Messerchmitt's fault in delay of Me 262?

[uhu]

The power plant problems were the delay in the program. Germany did not have the rare metals required for long engine life. One of the major sources of metals were the allied aircraft that were shot down.

[Cantankerous]

As noted in Dan Sharp's book Messerschmitt Me 262: Development and Politics, the Messerschmitt company in 1941-1942 was a bit busy with the Me 264 intercontinental bomber program and Me 209 and Me 309 programs for a fighter to replace the Bf 109, somewhat unintentionally putting the Me 262 program on the back burner. The Me 262 only regained importance for Messerschmitt when the Me 209 and Me 309 ended up at the prototype stage and plans for production of the Me 264 were shelved indefinitely.

[T. A. Gardner]

The Me 262 V1 was equipped with BMW's 003 engine. This engine ran fine in bench testing at BMW. On the first flight, the 262 began to make a gentle turn and both engines compressor stalled. It was found after landing and some additional testing that the 003 would stall in conditions other than virtually head-on flight with respect to the engines.

BMW then spent about two years with the help of Brown-Boveri of Switzerland redesigning the compressor of their engine before getting it were it would work under typical flight regimes. As the Jumo 004 wasn't ready, there was a resulting delay in getting it fitted to the 262. The changes in weight and center of gravity this engine caused, necessitated a redesign of the inner wing section causing further delays.