Paddles_up
March 13, 2003, 08:13 AM
*** Grounded vintage-jet replica getting repairs
Seattle Times -- Ideas are cheap. Turning
them into reality is harder. That lesson
was made clear once again almost two weeks
ago to a group of Everett-based aircraft
enthusiasts who watched their idea skid
off a Paine Field runway. The group is
building five replicas of the
Messerschmitt 262, the world's first jet
fighter, a plane that last flew nearly 60
years ago. Their efforts endured a sizable
setback Jan. 17 when the first replica went
off the runway after a landing-gear strut
collapsed. But it could have been worse.
First flown in 1942, the plane was powered
by two jet engines hung under the wings
and built in one- and two-seat versions.
When it went into combat in June 1944, it
became the world's first operational jet
fighter and was years ahead of aircraft
being produced in the United States and
Britain. If the Me-262 had been ready in
1940 during the Battle of Britain
historians have argued, Hitler might
have successfully invaded the British
Isles, changing the outcome of World War II.
Seattle Times -- Ideas are cheap. Turning
them into reality is harder. That lesson
was made clear once again almost two weeks
ago to a group of Everett-based aircraft
enthusiasts who watched their idea skid
off a Paine Field runway. The group is
building five replicas of the
Messerschmitt 262, the world's first jet
fighter, a plane that last flew nearly 60
years ago. Their efforts endured a sizable
setback Jan. 17 when the first replica went
off the runway after a landing-gear strut
collapsed. But it could have been worse.
First flown in 1942, the plane was powered
by two jet engines hung under the wings
and built in one- and two-seat versions.
When it went into combat in June 1944, it
became the world's first operational jet
fighter and was years ahead of aircraft
being produced in the United States and
Britain. If the Me-262 had been ready in
1940 during the Battle of Britain
historians have argued, Hitler might
have successfully invaded the British
Isles, changing the outcome of World War II.