Thanks, Egbert.
Not all of the He 162s captured at Leck were in the line-ups along the taxiway. There are two photos of two aircraft on jacks outside of a hangar at Leck.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1754
7. He 162 W.Nr. 120230 "23" is one of probably five He 162s that had double-digit numerals. All but one of these five also had the distinctive nose rings seen here. Some researchers have ascribed these nose rings as signifying the personal aircraft of commanding officers. Wollenweber, on p. 174 of his book, incorrectly captions this photo as, "Kommodore Ihlefeld's 'White 23' originally had the
Werknummer 120230. After its tail was damaged, it was given the tail unit of the cannibalised 'White 7' and henceforth carried
Werknummer 120222." In this photo of the port side, note that the bottom of the upper dark camo is significantly lower at the rear than on the front of the fuselage.
At the left, the tipped tail of W.Nr. 120233 can be seen.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1755
8. This is the other view of "23" taken at Leck with its nose on a jack, showing clearly its
werknummer. Hidden behind it, at the right, is W.Nr. 120233. "23" was among the allotment of He 162s given to the Americans. It was disassembled into modules, shipped by train, then by sea, to the USA.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1756
9. Richard A Franks, on p.28 of his book, suggests that it was at Freeman Field, Indiana, that it "received the vertical fins from W/Nr. 120222". This colour photo, taken in the USA, confirms the identity as being "Yellow 23" with a thin white surround. It is my contention that
all of the He 162 airframes with double-digit identities beginning with "2" had this shade of yellow with a black surround that in black and white photos caused viewers to mistake them for white numerals. In this photo of the starboard side, the bottom of the upper dark camo is significantly lower at the rear than at the front of the fuselage, which makes me think this is the original paint job.
This yellow seems to be a lighter variation of RLM27.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1757
10. Franks, p. 28, makes no mention of it being flight tested. This photo shows that it was repainted in fake camo pattern without the "23". In January 1955, it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institute storage facility at Silver Hill, and is now in storage at the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dallas Airport.