[Richard T. Eger]

Dear All,

I've looked at photos of each of the Me 262's that Franck has mentioned, except for the Deutches Museum's aircraft. The name plate should be a standard rectangular one as shown in the attachment provided by Stephen Polyak. With a couple of possible exceptions, the rest of the supposed name plates don't fit this illustration. For instance, a rectangle that is formed by 4 large black smudges does not fit. Lady Jess IV has the American pilot's name on it directly below the cockpit canopy. But others, as Franck points out, could be actual nameplates. Unfortunately, none of the photos I have gets close enough to see if they truly conform to what a nameplate should have on it.

It is possible that a decision was made not to use nameplates to avoid giving hints to the Allies where the hidden assembly facilities were located. There is also the issue of Nachrüstbetrieb, wherein airframes assembled at one of the main plants were disassembled and shipped by land for reassembly and checkout elsewhere, such as at Brandenburg-Briest. What Hersteller would thus be on the tag?

Regards,
Richard