Me 262 actual potential?

[T. A. Gardner]

The reason Messerschmitt chose the pod configuration they did, is the same as Henkel did for the He 280. Any long duct would result in too much air flow loss, as well as create issues with turbulence, etc., getting air to the engine. Both (and the Allies did the same thing with their early jets) manufacturers chose to make the duct all but non-existent. It got around some difficult engineering that wasn't going to be solved quickly.

All Yak did with the Yak 15 was swap out the piston engine for a jet engine and mount it such that the exhaust wasn't blocked. The bottom of the fuselage got aluminum skin instead of canvas. It was about as simple a conversion as you could get.

Focke Wulf came to the same conclusion with the unbuilt Ta 183, although I suspect if this plane were built, the stubby fuselage and extreme sweep oft the wings would have been a recipe for disaster.

The Me 262 on one engine was basically a death trap for the pilot in combat. The plane was under 400 knots and the asymmetrical thrust made the already poor handing far worse.