USE BY GERMANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 82, 4 October 1944, Page 6

USE BY GERMANS

JET-PROPELLED, PLANES

(Special P.A. Correspondent.) LONDON, October 3. The • increasing use being- made of jet-propelled aircraft by the -Luftwaffe is due to the fact that the Germans have developed these aircraft beyond the purely experimental stage ■to a point where they take a definite place in the air war.

Members of - the -R.A.F. to whom I jspoke iri France said the single-motored ; MeSserschmitt 163 could more accurately be described as a rocket-assisted {fighter. Pilots who have encountered ; it • say it takes - off- with the aid of a [rocket and then glides about in the air ■•at a high speed. From >this glide it !can.makelits attack,'and then with a •"squirt of black smoke", it can shoot away at ,tr.emendous speed, climbing vertically. Reports indicate that German pilots lack experience in handling the plane, 1 and that what it • gains in speed it .lacks in. manoeuvrability. R.A.F. -fighter pilots who have been attacked joy it state it is not difficult to dodge, , and that once the jet aircraft has made .ite attack it has to perform a wide circle before it can return for a second attack. In addition to the ~ single-motored fighter there is also a > two-motored comber, the Messerschmitt 262, which ,was originally intended as a fighter, Tsut is now being used with the object of making. lightning attacks and returning to bases before it can *be intercepted. TWO FORMATIONS SEEN. Spitfires and Mustangs escorting E.A.F. heavy bombers over the Ruhr ■recently sighted two formations of jetpropelled aircraft. One comprised 12, and the other 16 planes. They were •flying in pairs in line astern. They Tnade no attempt to attack the bombers, but watched the bombing and then flew away.. It is bejieved the Luftwaffe has lormed one complete group of several .■squadrons equipped with jet-propelled aircrsft. . It is operating in. the Ruhr ■area, and its pilots are afforded as much operational experience as possible in the shortest time, in the hope that these aircraft may provide a counter to -the Allied overwhelming air superiority. Informed opinion makes no secret of the fact that jet- or rocket-assisted aircraft are going to play an important ■part m the future of the air. both from a military and commercial point of view. Such a plane is capable of Rising at 400 miles an hour. Its use ,py the Luftwaffe serves as a warning ,to the Allied nations that they can•not afford to relax experimental and .■development work. The R.A F of course, possesses jet-propelled aircraft