Hitlers Stealth fighter

[Road_Warrior]

As I recall reading, had the ME262 been fielded in numbers as a fighter against USAAF daytime bombing raids, it may have forced the USAAF to suspend daytime bombing raids against Germany. This would have effected the strategic bombing plan which targeted supply and essential industries to the German war effort. This in turn would have resulted in the German war machine being more resistant to supply problems and allowed to to maintain offensive operations for a longer period. I doubt very much that it would have had an effect on maritime operations or whether or not D day would have occurred.

It should be noted however that the RAF would still have been able to conduct its night time bombing raids as the ME262 was no different to other fighters for night fighting, which was in its infancy and would have been relatively ineffective against the RAF night raids.

It can be assumed that had the USAAF not devised a workaround to the 262 'problem' then they would have simply started training up to carry out night raids against Germany with the RAF. In which case, the vulnerability of the war supply industry and so forth would have still been acute. In hindsight, there is little that the USAAF could have done against the 262 apart from attacking the places it was made and its airbases. Which is what they did anyway.

There is no one 'miracle' or wonder weapon which would have or could have turned the tide of the war (aside from nuclear weapons being fielded by the Germans) - such a war would have been dependent on a number of such wonder weapons and good strategic planning without interference by Mein Fuhrer.

[BHDOGS]

I think you give hitler less credit then he deserves

[Uncle_Ken]

Originally Posted by Envi XR8

Can't blame the man for that. 30mm cannons are very good reason to run. That would be an awesome thing to read. Was he a pathfinder? There were limited numbers of 262 nightfighters by feb/march 45. What date was it?

Thats really interesting... thanks for sharing.

He was a pathfinder, his Squadron was in the RAF (142). It was mainly Aussies flying Canadian built Mosquito B Mk 25's. He was based at Gransden Lodge, flying opps Dec 44 to end of the war.


UK

[Uncle_Ken]

Originally Posted by XR6WGN

I also enjoy watching the History Channel "doco's" (hate the Foxtel commercials, hate the term )

I'd have foxtel in a moment IF I could choose the channels I want, not the packages they want you to have!!

Anyway this is not a Foxtel bashing thread so I'll just say thanks for the links and I'll go and watch it again.

Oh Uncle Ken, your Dad flew the Mosquito, my Dad fixed them. I can always remember him saying that.

What sqaudron did you Dad serve with?

UK

[csv8]

The Americans took Dr Werner Von Braun and the other rocket scientists to America and as they say ,the rest is history.

[rodderz]

Saw it on foxtel the other night too, interesting show. A lot of those doco's are, the ancient mega building series has been too, like how they built the pyramid's, colluseum, macchu picchu etc.

I think the yanks used german scientists for their rocket program as well.

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by rodderz

I think the yanks used german scientists for their rocket program as well.

That has already been discussed above

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by Peuty

That has already been discussed above

ah, net on phone sucks, especially when coverage is hit and miss and each page takes mins to load!

[Spanrz]

On the heavy water, as said before, it was used in Nuclear experiments by Hilter.
However, that NATGEO show was about a myth or legend that Hitler had mastered/perfected the use of Heavy Water. The yanks, knew he was in that side of things, but they didn't know how much.
The episode pulled up a barrel from a sunken ship and had it tested. It showed that it was heavy water, but the concentration levels of what was said to be used, wasn't true.
So they had the theory that he was well on the way, but still off by sometime off, till he had it perfected.
Very interesting and an educational episode.

Originally Posted by rodderz

I think the yanks used german scientists for their rocket program as well.

"used" = stole!
Hahaha

I know a fella, who served with the Brits in WW2. He was a bomber pilot (lancasters and all). Flew many many missions, survived by the skin of his teeth. Had a few close calls, like all of his crew were dead, but him, managed to land back home, holes everywhere through the plane (on a wing and a prayer)
Apparently there is a legend that I have heard of, that he was the pilot that dropped Douglas Badders legs to him, whilst in a concentration camp.

[XR6WGN]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Ken

What sqaudron did you Dad serve with?

UK

Not too sure but I'm slowly doing my Family History - so when I find out, I'll definately let you know.

Cheers Paul B.

[Uncle_Ken]

Originally Posted by XR6WGN

Not too sure but I'm slowly doing my Family History - so when I find out, I'll definately let you know.

Cheers Paul B.

Paul have you used the Australian War Memorial for info

http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/

Its pretty good

UK

[MethodX]

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/pos...60-a-8348.html

Some of those German experimental planes were later built in South America.
As many Germans settled there.

[turbo_man]

Originally Posted by XCPWSF

That was very interesting, what do you guys reckon today would be like if Germany had won WWII?

from a car perspective (this is a car forum after all) i would have came home from work today on the m5 autobahn in record time from the city in my cheap as chips locally manufactered 911 haha
talk about forgetting a bad day at the office!

[SB076]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Ken

They reckon that the USSR and th UK both had plans to shoot old Adolf but they thought he was a greater help to the allies alive than dead, kept stuffing things up like the ME 262 and actually stopping the Sturmgewehr 44 from going into production in 1943.


UK

Yep the Germans had some fascinating equipment and some of the stuff on the drawing boards was incredible. Hitler did stuff things up for them, I beleive the Allies moved quickly to take as many of the engineers and scientists as they could and relocate them to the States. The former USSR also moved in and grabbed what they could from jet fighters to rocket fighters (Me 163) V1 and V2 parts and assemblies. Some of the generals serving Hitler (although not necessarily willing would quite capable) Donitz and Rommel come to mind. Donitz had an incredible plan for the Navy (Z plan) which would have been a formible force had it been completed - with battleships far more potent than Bismark - plus an aircraft carrier and a large advanced submarine fleet.

Mosquito's were an aweesome plane one of my all time favorites during WWII - must admit I was also a fan of the fw-190, Pathfinders were awesome they would drop flares to mark where the lancestors should drop their bombs - from memory they also did some daring highly accurate bombing runs to free prisoners from a German held area (blew the guards house up and basically the front door allowing prisoners to escape) - From memory anyway I studied this stuff when I was a teenager.

From a car perspective although not entirely related search King Tiger, Jadgpanther and, and Jadgtiger - all forminable weapons that the Allies had no real answer for - apart from carpet bombing and let them run out of fuel and ammunition.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by turbo_man

from a car perspective (this is a car forum after all) i would have came home from work today on the m5 autobahn in record time from the city in my cheap as chips locally manufactered 911 haha

Unless traffic was held up for 10k's due to snow/fog/ice...

They're having a fairly cold winter there at the moment. Probably due to 'global warming'