Eder’s comments are not unique. The 30mm cannon was extremely lethal, being capable of cutting any Allied fighter in half with a single 330-gram (11-ounce) explosive round, which had an impact blast radius of almost two feet. They were also capable of carrying twenty-four 55mm R4M rockets, with twelve rockets mounted in racks under each wing. These weapons gave the German pilots the ability to fire into a formation without selecting individual targets, much like firing a shotgun into a flock of geese. However, if they did not fire, the excess drag made the jet quite vulnerable to enemy fighters. Regarding this fact, Johannes Steinhoff’s comments are noteworthy:
“Once we received the R4M rockets, this was an entirely new development. We were able to score more hits on the enemy bombers, and these weapons probably accounted for half the victories I scored in the jet. The one thing we all agreed upon was that we wanted to fire those rockets as soon as possible, since they increased drag and reduced our airspeed. This was a real problem if you found yourself in a fight with enemy fighters. Sometimes they would not fire at all, and I often bruised my fist pounding the dashboard in absolute frustration.
“I remember one mission we flew into a large formation of B-17 bombers; we were mixed up with some JG-7 aircraft. During this time Theo Weissenberger and perhaps Buchner, or another pilot, I think, were in the area at that time. I was on [Leutnant Gottfried] Fährmann’s right wing, [Oberstleutnant Heinrich] Bär was on mine. We reached altitude, and were perhaps three thousand meters above the bombers when we gained visual contact. We all rolled over on my command, and I led the way. Fährmann fired his rockets, and they spread out and he hit four bombers, I think, but no kills. Galland had one, and the Rammer also hit one, but I do not know if it went down. Krupinski also hit a bomber, but again, I do not know if it was a kill shot.
“Bär also fired his rockets, and a blinding flash prevented me from seeing anything, but I fried my rockets anyway. I was unable to see anything until I was in the middle of this American hornet’s nest. I flew through this debris, and felt dozens of bullets and shrapnel striking my aircraft. I think that I must have ingested some debris into my right engine, or enemy bullets had killed it, as it flamed out and I was losing airspeed. I then took a quick look around and saw Bär pulling way up followed by three others. I was the only guy unable to climb, so I decided to break off and head back home. I made it back with a smoking jet and wrote my after action report.
“When I fired I had downed one and damaged another. Usually, by the time the rockets impacted, we were already pulling away to avoid a collision. The rockets gave us that extra reach and increased our margin of safety. This was when we would bank around and then come back in for a stern attack, which was the best for most pilots. It also reduced the bomber’s defensive fire. However, the flank attack, hitting them from the left or right, allowed for a larger target selection and sight picture, but it also exposed you to the greatest defensive fire. Yes, I would say the rear attack at high speed was the best. Having the rockets also increased our killing ability.”{18}
Hermann Buchner also recalled his first experience with the R4M rockets, when he and Leutnant Gustav Sturm attacked a B-24 unit: “On the first attack, Sturm shot down one using his R4M rockets. The hits were so good that the Liberator fluttered from the sky.”{19} Buchner also had some unflattering things to say about the rockets: “These rockets tended to be affected by wind, so even if you had a good line of sight, the rockets, despite the great range they provided, were not always the most accurate weapons. We still had to get pretty close, and usually firing from distance, we would lead and fire high, so the rockets would land among the bombers. It was random, but it must have really shattered their nerves. That was when we went in with the cannons.”{20}
Despite being designed as a fighter, the A-2 could also carry either two 500-pound bombs or a 1,000-pound bomb on the bottom of the fuselage. This payload seriously hindered the flying quality of the jet, which was soon discovered by Allied pilots. As stated in Foreman and Harvey: “Meanwhile, on October 10th [1944], a staff meeting had been held, during which American pilots were called upon to give their conclusions on the initial encounters. They were unanimous that the German aircraft could outclimb both the P-47 and P-51, although the maneuverability was not great. The fighter-bomber versions were easier to engage, since the bomb-load reduced their speed by at least 100 mph (when engaged, however, the bombs were usually jettisoned and the jets escaped). It was concluded that thus far, Me 262s had been brought down by:
• Diving from above
• Fatal tactical errors on the part of German pilots
• When taking off or landing
• Running out of fuel or engine trouble{21}
Major Wolfgang Späte, a ninety-nine-victory ace and the first commander of JG-400 flying the Me 163B Komet, ended the war flying the Me 262; scoring his last five victories in the jet earned the Oak Leaves to the Knights Cross. Späte was very approving of the Me 262, as he wrote in his book Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet and confirmed during an interview with the author:
“I was transferred under Theo Weissenberger in Jagdgeschwader 7 to once again fly the Me 262… After flying several missions from Rusin in the end of April [1945], I developed the definite impression that the Me 262 was just plain invulnerable when attacking American bomber formations if the attack was made directly from the six o’clock at an airspeed of 850 to 900 kilometers per hour.{22} I knew that when I was closing in, as I was one of the last jets to attack, that my arrival was no secret. The tail and waist gunners were waiting for me. My first attack in a 262 was fast, and from the time I saw the formation until I fired my cannons the time was only perhaps ten or eleven seconds. The B-17 sort of crumpled, and fell apart, no fire. It just broke up. I could only think what we could have done with this aircraft in 1942!”{23}
However “invulnerable” in the attack, Späte had previously mentioned the potential for disaster when flying through the debris of a victory, when the compressor could be damaged. In his book, he described how to learn to avoid this hazard: “To have been completely successful on this occasion, I would have had to keep firing for perhaps another two seconds. There were times when an aircraft disintegrated from my first hit while I was still flying in the six o’clock position behind it. If one of my engines caught a little piece of shrapnel from such an explosion, the damage would immediately cause a flameout; then I would be prey for the packs of escort fighters. Therefore, I promptly ceased fire at a very safe minimum distance, just as soon as the pieces started to fly.”{24}
Pilots who flew the two-seater night fighter version would also have to worry about the same problems. Generally, the night fighter pilots fired and engaged from much shorter distances, simply due to limited visibility, and the fact that once the radar operator brought the fighter onto the target, the sets were turned off and the pilot completed the target acquisition visually.