What You Need to Know: World War II saw the emergence of some groundbreaking jet fighters that revolutionized aerial warfare. The Messerschmitt Me 262 from Nazi Germany was the world’s first operational jet fighter and proved formidable in combat.

-The Heinkel He 162, another German innovation, was the fastest operational jet but plagued by design flaws. The British Gloster Meteor became the first Allied jet, achieving success against Germany’s V-1 missiles.

-The American Bell P-59 Airacomet didn’t enter combat due to underwhelming performance, but it laid the groundwork for future jets. Finally, the Lockheed P-80 saw limited WWII service, foreshadowing jet combat in the Korean War.'

Top 5 WWII Jet Fighters That Changed Aerial Combat Forever

Top five lists are virtually guaranteed to generate controversy, especially when it comes to historical weapons systems, whether we’re talking small arms, warships, tanks, or warplanes.

That’s because there are almost always going to be fanboys of candidates within a particular category that are going to kvetch “Hey, why didn’t you include [insert name of favorite plane/gun/ship/tank/whatever] on this list?

Well, hopefully in this particular instance, there won’t be as much room for controversy, as quite simply there aren’t that many “also-rans” to choose from (at least operational examples as opposed to prototypes that didn’t make it past the prototype phase).

With that long preamble/soapbox speech aside, let’s get on with what I consider to be the five best fighter jets of World War II.

Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe (“Swallow”) (Nazi Germany)

This most successful example of Hitler’s so-called Wunderwaffen (“Wonder Weapon”) is a bit of a no-brainer for inclusion on this list, as the Luftwaffe’s Me 262 was the world’s first operational jet fighter as well as the only jet fighter to see air-to-air combat against manned adversaries’ aircraft in WWII, making her maiden flight on July 18, 1942, and official debuting in April 1944.

Bristling with four heavy-hitting nose-mounted 30 mm cannons (1.18 in), the Schwalbe boasted a top speed of 540 mph (Mach 0.70; 870 km/h; 469 kt) and racked up a kill-to-loss score of 542:100. 1,433 airframes were built.

Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (“People’s Fighter;” AKA Salamander, Spatz [“Sparrow”])

Ach Scheisser, that’s right, the Nazi Germans have not just one but two Wunderwaffen on this list, which just further drives home the fortuitous timing of the Allies’ victory over the would-be “Thousand-Year Reich.”

The He-162 was built by Heinkel Flugzeugwerke, the manufacturer best known for the He-111 heavy bomber that had made life miserable for Londoners during the Battle of Britain.

She made her maiden flight on December 6, 1944, and entered into official operational service with the Luftwaffe the following month.

The warbird was nicknamed “Salamander” because of the folkloric myth of the latter animal being immune to fire. However, the flying mechanical namesake was the polar opposite of fireproof; she had a rather distressing tendency to blow up in midair, due to being built with slave labor with a shoddy acidic glue holding the components together and had a distressing tendency to eat through the plywood components.

In spite of these construction flaws, the He-162 turned out to be the fastest operating jet fighter of WWII, with a max airspeed of 562 mph (Mach 0.73; 904 km/h; 488 kn). She also made history as the first operational fighter jet to feature an ejection seat.

For good measure, she was the only single-engine Axis plane that had tricycle landing gear.

In actual combat, Salamander drivers scored maybe two unconfirmed kills in exchange for the loss of thirteen Salamanders and nine pilots, including the unit commander of veteran fighter group Jagdgeschwader I.

120 airframes were built.

Gloster Meteor (Great Britain)

Not to be outdone, the Allies have some entries on this list as well. The most successful of the bunch was the British Royal Air Force (RAF) Gloster Meteor, which made her maiden flight on March 5, 1943, and debuted operationally thirteen months later, making her the first operational jet of any Allied nation.

She did see combat, albeit not against manned enemy aircraft; Meteor drivers were credited with destroying more than forty-five German aircraft via ground strikes, and moreover did score thirteen air-to-air kills against the Nazis’ infamous unmanned V-1 “buzz bomb” terror weapons.

The Meteor wielded four 20mm Hispano cannon and boasted a max airspeed of 600 mph (Mach 0.78; 970 km/h, 520 kn). 250 Meteors were made during the war. 

Bell P-59 Airacomet (United States of America)

The Bell P-59 was the first jet plane produced in the United States, making her maiden flight on October 1, 1942. She was produced by the Bell Aircraft Corporation, the same company that produced the P-39 Airacobra and P-63 Kingcobra piston-engine fighter planes and then later became most famous for the rocket-powered X-1, which enabled the late great Chuck Yeager to become the first man to break the sound barrier.

However, unlike the previous three jet-powered warbirds on this list, there’s not much exciting to report here, as the Airacomet never saw combat. As to why this was the case, my colleague Sebastien Roblin explains in a July 20, 2020 article for The National Interest:

“[T]he Airacomets were never deployed operationally because their early, unreliable turbojets gave them a maximum speed of only around 410 miles per hour—slower than the P-51 Mustang piston-engine fighter then in service.”

Accordingly, the sixty-six airframes that were built were relegated to trainer duties instead of serving as frontline fighters.

However, the P-59 can’t be written off as a total failure, as she laid the groundwork (no pun intended) for later generations of U.S. turbojet-powered aircraft, including the next and final warbird on this list.

Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star (United States)

Yes, I’m as surprised to be including this airplane on the list as you dear readers are to be seeing it. After all, it was during the heady days of the Korean War rather than “Dubya-Dubya 2” that the Shooting Star become America’s first jet fighter to see combat in general and air-to-air combat in particular.

However, my research for this article revealed that this warbird did in fact see limited WWII operational service—although granted without seeing actual action—which just goes to prove that you really do learn something new every day.

A brainchild of the late great Clarence “Kelly” Johnson of Lockheed’s legendary “Skunk Works” division, the P-80 (later redesignated the F-80) made her maiden flight on January 8, 1944, and entered into operational service with the U.S. Army Air Forces (predecessor of the present-day U.S. Air Force) in January 1945. Two pre-production YP-80A Shooting Star variants saw limited usage in Italy with the USAAF on reconnaissance missions, in February and March 1945.

About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for the National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS).

Image Credit: Creative Commons.