/4" from center.

There are also some kit planes out there called Stewart S-51's that are usually powered by Chevy big blocks. Don't really have the V-12 sound like the Thunder Mustang and the full size but still look somewhat authentic in flight. The thunder mustang had a slightly larger than scale wing for it's fuselage size but other than that it's almost dead on.

Check out this video of a Thunger Mustang start-up and runup. I'm guessing the thing was warmed up before the video. VERY similar sounding to the Merlin, except for the noise of the starter.

-Kelly

If Hitler hadn't been such a nutbag, and demanded the ME262 be a bomber, (They basically lied to him and told him it was) things in Europe would have been much different, not saying we wouldn't have won, but it would have taken longer.

[/quote] Pretty dang cool. I've always read that if they had just gotten better engines the 262 would have really been something to worry about...


It's a shame the Germans kept having all those bearing plants blow up!!!!! A lot of Airman sacrificed so that they wouldn't/couldn't have better engines.

Re: RE: Me 262 Flies again!

AJMBLAZER said:

Pretty dang cool. I've always read that if they had just gotten better engines the 262 would have really been something to worry about...

...well, and more of them as a whole.

Click to expand...

Even with the engines thy had, they were 120 mph faster than anything out there. Hitler was the undoing of the program as he insisted that the Me 262 be used as a bomber.

http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html

I have had this site as a fav for over a year now. Enjoy !!

I just spent the last two hours catching up with their progress. Thanks for the link CdnH1.

Immense undertaking...

My pleasure, here's another link you may enjoy

http://www.flugwerk.de/

Well. There goes the next two hours.... opcorn:

Crap!!... They're also making a D9

I accidently ran accross the ME 262 they used as the original in this project. It is in a small museum just outside the Willow Grove NAS. Worth seeing!
Bob