Emergency Fighter - Assessment

Assessment

Very few emergency fighters entered service, and of those that did, even fewer types achieved effectiveness in operations. Two main factors can be identified for this failure:

• Time Scale: Even though emergency fighters were produced to a tight time scale (the He 162 flew within 5 months of design work beginning), by the time they were ready for combat, events had usually moved on. Either the crisis had passed (as with the Miles M.20 which first flew as the Battle of Britain was being won), or it had deepened so far that rescue was impossible (as occurred with the Bachem Ba 349).

• Performance: Conversions from existing aircraft were usually inadequate as frontline fighters, although some like the Bristol Blenheim IF found useful employment elsewhere. Likewise emergency fighters which used non-strategic materials usually suffered in performance, although they could be used for other roles, like the VL Myrsky which was used for reconnaissance Sometimes the rush into production meant that the emergency fighter was positively dangerous to all but the best pilots, like the He 162.

Overall therefore it can be seen that the lack of operational effectiveness of emergency fighters stemmed from the inherent limitations of the concept.