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| Photographs
Copyright © Collin Riley 2005-2012 |
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| Messerschmitt
Me 262A-1a, Major Walter 'Nowi' Nowotny, Kommando Nowotny |
Aviation
Archive. Birth
of the Jet Engine. Faster than a speeding
bullet, or so it may have seemed. My step uncle, who had two ships
shot out from under him during WWII (one the USS Princeton (CVL-23)),
told how amazed he was the first time he saw a plane fly without
a propeller (probably in 1945). He was dumbfounded simply because
the existence of jet propulsion was still a secret. Yet some advanced
nations started working on jet engines in the 1930's, and I read
once that if the British Air Ministry had worked with Frank Whittle
during the 30's, WWII could easily have ended up as an all-jet war.
The first jet powered Me 262 (versus the temporary piston version)
flew in mid-1942. (In contrast; the first Mitsubishi Zero flew in
April 1939 (just three years earlier), and the first P-51 Mustang
flew in October 1940, little more than year and a half earlier.)
They say that most technical advances in warfare are made in the
between-war years, while of necessity, the war years are dedicated
to production. If the British had developed and applied jet power
early in the between years, how would that have changed WWII? Would
the war have been delayed, or perhaps prevented? No way to know,
but it is facinating to speculate.
Anyway, this diecast is well executed, and the colors are very attractive.
The only problems with the model are the scratches and dings applied
during manufacturing. I can only assume that they threw the pieces
in bins before assembly. Ouch! |
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| Type |
Fighter |
| Corgi item |
AA35706 |
| Run amt. |
2654 of 2980 |
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