Messerschmitt 26
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Despite Adolf Hitler's warmongering genius, he made a few crucial mistakes leading to the eventual fall of the Third Reich during World War II. First was his overconfidence and belief in a short war. Second was the invasion of Russia in the heart of winter. Third was his mistake of thinking that he could occupy and control Western Europe and the British Isles in their entirety. And fourth, the one that is not known, was Hitler's miscalculation of the importance of air superiority in the war. Hitler believed that to achieve victory in Europe he needed massive numbers of troops, powerful tanks and artillery, and fast moving, long range, highly destructive bombers. He had left out a crucial piece of the "war puzzle;" his lack of fighters. Hitler had fighter-bombers in his Luftwaffe, excluding another Messerschmitt invention; the Me Bf 109, but that was it; they were fighter-bombers, not fighters. Before the war had even begun; Will Messerschmitt had thought of the plans and was ready for the testing of the Messerschmitt 262A Sturmvogel, or Storm Bird, "Schwalbe," or swallow; referring to the fastest bird while in a dive (Heppenheimer "Willi Messerschmitt and His Company"). The Me 262 was designed as an air superiority fighter with unmatched speeds. The Me 262 was jet fighter; the first of its kind. No other country in the world was ready to produce this new breed of air superiority fighters. Hitler thought it was a good idea, but he did not think he needed it, but when he learned that he did require the Me 262 it came simply; "too little, too late" (Pimlott 159). If Hitler would have understood the immense capabilities of the Messerschmitt 262A in his Luftwaffe, defensively, during a time of siege, the Allied bomber offensive over Germany would have proved to be diminutively successful in comparison to the damage that was caused as a result...
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