AHC: Luftwaffe planes into the '50s?

I've always thought the Soviets between 45 and 49 would have been better off producing (copying) ME-109k's than the huge runs of Yak-9's and LA-7's that they went with; creating that surplus would see them shipped to all their client states where they could see service for a bit

the 109k would certainly have been a lot better at engaging b-29's (should the situation have called for it) than the soviet last gen prop planes due to it's superior high altitude performance, speed, and amarament
 
We can follow my approach approach of taking over the manufacturing plants for tanks and other army equipment. Obviously there was nothing wrong with the MG 42 and the automatic anti-aircraft guns such as the 3.7 cm Flak 43 could also be useful. Sources are vague over whether there was a link between the 55 mm Gerät 58 http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNGER_55_Gerat58.htm and the later 57 mm Soviet and Czech weapons http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/57mm Czech.htm.

If we look at the Königstiger tank, then we get the impression that it had severe problems. For example from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_II, “The Soviet team gave the opinion that the tests revealed the tanks to be severely defective; the transmission and suspension broke down very frequently and the engine was prone to overheating and consequential failure. Additionally, the Soviets opinion was of deficiencies in the armor....”. However, the problems essentially arise because the tank was heavier than originally designed and the armour was produced when metals such as chromium and molybdenum were in short supply. If we had all the jigs and all the materials needed, we could build the tank out of much better armour. If we compare the Königstiger with the British Centurion II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_tank, we find that the Königstiger had hull front armour of 150 mm, sides and rear of 80 mm and a 180 mm turret compared to a 118 mm-thick glacis, side and rear armour of 51mm and a 152 mm turret for the Centurion. Thus we could simply build a Königstiger with 15% thinner armour but with the same or better resistance and reduce the weight back to that originally planned. We would quite likely produce a reliable tank, which might accept a British 105 mm gun when that became available, and would give good service through the 50s. It would remain about 4 inches taller than the Centurion but with the intended 1000 hp engine, it should be fairly mobile at 55 tons.
 

NothingNow

Banned
There is no way that you could get a standard 262 airframe into supersonic-high transonic speeds without serious modifications. The control surfaces and wing structure aren't built for flight in that regime. I could see you hitting about .9 as a maximum, but putting an Atar or an Avon on a 262 would be a massive waste of thrust, in my opinion.

Well, no shit. I would have said supersonic if I had meant anything supersonic.

What about modifying the Me-262 into a ground attack/COIN aircraft instead?
You could use that thrust to get a decent payload instead, and replacing the 2/4x MK 108s with 2/4xMK 103s would go a long way in helping that.
 
I've always thought the Soviets between 45 and 49 would have been better off producing (copying) ME-109k's than the huge runs of Yak-9's and LA-7's that they went with; creating that surplus would see them shipped to all their client states where they could see service for a bit

the 109k would certainly have been a lot better at engaging b-29's (should the situation have called for it) than the soviet last gen prop planes due to it's superior high altitude performance, speed, and amarament

The MiG bureau was engaged in designing high altitude intercepters, none of which achieved large scale production through lack of percieved need.

Pavel Sukhoi lost his design bureau for making a jet fighter which resembled an Me-262. Stalin wasn't that anxious to copy German aircraft. Sukhoi got his bureau back after Stalin's death.
 
The MiG bureau was engaged in designing high altitude intercepters, none of which achieved large scale production through lack of percieved need.

Pavel Sukhoi lost his design bureau for making a jet fighter which resembled an Me-262. Stalin wasn't that anxious to copy German aircraft. Sukhoi got his bureau back after Stalin's death.

funny how that logic didn't apply with the b-29 or any number of other pilfered goodies
 
funny how that logic didn't apply with the b-29 or any number of other pilfered goodies

The jet engines themselves were copied to power the first Soviet jet fighters. Yakovlev built some fighters loosely based on the Me-262 configuration. Stalin's logic isn't the same as, say Spock's logic. The B-29 was American, not German, so it's good to copy. The engines used were not copies, but were developments of Soviet engines which were developments of Soviet engines that were copies of American engines.
 
If you're gonna copy...

Nobody bothered to make Me262 copies because everybody was working on Me1011 copies. That lead to the single engined, sweep wing MiG15 and NA Sabre. The Me262, being a first generation jet, was obsolete by time copies would be in service.
 
Yugoslavia placed an order for Avia S-92 but it got none because of the Tito-Stalin split. In an ATL Yugoslavia could demand to get a share of the aircraft and factories in Germany as reparations. BTW Yugoslavia received Me-109G´s as reparations from Bulgaria
 
Yugoslavia placed an order for Avia S-92 but it got none because of the Tito-Stalin split. In an ATL Yugoslavia could demand to get a share of the aircraft and factories in Germany as reparations. BTW Yugoslavia received Me-109G´s as reparations from Bulgaria

Not to mention Yugoslavia was producing copies of the Mauser Kar98k for years too.
 
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