For you plane guys: October 1942

[OldManC]

America's First Jet Flight, October 1942


http://www.aircraftowner.com/videos/view/americas-first-jet-flight-october-1942_1617.html

There are some great comments at the website where I first saw this, including mention of an article in the March 2012 issue of Aviation History magazine which covers some history that might be interesting for you guys.

[uwe]

Why didn't you turn it into your Me 262 then?  Even the Brits hat their Meteor ready by the end of war.

Silly question though, by 1943 you knew you would win the war with conventional means and a Liberty ship was more important to the war effort than a jet fighter (with most likly very limited range making it largely useless to protect the bombers), the nuclear bomb more of a military statement than any jet fighter could have ever been. Just like a Sherman tank was good enough against a Tiger or Panther if there were enough Shermans around and a P-47 or P-51 could beat an Me 262 if there was one around when the Me 262 had to start or land or was parked, and there was basically always one around! What the US learned in WW II was that mechanics of scale are more decisive than advanced state of the art or even novelty arms - it's probably where the still current rule of thumb came from that an attack force needs to be ten times the size of a defense force to ensure victory and not too crippling own losses.

[TBird1958]

Read "Oil & War" by Goralski and Freeman followed by John Ellis' "Brute Force"......

The war viewed as resources (or the struggle for them) and the Allies (especially the U.S.) use of brute strength in every theater of the war. 

[gweimer]

There's also some talk of that in "The First and The Last" by Adolph Galland.

[Pilgrim]

Read "Oil & War" by Goralski and Freeman followed by John Ellis' "Brute Force"......

The war viewed as resources (or the struggle for them) and the Allies (especially the U.S.) use of brute strength in every theater of the war. 

Which was also the Colin Powell approach - assure overwhelming superiority of force, then act.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Why didn't you turn it into your Me 262 then? 

Simple: the P-51 (and P-47, P-38) could eat it for lunch. It wasn't until Nazi scientists made it to the US that we made jets (and rockets) that were worth a crap. It's no accident that the 50's MiG15 and F-86 looked so much alike. They were designed by former coworkers.

[uwe]

It's a sensible military concept if you want to save own lives and have the resources.