# Me 262 flies over Germany **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 26, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365 "2006-05-26T20:07:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365/61 "2006-05-31T01:59:07Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] I wonder how many hours it has on it. [/QUOTE] > [@](#): > > Completed in May 1943, Zero No 61-120 was the 2,357th aircraft of its type to come off the Nakajima production line and was first assigned to the 261st Japanese Naval Air Corps (JNAC) under the command of LtCdr Takatora Ueda on the Japanese home island of Honshu. Within a few months the unit moved to Iwo Jima Island for air defense duties and, in March 1944, was reassigned to the air defense of the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Rota and Palau… > > Under the command of Capt Ibusuki, Zero No 61-120 and the 261st JNAC operated from Asilito Airfield on Saipan until the island was invaded by US Marines… > > Marines swarmed ashore on Saipan on June 15, 1944 and Asilito Airfield, with a number of intact Zero fighters, was overrun on June 18… > > Altogether, Zero No 61-120 logged over 190hr of flight time in the USA before being declared surplus after the war… > > After a successful flight-test program [1978] the Zero was shipped to Japan for a six-month tour, during which a number of demonstration flights were made over its original homeland… > > in light of the scarcity of spare parts, the aircraft is flown judiciously and generally only in the Chino area… So it doesn’t say how many hours are on it. But the aircraft was a year old when it was captured, clocked 190+ hours in U.S. military hands, and has been flown ‘judiciously’ since 1978. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365/62 "2006-05-31T03:32:31Z")
[QUOTE=Robot Arm] I’ve always wanted to talk to someone who knows how these work. [/QUOTE] That would not be me. I’ve learned more from that site than I’ve ever gotten from text descriptions, but I could hardly explain the things. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365/63 "2006-05-31T19:46:54Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] A very, very close second would be a Jug. You can take your Spits and Mustangs, give me a fighter than can get me home even after it’s been shredded. [/QUOTE] Plus, as an RAF pilot remarked when he first saw one looming over a Spitfire, “If all else fails, the pilot can undo the straps and run around the cockpit taking evasive action”. [QUOTE=Robot Arm] Castor oil was used because it wouldn’t mix with the fuel/air in the crankcase, and the centrifugal force is going to carry the oil through the lubricated surfaces and then out of the engine anyway. (A total-loss system; again from tomndebb’s link.) [/QUOTE] Some of the castor oil blew back into the pilot’s face, with the result that few WW1 pilots were troubled by constipation. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365/64 "2006-06-01T00:40:23Z")
[QUOTE=Bookkeeper] with the result that few WW1 pilots were troubled by constipation. 😃 [/QUOTE] I thought the opposite was true. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365/65 "2006-06-01T03:02:36Z")
[QUOTE=Bookkeeper] Some of the castor oil blew back into the pilot’s face, with the result that few WW1 pilots were troubled by constipation. 😃 [/QUOTE] Or the inconvenience of being able to see where they were flying… 😃 Interesting piece of trivia: All RFC pilots were issued a Webley Mk V or VI .455 calibre revolver, in case they made a forced landing in enemy territory- at least, that was the official reason. The unofficial reason was that, if you were shot down, your chances of survival were practically nil- and so the service revolver was available should you decide that burning to death or being mangled beyond all recognition was not quite how you’d intended to go out… More interesting trivia: RFC pilots were never issued parachutes, despite the technology existing. It was felt that pilots would be too hasty to abandon their planes, and since they were expensive… well, somehow the logic was that it was better to have a dead pilot _and_ a wrecked aeroplane than an alive pilot and a wrecked aeroplane. The Germans started issuing parachutes in 1918, much to the surprise of Allied pilots who would shoot down a German plane and then see the pilot jump out- and deploy his chute, drifting back to earth and presumably either waving at them or giving them The Finger. Balloon crews on both sides had parachutes right from the outset of WWI- in fact, British ballon crews were encouraged to bail out at the first sign of trouble, so the balloon could be winched back down! :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-262-flies-over-germany/358365.md?page=3)