[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Roland,

I can't say that I buy your explanation. Note that in Franck's photo the band is rather clean cut. A sloppy tape job that begins to come off would leave a ragged appearing band. My thinking, further, is that the tape is applied first, then the body putty to make everything as smooth as possible. Putting the tape on last would, indeed, be asking for trouble.

I just checked a photo I have of Me 262, W.Nr. 111711 (T-2-711) and the putty was applied after the tape. You may recall this was a bare metal Me 262, so the seams are very visible. It is possible that putty was applied at the start, tape then applied, then a final overcoat of putty, but the point is the last layer was putty.

Regards,
Richard