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The Making of CFS3: Recording the Me 262

Streaming Videos Me 262 Overview Me 262 Start Up

In our continued efforts to deliver the best, most authentic content available, the Combat Flight Simulator 3 team travels far and wide to collect the sights and sounds that contribute to the full combat experience. The creation of a product with the tag line "As real as it gets" can sometimes throw you a few challenges. For instance: where do you get real, physically functioning equipment for a historical combat aircraft that was better flattened than flown? Taken down before taking off? You get the picture. The Me 262 was one of those challenges.

The sound team attached microphones to the airframe

As the story goes, 1,433 aircraft were built by Messerschmitt over the course of the war. Of the 1,433 aircraft, 1,000 were shot down, bombed on the ground, or otherwise disposed of. Once the allies understood the immense impact of the Me 262, their top priority was to eliminate them from the enemy's inventory. The allies did an admirable job. After the war, only eight complete aircraft were shipped back to the States and distributed across the armed forces. Most of these aircraft have found their way into museums or private collections.

The Me 262 project
One of the remaining Me 262s wound up at Naval Air Station (NAS) Willow Grove, PA. Left outside on display, however, the aircraft nearly deteriorated. When the forefathers of the Me 262 Project discovered the plane, they saw an opportunity in the making. They made the Navy a deal it couldn't refuse, and eventually accepted. In exchange for the right to dismantle, fabricate, and blueprint the real aircraft, the Me 262 Project agreed to fully restore the original to museum quality. To add to the team's luck, this version of the Me 262 was actually a two-seat trainer version of the jet complete with dual controls—even more perfect for eventual recreation interests!

With the task of capturing images and audio of the Me 262, the CFS3 sound crew envisioned exotic flights to Europe, complete with bratwurst and liters of beer. But as luck would have it, the recreation effort turned out to be right in our own backyard. Paine Field, in Everett, Washington, home of the Boeing Aircraft Company, was also the current home of the Me 262 Project. So off we went—in our cars—in search of real sights and sounds of the Messerschmitt Me 262.

What we found
The Me 262 Project is run by an outstanding collection of individuals—engineers, craftsmen, and historians. You would be hard pressed to find a more enthusiastic group of people passionate for the recreation of aviation history. You can learn more about the Me 262 Project by visiting their Web site.

The Project's goal was to bring back to the skies the actual flying recreations of the first jet aircraft to see real air combat. To do this in modern times posed additional challenges, like finding real working parts such as gauges, switches, and engines. Oh, and don't forget: if you plan to actually fly the plane in the United States, you need to satisfy FAA requirements!

The biggest departure for the recreation project occurred with the version of the jet engine to be used. Originally, the Me 262 was equipped with the Jumo-004B. The Jumo-004B was the first jet engine to be put into actual military service. Being first is not always the best thing, but important nonetheless. One of the more undesirable traits of the engine was its life span: an average of 10 hours. This makes it rather difficult to keep in the air, and in general—keep! For this and many, many other reasons, the Me 262 Project has installed the General Electric GE J85 turbo-jet in their first recreation. Using a rather clever engine mounting approach, the Me 262 Project has been able to enclose the GE J85 engines in a housing that on the outside gives the same look and profile of the original Jumo-004Bs.

There are two microphones in the mannequin head, one in each 'ear'

Quiet on the set!
On a typical Seattle gray day, the production crew for CFS3 arrived on site to capture every sound we could, from flaps, switches, canopy latching, and loud engines! We spent the better part of the day wiring, testing, recording, and basking in all the Me 262 exposure we could absorb. To accomplish this, we placed microphones in every position relative to the pilot(s), the airframe, flaps, access ports, gear wells, and completely surrounding the engines.

One of our favorite tools is the dummy head sound recording device (shown in the picture above -- the dummy is second from the left). With microphones mounted on a foam mannequin head, we are able to capture the stereophonic effects of the pilot's head movement while inside the cockpit. You can actually experience this in the game from within the cockpit view, by swinging your view from left side to right side and hearing the change in audio.

Kick the tires and light the fires -- the Me 262's No. 2 engine fires up -- literally

Universally, one of the highlights of the session was experiencing the engine flame on startup! Videos based on actual early footage of the Me 262 illustrated the problems initial versions of the engines faced by belching flames out the engine and igniting the runway on takeoff. Needless to say, we have made sure we incorporated this visual in the game.