Messerschmitt Me 262

The Me 262 was the world's first operational turbojet aircraft. Messerschmitt factories produced 1,443 Me 262s, but only about 300 saw combat. Nine Me 262s survive in museums around the world.

Me 262A-1 (fighter)
  • WNr111006 - Me 262A-1 flew in 1./JG7 as Weisse 4. Under restoration for the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin
  • WNr112372 - Me 262A-2a flew in I./JG7 as Gelbe 7 (or 17 ?), was seized at Fassberg in 1945. On display at RAF Museum, Hendon (see photos)
  • WNr500071 - Me 262A-1b flew in 9./JG7 as Weisse 3, defecting pilot flew it to Dubendorf , Switzerland on April 25, 1945. Since 1957 on display at the
    Deutsches Museum, Munich (see photos)
  • WNr500453 - Me 262A-1a/U3 Weisse 25 was seized at Lechfeld in 1945 and shipped to the US, now part of the Paul G. Allen/ Flying Heritage Collection, Bellevue WA
  • WNr500491 - Me 262A-1a/U3 flew in II./JG7 as Gelbe  7 and was captured at Lechfeld in May 1945 and shipped to the US for evauation.  At some time during the testing process, the standard fighter nose on FE-111 was swapped for a reconnaissance nose removed from FE-4012, a Messerschmitt Me 262A-la/U3. This aircraft was sent to the Hughes Aircraft Company for rebuilding and for comparison with the Lockheed XP-80, while FE-111 was sent to Park Ridge, Illinois, for storage. It arrived at the Silver Hill Facility in 1950, and restoration work began in 1978 for display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. The biggest challenge in the restoration project was to remove the corrosion that had built up over thirty-four years. The second-biggest problem was the restoration of the fighter nose, which involved much tedious but skillful metal work. After 6,077 man-hours, the aircraft appeared as it did when it served with the famous Jagdgeschwader 7, complete with unit insignia and victory markings. The latter show forty-two victories over Soviet aircraft by Oberfeldwebel Heinz Arnold in piston-engine fighters, and seven (perhaps not all by Arnold) over American bombers and fighters in NASM's Me 262. (see photos)
  • WNr501232  Me 262A-1a flew as Gelbe 5 in the 3./KG(J)6 when  captured at Lechfeld, Germany in 1945. It was shipped to the US and is now at the USAF Museum, OH.  It is painted without operational unit markings as an aircraft that has just left the production line.(see photos)

​Me 262A-2 (fighter-bomber)
  • WNr500210 - Me 262A-2a flew in  II./KG51 as Schwarze  X/9K+XK and was captured at Fassberg, Germany in May 1945. Shipped from the UK to Australia, since 1955 on display at the Australian War Memorial in its original war paint. 

​Me 262B-1a/U1  (dual cockpit night fighter version)
  • WNr110305 a , flew in 10./NJG 11 as Rote 8. Seized at Schleswig in May 1945, shipped to  Capetown, South Africa in 1947. Since 1940 on display at the South African National Museum of Military History,Saxonwold, Johannesburg,  as "Weisse 8”
  • WNr110639, captured as part of  III./EGJ2 Weisse 35 at  Lechfeld  in 1945. Shipped to the US, restored in 2000 as Schwarze 35, now at National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola FL.