The Messerschmitt Me 262 was a German twin-engine aircraft family that became the world's first operational jet fighter. Developed as Projekt 1065, it progressed from mixed-power prototypes to the pure-jet V3 flight in 1942 and then to fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance, night-fighter, and trainer variants. Its speed and axial-flow turbojet installation made it a defining transition from piston-engine combat aircraft to the jet age, even as engine reliability, fuel scarcity, industrial disruption, and late deployment limited its wartime effect.
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