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Me-262

Guyfang

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Don't waste your time betting on me in any tie-breaker!

As I learned from ColdWarrior, the internet is my friend. And I'm my own worst enemy. I was completely wrong:

- The Me-262 is downtown, at the Air and Space Museum. I haven't been there in years. Might need to return soon (I mean it's FREE, right?!):
I spent every free moment I had during my AIT, in the museum. I watched them tune a baby grand, an then play 2hours of really fine clasic music, then another day we watched them build a log cabin. I saw the Hope diamond and walked into a steam engine that had a cylinder that was6-8 feet in diameter. The Air an Space part was like a drug to me. I could have lived there. If you have never been, you are missing the single must interesting place on the planet. The only negative thing to the Smithsonin, is you can NOT see it all.
 

Another Ahab

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I spent every free moment I had during my AIT, in the museum. I watched them tune a baby grand, an then play 2hours of really fine clasic music, then another day we watched them build a log cabin. I saw the Hope diamond and walked into a steam engine that had a cylinder that was6-8 feet in diameter. The Air an Space part was like a drug to me. I could have lived there. If you have never been, you are missing the single must interesting place on the planet. The only negative thing to the Smithsonin, is you can NOT see it all.
You bet, Guyfang, I remember that log cabin! That's cool that you watched them build it. I didn't see it until after it got built.

That was back in the old Museum of History and Technology.

It's the same building, and even pretty much the same exhibits (+/-), only now it's called the National Museum of American History.

They had an old drug store interior in there too as an exhibit. And my old man told me how he used to go to that same actual drug store as a kid, when he was growing up in D.C. and before it became something "historic" that the Smithsonian wanted to preserve. Wacky!

Oh, and for the record I believe that the Air and Space Museum is the single-most visited museum in the entire world (or at least it used to be). So you're not alone in being thrilled by that place. It IS pretty cool.

I guess I'll have to go back and check out the Me-262. There's even an "Ask the Expert" session at the exhibit on May 13 I noticed. I guess I'm there!
 

Another Ahab

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I was reading somewhere that the A-10 "Warthog" was in part designed by a former Luftwaffe pilot who flew in the Me-262's towards the end of the war, and had some take-away from the experience.

The nose-mounted cannon in those things (6 of them I think it was), was firing rounds that each weighed like a half-pound or something. They were relatively low velocity but packed a punch. If I can find that link again I'll post it.

She was never meant as a fighter apparently. Her role was bomber interceptor. It's good that they showed up so late.
The 262's had four 30MM cannons. They say it only took two or three shells to remove a bomber's wing.

I was wrong again (maybe not much of a surprise).

The armament was HIGH velocity not low velocity, 30mm as noted by Flyingvan911, and sometimes even 50mm. Some serious firepower. Check it out:

 
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18operator

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Is that the story of the Luftwaffe pilot who escorted a battered B-17 out of Germany?[/QUOTE]
Yes. Franz Steigler escorted Charlie Brown and his crew in Ye Old Pub out of Flak range.
 

Another Ahab

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Is that the story of the Luftwaffe pilot who escorted a battered B-17 out of Germany?
Yes. Franz Steigler escorted Charlie Brown and his crew in Ye Old Pub out of Flak range.[/QUOTE]

Amazing story, and they met one another decades later.

Stigler apparently meant to take her down, but as he closed-in he saw how chewed-up she was, and he didn't have the heart to close the deal.

His humanity kicked in.

The Luftwaffe often included a breed of Prussian that were not all your typical Joe. It was that quality of officer who often ran the POW camps, but if i'm not mistaken was rarely if ever put in charge of any of the concentration camps.

I don't think the Luftwaffe would have gotten along much with Himmler, not that Goering was any hero.
 
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Another Ahab

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Yes. Franz Steigler escorted Charlie Brown and his crew in Ye Old Pub out of Flak range.
Amazing story, and they met one another decades later.

Stigler apparently meant to take her down, but as he closed-in he saw how chewed-up she was, and he didn't have the heart to close the deal.

His humanity kicked in. [/QUOTE]


I found the vid. Not your everyday story, it's not too long:


https://youtu.be/_8EkmyoG83Q
 
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Another Ahab

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The Luftwaffe often included a breed of Prussian that were not all your typical Joe. It was that quality of officer who often ran the POW camps, but if i'm not mistaken was rarely if ever put in charge of any of the concentration camps.

I don't think the Luftwaffe would have gotten along much with Himmler, not that Goering was any hero
.
Thought about this and realized I got no evidence to back this up, just from some of the stories our mother told us while we were growing up (she was a kid in Paris throughout the five years of German Occupation).

But I bet there's a doctoral dissertation there if anybody's going after a PhD. :mrgreen:
 
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02smokemaker

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That story is incredible.
It goes to show that even during war humanity stiil exists.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk
 

Another Ahab

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That story is incredible.
It goes to show that even during war humanity stiil exists.
One thing we all learned from Mom and her stories of life in wartime Paris is that war is complicated. It's not always just "Good Guys" vs "Bad Guys".

We're just people and people by themselves are all complicated, even before you throw them together into a war.
 
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02smokemaker

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It's so different now. There is 7 year old kids with bomb vests on! I couldn't even imagine the stress of being over seas now in the military.
 

Another Ahab

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All the hardware is pretty cool, though, "ain't" it?!

Who knows, maybe that's part of the problem.

Sort of like what Mr. Robert E. Lee said at Fredericksburg:

- "It's good that war is so awful or we'd grow too fond of it." (or whatever exactly it was he said)
 

Another Ahab

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I ran across this. It's a little long at about 8 minutes, but if you got time check it out.

You won't be disappointed.

Apparently Howard Hughes owned one personally and wanted to race it after the war against newer jet-engined aircraft. The race committee shut him down. They were worried his jet would take the race:



https://youtu.be/kxRR2KgY5mo
 

Another Ahab

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YouTube works their algorithms and pitches you similar content after you watch a vid or two.

Then the NSA makes a record of it.
Then Putin and his boys hack that and use it to decide who's our next president. :naner::whistle:
 
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