Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-06-26
JET Planes Kept Down
by Bombing Of Fields,
Gen. Quesada Relates

J Gen. Quesada Relate!
BY NORMAN A. KAHL.
Now that the war in Europe 4
ended, American air leaders dom
mind admitting that the use of jet.
propelled and rocket planes by tn,
Nazis actually might have delayed
final victory If the enemy had beer
able to get enough of these Graf
in the air.
Reports Of the efficacy of German
jets which came out of Europe dur.
ing the closing stages Of the cam.
paign were more than just scare
propaganda. The cold fact of the
matter Is that the Germans had jet
fighters in the air, and we didn't.
Maj. Gen. Elwood r. Quesada
now assistant chief of air staff in
telligence, who commanded the 9th
Tactical Air Command during the
European campaign, said in an in.
tervlew that If the Nazis had beer
allowed q few more months to de-
velop and produce their jet and
rocket ships. they could have in
terferred seriously with Allied pro-
gress.
Fortunately, we were always one
jump ahead Of them," Gen. Que
sada said. I'VE didn't give them a
chance"
lowered Over Jet Fields,
Allied flyers lowered over fields
where Jet planes were launched and
knocked of the enemy as he took
of and landed. These are the points
at which the jets are least enicient.
1t finally became necessary for the
Germans to provide conventional
aircraft to cover the operations of
the jets-a wasteful process of de-
tense.
Once the jet was in the air, Gen.
Quesada said, it was up to the
enemy whether he wanted to pick
fight or not, because pilots in regular
fighter planes couldn't hope to
match his speed. If the enemy did
elect to attack, he was usually
knocked down. Up to the end of the
war the Germans had not been able
to develop a jet or rocket ship with
the maneuverability to cope with
Allied fighters.
Had they been given little more
time, Gen. Quesada feels, the Ger
mans would have overcome the COM
parative awkwardness Of their lets.
Once they had licked that problem,
jet-propelled planes really would
have become a threat.
ME-262 Called Best.
The best German jet was the ME-
262, which was used principally as q
tighter but could carry two bombs
with a total weight Of 100 pounds.
1t was armed with four extremely
lethal 30-mm. cannon; and when
the war ended. the Nazis were ex-
perimenting with the use of rockets.
They never actually shot rockets at
Allied filters, but they were work.
ing on the idea of carrying from a
dozen to "a two-inch rockets. The
ME-262 was capable of flying be-
tween 500 and $50 miles per hour.
The Nazis were building about 100
ME-262s month. Their program
provided for many more than that,
Gen. Quesada said, but we were
pounding away at their engine
plants and keeping production
down. Besides that, the general
pointed out. the Germans had very
little fuel, condition which not
only forestalled widespread opera
tons but prevented them from pro-
viding adequate training for their
fliers.
An earlier jet model, the first to
appear against the Allies about six
months before the war ended, was
the AR-234, made by the Arada Co.
"a two-engine job with top speed
of about SIS miles an hour. This
ship was intended for use as a fight
er, but 1t was actually used as a
bomber and reconnaissance plane.
Il have seen it bomb" said Gen.
Quesada, "and it was very inaccu-
rate. As reconnaissance ship, it
was much better"
Rocket Plane Was Failure.
This plane didn't worry the Allies
very much. Neither did the ME-l63,
rocket-propelled plane which even
the Germans admitted was a failure.
Rocket ships differ from jet-pro-
PEELED planes in that the oxygen
which helps power them is carried
aboard in combination with other
elements instead of being taken from
the air through which the ship
passes.
The ME-l63 had a speed of about
500 miles per hour, but it could re-
main in the air at full power for only
to 10 minutes, Gen. Quesada said.
Its principal advantage was that it
could climb to about 10000 feet in
three minutes. The idea was to
launch it straight up in the air
against attacking bombers. If the
rocket plane didn't make contact
the first time, its mission was gen.
orally q failure. Gen. Quesada said
the Nazi pilots learned to keep this
ship in the air for about 20 minutes
at time by using their rocket power
in spurts and gliding for long
stretches.
laps May Have Boosters"
Just what the Japs may have in
the air in the way of jets, If any
thing, is a matter known only to
the proper military authorities at
this stage of the game. Probability
is that they have no real jet-pro-
PEELED or rocket planes, although
they may be using rocket power to
some extent for booster" mechan-
isms on conventional aircraft.
This country puts its faith in the
jet-propeIed P-80, the famous
Shooting STAR" now being pro-
duced by Lockheed. Gen. Quesada
said he has complete confidence that
the P-80 is better than any jet made
to date. Gen. H. H. Arnold, chief
of the AAF, said somewhat the same