The usual initial reaction was surprise at the speed of the Me262. This was the case both for the pilots who first saw it, before Allied pilots and flight crew were briefed about it, and those who saw it after learning about it in briefings.

The first encounters were by photoreconnaissance aircraft (Mosquitos and a Spitfire). These were pilots who were used to flying the fastest aircraft in the skies, and suddenly encountering a fighter than was substantially faster than their own planes was a great surprise, and since their own aircraft were unarmed, a rather unpleasant surprise. After their initial surprise, their reaction switched to trying to avoid being shot down. Generally, they quickly discovered a major weakness of the Me262 - it was very sluggish to turn when at high speed, and their own more maneuverable aircraft could easily turn inside it.

The earliest known encounter was by a photoreconnaissance Mosquito from No. 544 Squadron flown by Flight Lieutenant A. E. Wall with Pilot Officer A. S. Lobban as navigator. They were intercepted by an Me262 flown by Leutnant Alfred Schreiber. Their encounter, as described in J. N. Harvey, Sharks of the Air, Casemate, 2011:

Suddenly Lobban called out, "Hey what's this? Bandit at 6 o'clock! And closing fast!"

Wall was surprised. How could an enemy fighter have reached their altitude so quickly, without being seen?

There was no time to think about it - he had to pull away from the attacker in a hurry. Getting caught by a fighter that no doubt mounted cannons while he was flying a wooden aeroplane armed with nothing but a camera was not a welcome prospect. He shoved the throttles and prop controls forward, and reset the fuel mixture to full rich. The Mosquito's powerful engines immediately responded, and they sprinted ahead. [...]

"Still closing on us!" Lobban shouted.

Wall couldn't quite believe it. But a glance in the rear-view mirror told him it was true; though the Mosquito's airspeed was now 430 mph, their pursuer was rapidly closing down the distance between them.

To gain even more speed, Wall put the aircraft into a shallow dive. The needle of the airspeed indicator whipped to 440 mph. Then to 450, 460, 470. The Mosquito vibrated roughly and was in danger of falling apart. Wall drew the stick back and brought the Mosquito level.

Now the enemy not only stayed with his aircraft, but came closer still. And began firing its guns. Tracers streaked past the Mosquito, inches above the cockpit canopy.

"Break!" yelled Lobban.

Wall backed off the throttles, and swung left. The attacker flashed by, and as it did, he got his first good look at it.

So did Lobban, "Bloody thing's got no props!"

Indeed it didn't. The enemy aircraft was a low-winged monoplane with two large engine pods, and a configuration different from any Wall had seen before. It looked like a shark. A shark with wings.

The strange airplane was turning towards them. It didn't seem to be all that manoeuverable, perhaps because of its enormous speed. At least it appeared to require a great amount of space to come about.

Wall knew his fighter tactics. If he could turn more tightly than the other airplane, he might be able to keep it from getting a clean shot at them. He added power and reversed course, heading directly towards it. [...]

As he'd hoped, it took longer for the other airplane to swing around.

Wall continue to evade, the German pilot fired, and the Mosquito shed a hatch, either shot off or lost due to excessive speed. Wall escaped into cloud:

The Mosquito flashed downward, and an instant later was enveloped in cloud. It was like flying in a bowl of milk, with the view through the windscreen solid white. But to the men in the cockpit, nothing could have looked better.

The German pilot, Schreiber, claimed the Mosquito as shot down - the kill was not confirmed.

The second encounter was by a photoreconnaissance Mosquito of No. 60 (SAAF) Squadron, crewed by Captain Saloman Pienaar and Lieutenant Archie Lockhart-Ross. They were intercepted by a Me262, and were badly damaged during an encounter lasting an estimated 30 minutes, at the end of which the Me262 departed, probably low on fuel. During the battle, Pienaar unsuccessfully attempted to ram the Me262. More successfully, they photographed the Me262, bringing back the first photos of the new plane.

The third known encounter was by a reconnaissance Spitfire of No. 683 Squadron, flown by Flight Lieutenant Hawker. Hawker was intercepted by 2 Me262s, and successfully evaded them until they broke off the engagement, probably low on fuel. Hawker was carefully observant during the battle, and included a lot of detail in his long after-action report:

"In his first pass at me, his speed was 100-150 mph greater than mine. ... the jet aircraft was fast enough to attack from below and accelerated rapidly even in a slight climb. ... The actual radius of turn was great, though he might have been able to turn tighter had he slowed up a bit. ... The pilot of the second aircraft was very experienced and certainly gave me the feeling of 'mouse and cat'.

Throughout the engagement I tended to treat the jet aircraft as I would have done a normal single engine fighter attack; this is, if I could not get away or was jumped, to turn inside the attacking aircraft, though I had heard that the jet aircraft's performance improved with altitude. However, when I realised I could turn inside him, I felt I had a better chance staying at altitude and moving in the direction of friendly territory than I would have losing height in an aileron turn or dive over the Munich area, where there might have been single engined fighters working in conjunction with the jet aircraft.

Bomber aircrew and escort fighter pilots had usually learned about the Me262 in briefings before encountering it, but hearing about its speed and seeing its speed in action were quite different things, and it was still a surprise. Since the Me262 was fast enough to get past the escorts, and closed with the bombers so quickly that they had little chance to shoot it down, bomber crews didn't like it: "the first time he encountered them they scared the hell out of him". Eugene T. Jensen, a B-17 crewman, described his encounter (Arizona Republic & The Phoenix Gazette, 6th January 1997):

It was a beautiful day! Clear, frigid and not a cloud in sight. There was only one P-51 in sight and it was far away, unusual for an escort aircraft. Behind us the 8th Air Force bomber stream stretched for miles.

As we watched our lone P-51 evolved into an aircraft unlike anything we had ever seen. No propeller!

As we watched it made a tight high-speed circle, coming in from behind our little formation of three bombers. It became evident that we were to have a new and unpleasant experience. The pilots of the three aircraft abandoned the "chaff" formation and pulled in close together to give us maximum firepower, wingtips only a few feet apart.

Our gunners were fooled by the speed of the aircraft, and despite our massed firepower, we did no apparent damage. The jet flew through our already tight formation so close that we could see the pilot, the rivets in the aircraft skin and the 20mm cannon firing.

The wing of our lead aircraft was cut free from the rest of the aircraft almost as if by a giant chain saw, and the aircraft began its lethal tumble to earth. We saw no parachutes.

We were then over the target, our supply of chaff had been over-boarded, and I thought it prudent to seek the relative safety of the main bomber stream. Unfortunately, this maneuver brought us under the lead formation just as their bomb bay doors opened - which meant we were only seconds from bomb release. It was quite clear that we were in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time. our luck continued and we avoided the rain of bombs by seconds. Seconds that seemed like hours.

When we returned to base we were interviewed by an Air Force General. I had never seen, let alone talked to a General-Grade Officer. I had the impression that we were one of the first air crews to experience combat with a jet aircraft (something I remember whenever I hear a jet from nearby Luke Air Force Base). As a First Lieutenant, I think I was more frightened by the General than the jet fighter. Such is war.

Fighter pilots were less vulnerable, and did their best to shoot their opponents down. John B. Murphy, of 359th Fighter Group, flying a P-51, reported:

My first reaction when I saw the jet plane was that I was standing still. It seemed hopeless to try to attempt to overtake them, but my actions were prompted by a curiosity to get as close to them as possible. I believe that will be the reaction of every pilot that comes in contact with them.

And:

Major John C. Meyer, commander of the 352nd Fighter Group, led by his P-51D Mustang fighters towards their rendezvous with a formation of American heavy bombers en route to Germany. They were nearing the Friesian Islands when a flight of three twin-engined aircraft were sighted some way below. Meyer decided to investigate and, taking two sections of Mustangs, eased into a dive. Then it happened; the three aircraft suddenly picked up speed and pulled steadily away from the pursuing Mustangs. As the American pilots opened their throttles wide the unidentified aircraft lifted and climbed with unbelievable speed until they were lost to view in the blinding light of the sun. The Mustang pilots were left doubting the evidence of their own eyes.

[to be continued]