Me 262 A-2a

Description

The Me 262 A-2a Sturmvogel is a gift rank German strike aircraft with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced during Update 1.65 "Way of the Samurai" as a reward vehicle for the 2016 "Winter Holiday" event.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Engine performance

Survivability and armour

• 90 mm Bulletproof glass in cockpit front.
• 16.5 mm Steel plates in front of 30 mm Mk 108 ammo boxes.
• 15 mm Steel plates in fuselage in front of pilot.
• 15 mm Steel plates behind the pilot.

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Me 262 A-2a is armed with:

• 2 x 30 mm MK 108 cannons, nose-mounted (100 rpg = 200 total)

The two cannons are arranged in the nose of the aircraft. Each are armed with the same amount of ammunition, which means that both guns will fire together until empty.

Suspended armament

The Me 262 A-2a can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 24 x R4M rockets
• 2 x 250 kg SC250JA bombs (500 kg total)
• 1 x 500 kg SC500K bomb (500 kg total)

Usage in battles

The Me 262 A-2a has can be utilized in several ways:

Air-superiority fighter - Find and destroy other fighters. While the historic purpose of the Me 262 was bomber interception, it performs well against other fighters. However, it must be played like a heavy fighter or, for instance, the Fw 190 series. Be careful and plan every step ahead, including your retreat and how you will regain lost energy. A standard attack looks like the following:

1. Find a target already engaged in combat and busy or an enemy who is alone.
2. Position yourself with either a speed or energy advantage in the enemy's blind-spot (where they would least expect you, attacking with the sun behind you is a good tactic).
3. Proceed closer to the enemy aircraft with the energy advantage you hold.
4. Launch a deadly surprise attack.
5. Escape any other nearby enemies with a "zoom climb" or a continuation of the approach at your maximum speed.
6. Once enough separation has been gained (3-5 km), regain energy by accelerating or climbing. Likewise, engaging a different target who has lower energy is an option.
7. Ground attack with bombs or rocket

These tactics are virtually the same as used by the Fw 190 series and also works on all early jets (Meteor F.3, P-80, MiG-9, F2H, Kikka, R2Y2), etc.

Against later jets, (Sea Meteor, La-15, F9F), it gets trickier as they can easily neglect any energy advantage you built up due to their superior acceleration. The approach suggested above will still work, but needs to be executed with even more caution. Having allies nearby to assist is also often mandatory in matches like these, as a single 262 bears little threat to Korean War jets.

Against these superior foes, one of the 262's lesser strengths can be used - the turn rate. For a few turns, the A-2a can out-manoeuvre most Korean War jets, apart from the naval carrier jets like the F9F Panther and Sea Meteor.

Bomber interceptor - History's call. Seek and annihilate any heavy bombers with the impressive armament the Me 262 brings to the battlefield. Avoid getting shot at though! The 262's engines are weak and like to burn. If the engines catch on fire, throttle down and then shut off the engine (default "i") and go into a dive to gain speed. Rockets are also fun in this mode, as the A-2a has the option to carry up to 24, 55 mm R4M rockets. Don't forget to set a detonation timer for the R4M missiles so they do not require direct hits. 600-800 m is suggested.

Ground attacker - Bad acceleration and a high stall speed - usually not the traits wielded by an attacker, but the A-2a has two very convincing arguments on its side: R4M rockets and bad matchmaking. The 24 (48 second unlock) rockets can destroy light pillboxes, medium tanks, fortifications and mini bases with either the twin 250 Kg or single 500 Kg SC bomb. Peculiar to note is the ability of the MK 108 to destroy light pillboxes. 60-80 shots are needed from a very low angle and from short distance. Also, the Me 262 can get dragged up to games where it will face Korean War era jets. One could try, as an experienced pilot, to get the best out of the situation. Those who are not as skilled at ground attacking still benefit the team; if the match starts to take longer, a ground victory becomes an viable option. The same applies if the last enemy is hiding and the tickets start to count down.

As a heavy fighter, the A-2a is not nimble, but neither are other first generation jets. Compared to them, the Me 262 is actually quite agile and possesses a speed, roll, and damage output advantage against certain adversaries.

However, don't be fooled - this aircraft was the first operational jet fighter. Generally, anything 3 years younger than the 262 outclasses it. Against them, the 262's turn rate is your only advantage. Except Meteors. Avoid combat with Meteors if possible however if engaged in a sea meteor or later variant, do not simply dive as it will only make your situation worse. Try alternating barrel rolls to force them to overshoot. Joystick users can try the classic trick of banking the aircraft about 120-180 degrees out of phase of the enemy aircraft with a positive G-load but as usual they will need to watch their altitude carefully.

The A-2a climb rate is actually not too bad as stock in 6.0-7.0 games but to climb well you need to be around 450 to 500 km/h for best climb rate which can be visually unappealing due to its low angle of climb. This in itself can be used to out-run and climb simultaneously as an advantage.

Comparisons - Other countries' first generation jets include the F-80A-5, Meteor Mk. 3, Vampire, MiG-9, Kikka and Yak-15. The Me 262 is the heaviest of them and thus reigns straight line kinetic energy retention at high speeds. Top speed goes to the F-80, followed by the MiG-9 and Meteor F.4. Not all is grim though! Both the Vampire and Yak-15 sit far at the end of the spectrum. The Sea Meteor has the best acceleration in the horizontal, although it will break apart before it can reach its top speed. In the vertical, however, the weight and design of the Me 262 allows for the most rapid dive in this time era. Turn rate: do not turn in jets!, or heavy fighters like in this case. Pure horizontal manoeuvres are reserved for emergency situations and should be avoided accordingly.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Essentially the same aircraft as the 262 A-1a
• Half of the default belt shells consist of Minengeschoß shell, which is deadly against anything, especially bombers
• Firing cannons does not slow you down as much as the A-1a
• Decent energy retention
• Able to do some ground support with ordnance and then switch back as a fighter once payload is spent
• Good roll rate at low speeds
• Comes with a extremely unique camouflage paint scheme
• Fairly manoeuvrable at low speeds compared to most early jets
• Engine cowlings can be used in place of landing gear for emergency landings at high speed
• Despite carrying only half the armament of the A-1a model, it is still a very capable fighter

Cons:

• Has only two 30 mm MK 108 cannons, so precise aiming is required
• Rather slow compared to most other jets
• Bad acceleration, just like most early jets
• Sluggish rate of climb, even with upgrades, still get out-climbed by the propeller driven aircraft like the Mark 24 Spitfire
• Not very nimble at high speeds
• Despite being reward aircraft, it does not make the same amount of SL like a premium aircraft
• Poor turn rate
• Awful shell velocity for jet to jet combat ("snapshots" are possible, albeit very difficult)
• Despite the ability to carry ordnance, the 262 A-2a is not a dedicated ground support aircraft
• Tends to "flip about" after doing a vertical manoeuvre
• Unusually high angle of attack is required for level flight at most speed ranges as the Me 262 A-2a tends to bleed energy when turning
• Fuel feed cuts off if flying with inverted G-loads for an extended period of time
• Exposed jet engines that are very susceptible to damage

History

The A-2a Sturmvogel was developed due to Hitler's continued insistence on developing the Me-262 into a fighter-bomber variant. In May 1944, after learning the fighter-bomber role had not been worked on, Hitler reaffirmed his order that such an aircraft must take precedent over the fighter variant without further delay. Any modification of the existing 262's airframe were already problematic and it forced designers at Messerschmitt to make compromises for the fighter-bomber variant. This included the removal of two of the four 30 mm cannons in the nose. This was to help offset an inherent imbalance of the airframe, especially once the payload was dropped and the weight was lifted. The Sturmvogel also received two hardpoints for carrying bombs. These changes would ultimately produce a heavier Me-262 with altered flight characteristics and experienced pilots to operate them. However by 1944, the Luftwaffe has lost air superiority over the skies of Europe and experienced pilots were coming up in short supply. Ultimately development of the fighter variant was allowed to proceed with every 20th Me-262 set aside for the fighter role. Yet even these were requested to be completed with some sort of bomb-carrying/release modification.^[1]

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the Me 262 A-2a from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

References

Germany jet aircraft
	Luftwaffe
He 162	He 162 A-1 · He 162 A-2
Me 163	Me 163 B · Me 163 B-0
Ho 229	Ho 229 V3
Ar 234	Ar 234 B-2 · Ar 234 C-3
Me 262	Me 262 A-1a · Me 262 A-1a/Jabo · Me 262 A-1a/U1 · Me 262 A-1/U4 · Me 262 A-2a
	Me 262 C-1a · Me 262 C-2b
	LSK
Fighters	◊MiG-15bis · ◊Lim-5P · ◊MiG-19S
	◊MiG-21MF · ◊MiG-21bis-SAU · ◊MiG-21 "Lazur-M"
	◊MiG-29
Attackers	◊MiG-23BN · ◊MiG-23MF · ◊MiG-23MLA
	◊Su-22UM3K · ◊Su-22M4
	◊IL-28
	Luftwaffe
F-84	◄F-84F
F-86	◄CL-13A Mk 5 · ◄CL-13B Mk.6 · ◄F-86K
F-104	◄F-104G
F-4	◄F-4F Early · ◄F-4F · ◄F-4F KWS LV
G.91	◄G.91 R/3 · ◄G.91 R/4
Tornado	◄Tornado IDS WTD61 · ◄Tornado IDS MFG · ◄Tornado IDS ASSTA1
Other	Alpha Jet A · ◄Sea Hawk Mk.100
Ex-LSK	◄MiG-21 SPS-K · ◄MiG-29G · ◄Su-22M4 WTD61
	Swiss Air Force
	◌Hunter F.58 · FFA P-16