Messerschmitt Me 262 "Schwalbe".
The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe (swallow), was the first operational fighter aircraft powered by jet engines. The aircraft was used by the Luftwaffe on a limited basis during World War II.
Although it is often considered one of Hitler's wonder weapons, development of the Me 262 began before the war and the first plans were on the table by April 1939. Test flights began in April 1941. A conventional Junkers Jumo 210 engine was installed in the nose during the first test flights because the BMW 003 jet engines were not yet ready for use.
Also the new Junkers Jumo 004 jet engines proved to be rather unreliable and although all modifications to the aircraft design had been concluded in 1942, production was not started until 1944 when the engines showed better performance. Major problem was that after 10 flying hours they had to be overhauled.
This photo was taken during AIR14 at the Swiss Payerne Air Base. The aircraft in the photo is a replica, original flyable 262s do not exist.
I am Jaap van den Berg and photography has become a great passion of mine since 2010. Since then I travel all over the world to take pictures of military aircrafts. But besides aircraft I also love to photograph other subjects like landscapes, architecture, flowers, animals, .. Read more…