The Me 262 and the Race to Mach 1, by Guido Mutke

[Simon Gunson]

Dear Richard

You asked about the Me262 that surely an aircraft needed all flying tails ?
My understanding is yes and no...

I can't possibly corroborate this claim with a source as he was my late father who recalled immediate post war supersonic trials in the UK. Nor was he an aviation expert, but he was around and taking an interest in early supersonic trials after WW2.

I remember we watched an old 1950s black and white movie which at one point dramatised a Spitfire pilot in a dive which became supersonic and the pilot recovered control inadvertantly by pushing forward on the stick.

That would make sense because as I understand it the buffet is caused by separation of the air from the control surface. If air separates from the top of an elevator then it might make sense that pushing down elevator would grab on the air again ?

I quizzed my father about this and he said the RAF found out almost by accident that reversing the elevator command (ie imputting the opposite pitch motion) enabled a supersonic pilot to regain control. He said several RAF propellor fighters did reach supersonic speeds in dives.

Guido Mutke's own testimony was that after the inital buffet control was regained. Mutke himself said the trick was to cross the buffeting range 0.83 mach+ aggresively and not cautiously. Gerd Lindner's comments about carefully conducted instrumented tests are likely correct insofar as they relate to cautious testing. Guido Mutke however talks about inadvertent supersonic dives by operational pilots.

I think that is worth noting and giving credit for.