Some Shots of Aircraft at the Royal International Air Tattoo 2023

[sutty2006]

6 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Thank you and I accept what you say about Tiger 131, she is an ORIGINAL.

The Me262 however is a newbuild!

Maybe the pilot has orders to “run it in” first 🤣

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Maybe!     

[old man]

Fab pics tc.

 

[JohnfromUK]

Really excellent photos.

[Daz45]

Great pics

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Thank you Gentlemen.   

[simcgunner]

Fabulous shots Thank You for sharing.

[Jim Neal]

On 28/07/2023 at 10:58, Penelope said:

I caught a documentary, recently, where they mentioned that a small number of Me262 (3/4), shot done 25 B17's in a single missile engagement. The remaining B17's broke off and returned to base.

Apologies, I'm a bit of a nerd on these things

For air-to-air combat, the ME-262 was fitted with four 20mm cannon as standard, although rockets could be fitted and were used, but to a much lesser degree (possibly due to production/materials limitations).  They were fired from outside the range of the bombers' defensive machine guns but were not terribly accurate in their deployment.  The 20mm cannon shells only needed one in the right place to put an allied bomber in a difficult spot, and a decent bunch of them in the right place saw the plane going down.  These were best delivered from a much closer range, but the problem was the closing speed of an attacking jet on a lumbering piston engined bomber was quite significant.  The 262 pilots developed tactics whereby they tore down through the bombers from height, from behind.  The Mustang pilots escorting the bombers cottoned on to this and used to wait at very high altitude for the 262s to arrive, then would convert height into speed to get on their tails to see them off.  A few 262s were maybe shot down but this was probably more of a deterrent.

Sources vary, some even dispute this, but it's generally believed that the first recorded victory for the 262 was against a DeHavilland Mosquito which was damaged during the engagement and reportedly crashed and was destroyed, attempting to return to its base.

The ME-262 project was (as became typical later in the war) ruined by Hitler's constant meddling and interference.  Despite its original design intending it to be an intercepting fighter to take down the enemy bombers, he wanted it put to use as a fast bomber, to pierce British defences and hopefully abate the impending invasion on France.  All this did was delay the project and save a lot of lives and planes of the RAF and USAAF who could well have been hit much harder, much earlier. Eventually, Hitler was persuaded to let the Luftwaffe use the plane how it was intended.  This was helped by another model of fast jet bomber being brought through the design/prototype stage to satisfy Hitler's demands.

The biggest bag of allied planes destroyed from one raid as far as I recall reading about was around a dozen, for the loss of three 262s.  Sources for thsi sort ofthing vary greatly.  Claims were wildly exaggerated from Luftwaffe pilots towards the end of the war, or more likely the propaganda wildly exaggerated them.  The Luftwaffe really was a spent force by the time the jets came into use though.  Germany couldn't manufacture the new planes quickly enough and they had virtually run out of any good quality pilots to fly them.  The 262 itself killed a fair few of its pilots due to engine failures.  Being such a new technology, and with Germany unable to obtain the ideal materials to cope with high fatigue & stress, the engines had to be changed/overhauled something silly like every 10 hours of flight time!

I find the ME-262 a fascinating story of what could have been.  @TIGHTCHOKE I have no shame admitting when i scrolled to that photo I nearly wet myself because I was unaware there was any airworthy 262 in existence.  With it being a replica it's obviously not going to evoke the same emotions as an original airframe, but I must say I have a massive amount of respect for the guys who've built it!  I agree, they should have ragged it!  After all, if you break it you can spend your next lifetime building another one 😅

Thanks for the pics 👍

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Very interesting Jim, it was great to see such a rare bird without having to travel far.

The gathering of interesting aircraft at RIAT is what keeps me going back each year.

[Old farrier]

Some interesting pictures thanks for posting 

no real airfield her so the best view I get is from about two thousand feet beneath as they fly around in the sky 😂😂

[.357shooter]

would love to go but the ticket price puts me off.funny about the tiger as i am wearing my tiger t shirt as i type this.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

31 minutes ago, .357shooter said:

would love to go but the ticket price puts me off.funny about the tiger as i am wearing my tiger t shirt as i type this.

I do understand, but I save up for it, hire a van to take everything and camp in a farmers field. But being up in the grandstand is rather special.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

[TIGHTCHOKE]

On 02/08/2023 at 09:10, Old farrier said:

Some interesting pictures thanks for posting 

no real airfield her so the best view I get is from about two thousand feet beneath as they fly around in the sky 😂😂

Used to be a nice one near Bembridge.

[sandy22]

On 31/07/2023 at 01:12, Jim Neal said:

Apologies, I'm a bit of a nerd on these things

For air-to-air combat, the ME-262 was fitted with four 20mm cannon as standard, although rockets could be fitted and were used, but to a much lesser degree (possibly due to production/materials limitations).  They were fired from outside the range of the bombers' defensive machine guns but were not terribly accurate in their deployment.  The 20mm cannon shells only needed one in the right place to put an allied bomber in a difficult spot, and a decent bunch of them in the right place saw the plane going down. 

 

Not quite as much of a nerd as you think.  They were 30mm cannon.

Edited August 10, 2023 by sandy22

[Old farrier]

46 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Used to be a nice one near Bembridge.

And sandown but limited as there only realistically grass runways 

althought I think they still hold the shnider trophy race annually 

[100milesaway]

Living in the Yorkshire Dales we are frequently  treated to lots of very low flying fighter jets some below our bungalow following the river through Wensleydale, todays was different ,two jets but they were very high and the noise was unbelievably  loud. Those planes were loaded.....    from Auntie.