  
First Combat Jet - Messerschmitt ME.262 A-1A
The Me.262 was the first operational jet fighter in the world. Its appearance in late 1944 spelled the end of propeller-driven aircraft and the beginning of the jet age. The Me.262 is also important for what it might have been. If the Me.262 had been pushed forward as an interceptor after it first flew in 1943, it might have existed in sufficient numbers to halt the USAAF's daylight bombing effort, and it might have established a German air superiority that would have made the Allied invasion of Europe impossible.
|
|
|
|
