Some interesting info: http://gast.radio-o.at/gusen/dok/b8/b8002x.htm Millions of tons of material were brought between 1943 and 1945 from all parts of the 3rd Reich via the railway station at Sankt Georgen an der Gusen to the construction site and the underground plant of B8 BERGKRISTALL - ESCHE 2. The most important locations within the B8 BERGKRISTALL-ESCHE 2 network are structured according to the subsequent classification (in alphabetical order): Me-262: Material going out for Messerschmitt GmbH: ATTNANG-PUCHHEIM received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) BALLENSTEDT received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) and "empty boxes" BERLIN received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) BERLIN-WEISSENSEE received "container boxes" (Behaelterkisten) BERLIN-STAAKEN received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) BODENWOEHR received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) BRANDENBURG received fuselages (Ruempfe) BUDWEIS (CESKE BUEJOVICE) received machine tools (Werkzeugmaschinen) BURGAU received fuselages (Ruempfe) until Oktober 1944 and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) CHAM received received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) DRESTEDT received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) FALLERSLEBEN received "tooling" (Werkzeug) and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) and aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) until July 1944 FISCHAMEND received aircraft parts (Flugzeuteile) until March 1944 FLOSSENBUERG received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until October 1944 and machinery (Maschinen) GRASLITZ received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) GUENZBURG received fuselages (Ruempfe) until the end of the war and "Rumpfwerk" HAGELSTADT received fuselages (Ruempfe) and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) HOECHST received received "empty boxes", "Behaelterkisten" JETTINGEN received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) KAHLA received fuselages (Ruempfe) KEFERMARKT received aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) until July 1944 KUBOHUETTE (KUBOVA HUT) received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile), "Wannen" and "Wannenverschlaege" LUNGITZ received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) and aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) LEIPHEIM received fuselages (Ruempfe) until Dezember 1944 and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) OBERNZELL received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) and "Rumpfwerk" OBERTRAUBLING received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) PLANKENHEIM received aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) until June 1944 PLETTENBERG received "antennas" (Antennen), "Verschlaege" REGENSBURG received fuselages (Ruempfe), "spare parts" (Ersatzteile), machinery (Maschinen) and "large furnaces" (Grossraumoefen) SCHWAEBISCH HALL received fuselages (Ruempfe) until Dezember 1944 and "Rumpfwerk" SINGEN received "aluminum scrap DEST" (Duralabfaelle DEST) SULZDORF received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) SUNZENDORF received "boxes" (Kisten) VILSEK received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) and "aircraft parts" (Flugzeugteile) WELS received "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) ZARTLESDORF received aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) until July 1944 ------------ Me-262: Material comming in for Messerschmitt GmbH BAYREUTH delivered work benches (Werkbaenke) BODENWOEHR delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until January 1945 DACHAU delivered work benches (Werkbaenke) ESCHENLOHE delivered ... (Wehrmachtsteile), fans (Ventilatoren) and machinery (Maschinen) FALLERSLEBEN delivered parts for fuselages (Rumpfteile) FISCHAMEND delivered machinery (Maschinen) FLOSSENBUERG delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until January 1945, parts for machinery (Maschinenteile) and wings (Flaechen) FRANZENSTHAL delivered aircraft hulls "Wannen" and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) GRASLITZ delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile), aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) and brass (Bleche) GUENZBURG delivered ... (Verladeboecke) HAGELSTADT delivered parts for machinery (Maschinenteile), machinery (Maschinen) and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until January 1945, water tanks (Wasserbehaelter) INGOLSTADT delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until Dezember 1944 KOEFERING delivered paint (Farbe) and "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) KUBOHUETTE delivered aircraft hulls "Wannen" LUNGITZ delivered electric material (Elektromaterial), transformer (Transformatoren), containers (Behaelter), fuel tanks (Kraftstoffbehaelter), tubes (Rohre), brass (Bleche) MAUTHAUSEN delivered tools (Werkzeuge), machinery (Maschinen) and brass (Bleche) MITTERTEICH delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) and machinery (Maschinen) OBERNZELL delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile), charger (Ladegeraete), tubes (Rohre) and ... (Exzenterpressen) OBERTRAUBLING delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile), "equipment" (Geraete) and workshop equipment (Werkstatteinrichtung) PASSAU delivered sheets (Platten) PLETTENBERG delivered "aluminum" (Leichtmetall), aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) and(Bohrgeruest) PRUEFENING delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) RAMINGDORF delivered ... (Montagestaender) REGENSBURG delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile), machinery (Maschinen), paint (Farbe), ... (Verlagerungsgut), ... (Betriebsmittel), work benches (Werkbaenke), ... (Fluegelwagen) REGENSTAUF delivered aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) SCHWANDORF delivered cast items (Gussteile) and iron components (Eisenteile) SULZDORF delivered aircraft parts (Flugzeugteile) WEILHEIM delivered "aluminum" (Leichtmetall) WELS delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until November 1944 WENDLINGEN delivered "spare parts" (Ersatzteile) until January 1945 ----------- B8 BERGKRISTALL - ESCHE II Underground Plant With more than 50.000 m2 (some 10 km tunnnel length) one of the biggest german underground installations that reached production status in late 1944. According to Allied intelligence reports, it was "one of the most modern and most complete underground plants in Germany". Constructed within 13 months by prisoners of the KL Gusen II concentration camp within the Mauthausen-Gusen complex due to its high mortality (up to 98%), it became one of the most horrible concentration camp sites in European history (average survival period 4 months). With Winter 1944/45 more deportations came in than lives were consumed, by construction and production. So, many died in unopend railway cars at the local station, froze to death or were killed by the many other cruelties of the KL Gusen II "extermination" camp. According to Allied Intelligence, some 987 jet propelled planes left serial production lines. Construction of tunnel-system was nearly finished and installations operational for some 85%. Production started in parallel to construction of the tunnel-system in Summer 1944 and reached maximum in April 1945 (some 90 jet-plane fuselages, fully equipped per month). Original planned production capacity should have been 1.250 jet-planes per month until the year 1955. Fuselages and wings were brought by railway cars during the night from BERGKRISTALL to several locations in southern Germany and Bohemia where the turbines had been fixed and the jets became operational. http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1325/berg.htm
Me-262 variants http://www.vectorsite.net/avme262.html A few of "Me-262A-1a/U1s" were built with two MK-108 low-velocity 30 millimeter cannon, two MK-103 high-velocity 30 millimeter cannon, and a pair of MG-151/20 20 millimeter cannon. A number of "Me-262A-1/U2s" with instrumentation for all-weather operation were built as well. A ground-attack version of the Schwalbe, the "Me-262A-3a", with additional armor and armament, was considered but not built. A single "Me-262-2a/U1" Sturmvogel derivative was built with an experimental bombsight system, and one or two "Me-262A-2a/U2s" Sturmvogel derivatives were built with glass noses and a Lotfe 7H bombsight for a prone bombardier to permit horizontal bombing. Neither of these experiments proved successful. One Schwalbe was fitted with a Rheinmetall 50 millimeter cannon, a modified tank gun variously described as the "BK-5" or "Mark 214", to shoot down Allied bombers. The big gun tended to jam badly, and it also seems that it blinded the pilot with its bright muzzle flash. This experiment was abandoned. A number of reconnaissance variants were built, such as the "Me-262A-1a/U3" with no armament and the "Me-262A-5a" with two MK-108 30 millimeter cannon. They carried one or two nose-mounted cameras, and the Me-262A-5a could also carry two 300-liter external tanks. Some of these aircraft were flown in Italy just before the end of the war. A single "Me-262C-1a" was built with a Walter booster rocket placed in the tail to improve climb for the interceptor role. A single "Me-262C-2b" was built with "BMW-003R" turbojet engines with built-in rocket boosters for the same purpose. It is said that this particular variant was tricky and frightening to fly. Several other variants were considered but not built. The "Me-262 HG" featured wings with greater sweepback for high-speed performance and a "vee" or "butterfly" tail. Another scheme was a fairly sensible plan to build a bomber version with an extended fuselage with a real bomb bay. This would eliminate the drag of the external bombs, increasing the speed of the aircraft and allowing it to outpace Allied fighters. Me-262 HG As the long nose of the Me-262 led to poor pilot visibility, reconnaissance and bomber variants were proposed with the cockpit moved well forward, giving the aircraft something of the look of the Gloster Meteor. There was also a series of "Project 1099" two-seat heavy-fighter proposals which fitted the Me-262 wings and tail to a new, heftier fuselage, as well as a similar "Project 1100" bomber proposal, but these concepts were discarded as they were judged likely to be underpowered. --------- Late in the war, the Japanese were shipped a complete Me-262 by submarine. They began work on a copy of the fighter, designated the "Ki-201 Karyu (Fire Dragon)", but it was never completed. They did build and fly a smaller derivative, the "Nakajima J8N1 Kikka (Orange Blossom)", as an attack aircraft for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The Kikka looked enough like an Me-262 to be mistaken for it, though its rear fuselage was distinctively different, not tapering towards the tail, and its empty weight was about half that of the Me-262. The Kikka had folding wings, apparently to permit concealment in caves and the like, as whatever carriers the IJN had were quickly finding their way to the bottom of the Pacific. It was not fitted with guns, armament consisting of a single 500 kilogram (1,100 pound) or 800 kilogram (1,760 pound) bomb. The Kikka was powered by a pair of "Ne-20" turbojets with 475 kilograms (1,050 pounds) thrust each. The Ne-20 was a scaled-down derivative of the BMW-003, designed from photographs provided by the Germans. The Kikka used a pair of solid-fuel "rocket-assisted take off (RATO)" boosters to help get it off the runway. Two prototypes of the Kikka were built. The first was rolled out on 25 June 1945, and made its first flight on 7 August 1945, the day before the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. This aircraft flew for a second time on 11 August 1945, but was lost in a flight accident. The second prototype was completed but never flown, and taken to the US by the Americans after the war. -------- * The Soviets also built "clones" of a sort of the Me-262 after the war. The Sukhoi "Su-9" single-seat fighter had a general configuration like that of the Me-262 and was fitted with Soviet-built copies of the Jumo-004 engine (with the designation "RD-10"), but was otherwise a completely different aircraft. The Su-9 began flight tests in the fall of 1946. It was armed with one 37 millimeter and twin 23 millimeter cannon, and could carry two 250 kilogram (550 pound) bombs or one 500 kilogram (1,100 pound) bomb. It was one of the first Soviet aircraft with an ejection seat, and had provisions for RATO boosters and a drag chute
The first variation you described Kai was flown by RK Heinz Bär and he said it was a joke ! You didn't need the heavier armament and it made the a/c too nose heavy. The BK 5 gun was flown on two occassions by NF ace Willi Herget when he was with JV 44 and on both missions the gun jammed. The rocket propelled Me 262 was also flown successfully more than once by Heinz Bär again while he was with I think EJG 2. E
