Gents,

From another messageboard, an eyewitnes report of a testflight of one of the Me262 they are building in the US:

Fri Jan 17 23:04:14 2003

To all interested,

I had a very unique experience this mid-afternoon. As I was driving home from running some errands an Me 262 flew over by head followed by a chase plane. Naturally at first it was a double take but then I realized I was seeing what I knew I was seeing.

I live next to the airfield where replica Me 262s are being built. As many of you are probably are aware in the state of Washington at Paine Airfield just north of Seattle a company is planning to produce up to 5 Me 262s using the drawings from Messerschmitt but engined with new turbine engines. Today one was in the air.
I have seen many US WW II planes fly but to see an Me 262 was quite a pleasure.

I plan to go over to the facility, if I can get in, next week to see what is happening. I might also hang around the strip to see it fly again.

http://www.stormbirds.com/project/index.html

Ron Klages
Mukilteo, Washington
USA

[ 19. January 2003, 09:25 AM: Message edited by: Stevin Oudshoorn ]

__________________
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

Stevin:

I wonder if he was there when the Me 262 suffered a major landing gear accident ? ! The right gear sheared completly off and the a/c slid into a ditch. Looks like several months of repair to get it back in working order. Pilot is ok. this is of course a major bummer.......

E

This was a major talking point at the Mosquito Museum today...apparently, the Me262 flew well but suffered undercarriage locking failure on landing which put the 'plane into a ditch...

Very fortunately the pilot was unharmed but as Erich says it's a case of 'back to the drawing board' - this one was never going to be easy !

[ 19. January 2003, 11:27 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Martin :

A little OT, but at the Mossie museum do they have displays of the radar systems used by the RAF Mossie intruders there, or any text infos ?

E

The guy wrote in another post that the landing gear did seem to be down when he saw the Me come over.

Still to have seen that bird in flight! WOW! [img]redface.gif[/img]

__________________
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

I'll have a look for you, Erich - I promise !

( The 'archive' is run by two guys who hide in there all day and glare at anyone who dares to enter their domain ! )

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Ah ok, are these guys vets ? most probably not I suppose......they have the look, if you touch anything we will cut your hand off syndrome....
thanks for checking up on the Mossie nf Martin.

E

An academic friend laughs at this - she says that archivists the world over seem to lose sight of the basic fact that archives are there to be studied , not kept under lock and key

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson