Early jets

[Dr Jekyll]

Just supposing Frank Whittle had been able to develop jet engines earlier and the RAF had been equipped with aircraft roughly equivalent to early Meteors and Vampires in 1940.

Would this have provided a significant advantage in the Battle of Britain? The only real advantage of very early jets seemed to be speed.

[Saab Dastard]

Yes, it undoubtedly would.

The 8th USAAF were severely shaken by their encounters with the Me 262, and I have read published statements from senior USAAF figures indicating that had the 262 appeared in similar numbers a year earlier, the outcome of the daylight war over Germany would have been very different - basically the 8th would have been withdrawn.

So if the Meteor had been in service in 1940, then the Luftwaffe would have taken even more severe losses.

However, they would probably have adopted the night bombing tactics earlier, possibly negating their losses, although inflicting proportionately fewer RAF casualties.

Jets then were even more of a liability at night than piston fighters, owing to their higher speeds!

And if the Luftwaffe had encountered RAF jets in 1940, then I am confident in saying that THEIR jet program would have been accelerated (it certainly could have been), so perhaps the course of the war would have been changed!

Ifs and buts - you gotta love 'em!

SD

[chiglet]

So if the Meteor had been in service in 1940, then the Luftwaffe would have taken even more severe losses.
But the He280 flew 6 months....as a viable fighter BTW,. before the Gloster E28/39,[an "experimental" aeroplane] first flew.
IF the Luftwaffe [and Mr "H"] had developed this aeroplane, I think it very unlikely that any "Offensive Sorties" would have taken place by either Fighter, or Bomber Command....unless the RAF had [at the very least parity] to contend with the said jets. The USAAF were shaken by the Me163 and the Me262. And a lot of other surprises.
watp,iktch

[HotDog]

Meteor F8
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m246/adamtakach/DSC00546.jpg

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

I remember reading an anecdote by a 'stang jock ( may have been in an old 8AF yearbook ), to the effect that a 262 attacking a B17 had something like a 5-8 ( ? ) to 1 advantage on the defending P51's, as it could just speed round the Bomber & shoot

[wayoutwest]

g/day all.i did read somewhere that the 262s range was a big problem and lack of experienced pilots.i wonder just how many pilots were lost in converting from props to jets?.

[shack]

Would this have provided a significant advantage in the Battle of Britain?I believe that the answer to that question is NO. I've flown the Spitfire and have more hours on Vampires than I care to remember and in the context of the question once the immediate surprise was over the Spitfire would be my choice.
You have to remember that the Vampire 1 and the early Meteors had 50 minutes fuel max if you were not tanking around in a dog fight, so by the time you had climbed up and found what you were looking for it was time to land and refuel. The piston engined fighters of the day were much more manouverable than the early jets and would have run rings around them, I do not believe that many Mustangs for example were shot down by Me 262s.