The Me 262 was a German fighter aircraft flown during late World War II. It was the first jet to be used in war. It began test flights in 1942, but was not used in combat by the German air force, the Luftwaffe, until 1944. Very few were built because Germany's enemies were bombing factories. It saw little action because the war was nearly over. The jet engines of the new machine often caused problems, that's why a lot of machines had deathly accidents.