Messerschmit ME163

The Messerschmitt ME163 Komet is a rocket powered interceptor aircraft used by the Germans in the latter stages of WW2

A German test pilot reached an incredible 700 mph in July 1944. Around 300 were made before the war ended. The allies shot down 10 ME163's while the Germans claimed between 8-16 Allied planes.

By the end of the war 48 ME 163's had been captured and 24 of these arrived in the UK where some testing was done. Towed and unpowered flights only. Others left for the USA, Canada and Australia

Most of these captured aircraft came from Jagdgeschwader 400 (JG 400) at Husum, Germany. JG 400 was formed 1 February 1944 to become the only military unit in the world to fly operational rocket power fighter aircraft in July 1944

Only 10 of those captured remain today with 3 ME163's still present in the UK.

1. RAF Museum Cosford: ME163B-1a 191614. It last flew on 22 April 1945 when it was shot down by a RAF Lancaster bomber. This plane was thought to have originally been at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment in Bucks. It was moved up to RAF Cosford in 1975 where it had a number of non authentic paint schemes

The current paint scheme, is grey mottled livery with a yellow nose cone but this is also thought to be non authentic.

2. Science Museum, London: The ME163B-1a 191316  `Yellow' 6. It is thought that this was originally used as a training aircraft for RAF apprentices and for restoration work. It was also displayed at various events. The aircraft was suspended from the ceiling but with the engine removed which can be seen separately.

3. National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, Scotland : ME163B-1a 191659, `Yellow' 15

, manufactured in 1945. Originally sent to Farnborough then Brize Norton for a short time before ending up at Cranwell and displayed in their museum from May 1947 - 1975.

It was then refurbished before being displayed in its current green livery with a sky blue underneath at the Museum of Flight. The canons have been removed but the engine is still in place.

Royal Navy test pilot Captain Eric ` Winkle' Brown flew this Komet in June 1945 at Husum. He is the only allied pilot to have ever flown a ME163 with the engine running.

On May 26th 1945 he had completed three unpowered flights at 20,000 feet that was towed by an ME110 flown by a German crew. He then flew the Komet up to 32,000 feet and said it was `fantastic' but very unstable and highly dangerous plane to fly.

Eric died in February 2016 at the age of 97 years old.

First prototype ME163 1941

Captured and repainted by the RAF in 1945

Lancaster Just Jane

Just Jane is quiet unique in that it is the only Lancaster that only does fast taxi runs. There are two Lancaster Bombers still flying, one in the UK with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and the other in Canada.

NX611 is based down at East Kirby Lincolnshire and was originally built in April 1945, destined for the War in the Far East ,but never used as Japan surrendered.

She then went into storage until 1952 down at Llanlow when she was bought by the French Navy to be used for maritime patrols. Then onto New Caledonia where it was used for Air Sea rescue before being presented to the Historical Aircraft Preservation Society.

It was send to Australia for restoration before being flown over to Biggin Hill, a journey of 12,000 miles which took 9 days  landing on the 13 May 1965. It didn't fly again until 1968 when it appeared at a few air-shows but was grounded again due to high running costs.

It was then auctioned off in Blackpool in 1972.

Fred and Harold Penton had decided sometime before that they would like a fitting memorial to their brother who had been killed in the Nuremberg bombings. They went to Blackpool but the plane never reached the minimum bid so it was withdrawn.

It was later sold and used outside RAF Scampton as a Gate guardian but after a lot of negotiations the brothers purchased the Lancaster 4 years later and after an agreed 10 years at Scampton the RAF eventually brought the plane to East Kirby.

In 1993 work started to restore the four Rolls Royce Merlin Engines to working condition and it took many hundreds of hours and a cost of £7000 to bring these back to taxiing condition.

Now for £250 you can ride in the Lancaster for fast taxi runs.

On our visit it did two runs, 11am then 13.30pm and gave its engines a good run out.

Work continues to get Just Jane into flying condition and they hope that this will happen next year.

Fundraising has been the biggest problem but through the taxi runs, admission and various events even appearing in Dr Who, they hope to raise enough to see this great plane back in the skies again after more than 50 years grounded.

`Schwalbe' Messerschmit ME 262 UK

The UK has only one ME262 which was rolled off the production line in March 1945. This Messerschmitt ME 262A-2a 112372 is thought to only have made one flight at the hands of Otto Kaiser on 23 March 1945

With only a couple of days remaining before the end of the war it was issued to the soon disbanded JG7

There is a bit of debate whether this is Yellow 7 as it was said to have sustained serious damage in a landing accident on 29 May 1945 while flying under evaluation with the RAF 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron and almost certainly scrapped

Therefore its more likely to be Yellow 17, being transported back to the UK in June 1945. It made a number of flights and racked up over 8 hours flying time under the RAF with its final sortie 29 November 1945.

It was earmarked for preservation and moved to Cranwell in 1947. This collection was disbanded in 1960 and the jet moved to Bicester in Oxfordshire. After a brief spell at Finningley it moved to Hendon in late 1975 where it was part of the Wings of the Eagle exhibition.

It then moved to Cosford in late 1985 before being repainted then again back to Cosford. The codes Yellow 4 were re-applied in preparation for a move to Hendon on the 14 July 2003, It stayed at Hendon until 2017 when it  moved back to Cosford.

The ME262 was named the Schwalbe  (Swallow) in the fighter model and `Stormbird' in the fighter bomber version. It was the first ever operation jet fighter

It was claimed they shot down 542 allied aircraft. As it was difficult to shoot down the jet in the air ground aircraft were targeted

Only 8 WW2 ME 262 survive with 4 in the US. Two more Czech 262 were built immediately after the war. 1430 ME 262's were built during the war.