Thursday, 2 May 2019

Messerschmitt Me.262. Part three. - Foreign users part one

On this post, we're going to cover many foreign users of the Messerschmitt Me.262.

  • Russian Liberation Army: According to some sources, only one Me.262 served with the Russian Liberation Army Air Force. It was part of the Aufklarungstaffel 3. (3rd recce escadrille) piloted by CO Hptm. Artemejev. The machine was delivered in February 1945, in the airfield Cheb (Eger) in West Bohemia. The fate of the aircraft is unknown, but was most likely destroyed because when the 5. Jagdstaffel of the Russian Liberation Army moved on to the airfield in Nemecky Brod (Deutsch Brod - nowadays Havlickuv Brod) in Eastern Bohemia and by then they didn't have any Me.262 in their inventory.
  • USSR: When the war was on its last stages, the Soviet troops managed to capture many Me.262 left over by their previous users. They were sent to the NII-VVS (the test unit of the Soviet Air Force) and were flight-tested both at the end of the war and in its aftermath. It was the main inspiration for the Sukhoi Su-9 (1946).
  • United States of America: The USAAF (United States Army Air Force) managed to have some Me.262 in its ranks.
    The Me.262A-1a 'Screamin Meemie' was maybe the most famous case. It was surrendered to American troops in Lechfeld's airfield, in Bavaria and was given to Watson's Whizzers (the USAAF Foreign aircraft test unit). It was nicknamed as 'Screamin Meemie' and sent to the US Navy Flight Test Division where it was used to test the reaction of jet aircraft to a wave off from an aircraft carrier. It was withdrawn from testing and put into storage in 1947, where it stood for ten years. In 1957 it was donated to the USAF's museum where it can be seen nowadays.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262
2. https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/threads/free-russian-airforce.7574/
3. https://books.google.es/books?id=8dUGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT16&lpg=PT16&dq=Messerschmitt+Me.262+Screaming+Meemie&source=bl&ots=vAN-ETxH4m&sig=ACfU3U2QpvIoa0V1fpAof1uzjuAePoY0Uw&hl=es&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_qI2-pvzhAhVVA2MBHUswDx8Q6AEwDHoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=Messerschmitt%20Me.262%20Screaming%20Meemie&f=false
4. Salamander Books - The complete book of fighters

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