What if the Germans Introduced the Me-262 and others listed below in 1943

On another board I said something to the effect that when it comes to aircraft development the Germans were like mad schitzophrenic scientists. They would either come up with a world beating design and then proceed to make 2 each of 50 different models of it or they would design something 20 years ahead of its time, build 10 prototypes and, manage to either crash or burn all of them while never getting one to come within 50% of it promised potential......

 

T.A., Brndirt1, good points. The basic problem with the Nazis was their paranoid tendency to protect their own turfs resulting in duplication of tasks and wasted resources. Almost all the top names in the Nazi higher echelons were trying to outdo each other to become Hitler's fair haired boy. And they were not above stabbing each other's backs, literally and figuratively. Essentially, the Nazis degenerated to a bunch of petty political fiefdoms. Whatever was available or left for use in R&D in new weapons were spread out to thinly, thus anything that might come out useful would be too little and too late.

 

Some have suggested this was a deliberate ploy of Hitler's to insure that none of his subordinates became too powerful.

 

This was discussed once on AHF - the Germans seemed blinded by sceince and technology...whereas the Allies settled for applied technology They didn't go for "sexy" solutions like television-guided glide bombs...but for little but VITAL things like the VT proximity fuse

Even the 'umble Sherman; it was streets ahead of what anyone entered the war with...and CERTAINLY by the end of the war wasn't the biggest or the best - but the answer was to make fifty thousand of the buggers, not half a thousand King Tigers!

 

The allies were known for a few flights of fancy as well.

jet aircraft for instance, atomic weapons, pigeon guided missiles, bat bombs, crypto-computers...

 

Can't get more "applied" than that! Or war-winning....

Highly successful....and the great grand-daddy of what you're going to reply to me on...

 

ok I get your point although IMO the a-bomb wasn't 'applied' until it was, and was much more ambitious than a tv guided glide bomb. A case of more bucks=more boom

 

The question of the Me262 flying earlier in the war on the Jumo 004A motor acme up on AHF in the last few days, and I was doing some more reading up.

There's a previously-undiscussed aspect of using the 004A motor in service - it was 220lbs heavier than the 004B, or 440lbs per aircraft....which would at at least 5% to the empty weight of the Me262....

I say "at least"....for the heavier engine would require extra strengthening of the engine installation and main spar in production aircraft. Not just to actually HOLD the aircmotor on the aircraft - but also extra strengthening because a whole series of stress and balance factors would have changed.

To the issue therefore of spiralling airframe weight, there's the issue of flyability/manouverability to be added...

Next up....remember what changed in the 004B motor, how the weight saving was gained - by using mild steel/sprayed aluminium in the combustion chamber etc. The 004A used refractory metals in the chamber....so not only are we talking about the cost of rare and strategic materials for JUST the compressor blades, but the cost of materials and machining for all the extra components that were "cheapened" in the 004B...

And THEN there's the issue of all the extra machining/finishing in man-hours' of labour!

 

Simply, Had this equipment been introduced in '43 then nothing would have changed. By that time Germanys elite formations where all but destoryed with replacements being too old, too young or simply lacking any decent training. And to be honoust, The Tiger II would be an infurior choice compared to the Panther. They would have been better off forgetting the Tiger I and Tiger II, and concentrate production on the Panther.

In any case, by '43 would have been too late, If they really wanted to make a difference they would need this equipment by 1940 at the latest. Giving them time to start introducing said equipment and providing proper training for such equipment.