One of the advantages the Allied jet fighter had over its German rival was in maximum altitude. The Me 262 Swallow couldn't fly over 37,565 feet, whereas the Meteor could reach over 43,000 feet.

Entering service late in the war, the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe—German for “Sparrow”—was the world’s first operational ...

Nazi Germany's Me 262 fighter jet influenced later generations of U.S. military aircraft as the world's first operational turbojet aircraft. Skip to main content. Open menu Close menu ...

The Me 262 was the first operational fighter jet in history, and while it outmatched Allied aircraft, it couldn't turn the tide of the war. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Bigger isn't always better. There have been attempts to shrink down military fighter jets, but only the Folland Gnat can call ...

“The Me 262 was an incredible leap forward in technology,” says Alex Spencer, curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. “It represents a new beginning in fighter aircraft ...

The Me 262 – the World’s First Operational Jet-Powered Fighter – Design work on the Messerschmitt Me 262 began before the outbreak of the Second World War, but due to problems with the ...

The world's first operational jet fighter, the Me-262 Schwalbe, was powered by two Junkers Jumo 004 B turbine engines and had sleekly swept wings and a powerful armament of four 30-mm cannons. With a ...

The Storm Bird. The Me-262 is a jet that needs no introduction. Perhaps no German WWII fighter on this side of the Bf-109 and possibly the Fokke Wulf Fw-190 is as recognizable as the Me-262 jet.

One such “wunderwaffe” was the Messerschmitt Me 262, the world’s first functional jet aircraft.Though the plane was developed during the Second World War, the Germans understood the ...