But still
The trans-Atlantic Vampires did have the 100 gal drop tanks, and did fly at 30,000 feet. Range just isn't such a simple thing, and some people latch on to outstanding numbers that aren't necessarily representative.
But still
Back to the original question about jet power being available at the buildup of WWII: Even if the Alien Space Bats would offer each country to swap as many as they want of their own 1939 issue piston engines for 1947 issue jet engines... You would still be stuck with 1939 aircraft to put them in. The famous Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter of 1944 was in part so revolutionary because it combined jets with the latest aerodynamic research. Even a comparatively conservative jet like the Yak-15 was based on the yak-3 piston fighter who only got introduced in 1944.
Remember that in 1940 the main aircraft in US service was still the P40. Constructors had just gotten around to regarding retractible landing gear and enclosed cockpits as standard. Tricycle landing gears were still considered risky and laminar airflow wings were still untested.
As for armament, most fighters only recently doubled the number of machine guns from the 1918 standard of 2 to 4, or 2 machine guns plus one canon. Six guns like in the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire were still considered overkill.
So even if we had jet engines available before 1940, the best aircraft we would possibly get is a De Havilland Vampire with 6 machine guns buried in its wooden wings. The worst would be a 500 mph Brewster Jet Buffalo.
The trans-Atlantic Vampires did have the 100 gal drop tanks, and did fly at 30,000 feet. Range just isn't such a simple thing, and some people latch on to outstanding numbers that aren't necessarily representative.
Thats a fair point - but is it such a leap that had the need been identifed earlier then 1000 mile range Vampires might have been operational as Escorts in 1945?
How does this come about? One possibility that I can think of is greater interest in their application to naval aircraft because of the reduced fire hazard. That might come about in a timeline where the Royal Navy expands its aircraft carrier force to the limits allowed by the Washington and First London Naval Treaties.
If there is a larger FAA and more cash available for R&D turboprop engines for naval aircraft might be what the extra money was spent on. IIRC from the British official history of the design and development of weapons the Air Ministry stopped working on gas turbines in 1926. Therefore ITTL the POD could be that work on gas turbines continued after 1926.
Indeed! My mistake. Of course, they would have come up with Venom by then, with tip tanks and perhaps high-bypass turbofans. Sometimes, I suffer from tunnel vision and fail to see the big picture. They would even create a re-starter for the Vampire so it could re-light the engine if the flame went out.
With a pre-war start to jet engine development, Germany would have a chance to stockpile all those metals required for those high-temp alloys they hadn't developed yet.
Thats the Spirit!
The US wishes its main service fighter in 1940 was the P40!
While I get your point and its a fair one - the British fighters had 8 guns with very high RPM MGs and the RAF had considered this barely adequate
They wanted Cannon pre - war and while they went about it in a odd and inefficient way - they did eventually get to where they wanted to be and went 'mostly' cannon by mid war.
And poor old Brewster - at one point the Buffalo was the best fighter in the USN and had a superior performance to the earlier F4 Wildcats.
Poor old Brewster? More like poor customers.
The company was so flat out incompetent that the FBI actually conducted a spy hunt at the factory. They could not believe that there was any way that a company could put out such crappy product without having intentional sabotage.
Brewster managed to go bankrupt, as an arms manufacturer DURING a total war, when the U.S. government was throwing money at anything that could be painted Fleet Blue, Olive Green, or Steel Gray.
One of the worst managed manufacturing businesses of the 20th Century.
My question is, why does anybody do this? What's the benefit?
Fast-climbing interceptor? Build P-38s or something. Heavy armament? Not before mid-'42 or so; RAF was fixated on .303s.