Built specifically for FSX (SP2/Acceleration), this all-new extremely detailed and functional Gmax version of the famed Messerschmitt Me-262 features not only the single seat fighters, but the two-seat trainer with fully operational dual cockpits as well.
The Messerschmitt Me-262 Schwalbe (German for "Swallow") saw action from late summer of 1944 until the end of the war, sharing the title of first operational jet fighter with the British Gloster Meteor.
The Me-262 began life in 1938, when Willy Messerschmitt was called upon to design a new fighter to be powered by two gas turbine engines. The configuration eventually chosen featured a sleek streamlined fuselage with the two podded engines carried beneath a low-mounted wing. Although the first airframe was ready to fly by 1941, the B.M.W. engines were suffering prolonged development delays, which slowed the project significantly.
Developed steadily over the next two years, and using the famously unreliable Jumo 004 engines, the Luftwaffe began committing the Me 262A-1a to combat in mid-1944 when they were pitted against the streams of heavy bombers making daily raids on German cities and military targets. Despite being well-armed with highly effective 30-mm cannons and air-to-air rockets, the remarkable Me-262 was simply too little, too late, to turn the tide of war in Germany's favor. Maintaining production was difficult due to Allied attacks on industrial centers, many aircraft being destroyed on the ground before they could ever fly.
Some 1,430 total aircraft were built, though only about 300 ever saw combat. Some 120 two-seat trainers were built, made by modifying the single seat airframe. The Me-262, although a spectacular aircraft for its time, had a negligible impact on the course of the war, shooting down an estimated 150 Allied aircraft for the loss of 100 Me 262s, the majority of aircraft being grounded too often for lack of fuel.
We hope you enjoy flying these remarkable renditions of history.
Features:
- Highly accurate VCs, each different, individually modelled after photos of those in existing period aircraft;
- Two seater has fully functional dual cockpits;
- 3 different types of artificial horizon, each modelled in 3D (including turnable locking rings);
- 2 different types of Vertical Speed Indicator modelled in 3D;
- 2 types of Electric Compass modelled in 3D;
- 2 types of Oxygen gauges modelled in 3D, including working blinker gauges;
- Luminescent gauge dials for night flying, just like the original;
- Cabin Ventilation lever that opens visible air scoop;
- Revi16B gunsight that folds accurately out of the way;
- Revi16B can be turned on and off;
- Revi16B tinted glass can be realistically folded out of the way;
- Nightfighter has red gunsight reticule, like the original;
- Working trigger guard and trigger on control stick;
- Accurate and working systems buttons on panel;
- Fully clickable and workable cockpit overall;
- Five different models;
- Six different textures;
- Bump mapping in selected areas;
- Carefully researched textures, including help from a major museum;
- Accurately landing gear sequence (e.g. on approach: main wheels first, them front gear);
- Accurate Luftwaffe pilot flight suit, flight helmet and oxygen mask;
- Turn on the oxygen system and the pilot puts on his mask;
- Animated pilot;
- Exhaust cones that move with throttle setting, just like the original Jumo 004's;
- Full flight operations manual, accurate and derived from the original;
- Written history of all the aircraft depicted.
- Two paint kits, one for the Me-262a and one for the Me-262B two-seater.
