Expert: Michel Cahier - 10/17/2008

Question
1.Which was the most important technical development they came up with?
2.Which German aircraft could be regarded as being a major step forward in aircraft design and what would your reasons why this is so ?
3.Was German aviation ever really that far advanced compared to countries like the UK USA or FRANCE?

Answer
Hello
I am an expert in  History of the IIIrd Reich and not in History of Aviation. However I would be glad to help you with this question as I  have some knowledge of the world of aviation.

1- To my knowlege the most technical development Germany came with in the XXth century in the field of aviation was the launching of a jet fighter named the Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe" whose plans were drawn up in 1939, and the airplane first flew under jet power in 1942. The Me262 saw action starting in 1944 as a multi-role fighter/bomber/reconnaissance/interceptor warplane for the Luftwaffe.
German pilots nicknamed it the Sturmvogel (Stormbird) but it did little damages to the allies by lack of fuel and pilots. It was first seen in Fall 1944 in the Battle of Market Garden where its sudden apparition and extraordinary speed (500+ mph) terrorized the Allies.

2- The Russian designers Mikoyan and Gurevitch had developed a jet fighter MIG  as soon as 1938 that flew in 1940 for the first time but  the plane had a small range, top speed of only 400 mph and teething defects (unstable).  Stalin dumped the development of the plane that was built at 3000 exemplars until 1942 when he decided that the war would be won with conventional fighters and bombers. Production resumed at the end of the war and the first Mig9 flew in   April 24, 1946.
 
3- Germany was advanced compared to the USA, France and the UK but Russian engineers and designers were ahead of their German colleagues. The Brits came up in 1940 with the development of the Gloster G41 Meteor that saw action in July 1944 only and only 8 were built. It had a top speed of 600 mph and 2 Rolls Royce 8 turbojets. As for the USA, in 1942, John K. Northrop conceived the XP-79 as a high-speed rocket powered flying wing fighter aircraft. In January 1943, a contract for three prototypes designation XP-79 was issued by the USAAF.  To test the radical design, glider prototypes were built. One designated MX-324 was towed into the air on 5 July, 1944 by a P-38 making it the first rocket-powered aircraft built by America to fly.The XP-79B (after delays because of bursting tires and brake problems on taxiing trials on the Muroc dry lake) was lost on its first flight 12 September, 1945. Few weeks later, the project was canceled. The first US jet fighter to be successfully in the air was the McDonnell Phantom that flew for the firts time in January 1945.

I hope that I satisfactorily answered  your questions and I thank you for trusting my expertise in a domain I am not an ...expert of. Best regards,
Michel Cahier