http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1967
51. By 21 March 1946, "191301" was ready for flight testing and had been given a new paint job with a high demarcation including dark mottling on the upper surfaces. In large white lettering, "FE500" was painted on the tail.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1962
52. On 12 April 1946, it was airlifted by a C-82 Packet transport aircraft to the Material Command flight test centre at Rogers Dry Lake, Muroc, California, later Edwards Air Force Base. It had been recoded "T-2-500".
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1963
53. As in Germany, the first test flights were to be "TG" [Towed Glider] with a B-29 towing the "T-2-500" to 35,000 feet. The first test flight was supposed to take place on 3 May 1946 at Muroc with designer Alexander Lippisch present. Unfortunately, just before lift-off, the tow rope detached and the Me 163B rolled on for several miles. A few towed glider flights were made by Gustav E. Lundquist but any further powered flights were cancelled when failure of the glue in the plywood of the wings [delamination] was detected.
forum.12oclockhigh.net/album.php?albumid=73&pictureid=1964
54. "T-2-500" then went to Norton Air Force Base, California, for storage. The starboard wing is missing in this view. In 1954 it was transferred to the NASM Paul Garber Facility at Old Silver Hill, Maryland, for storage.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1965
55. From 1996 to 2008, "T-2-500" with some of the American paint removed, was on display at the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, near Savannah, Georgia.
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1966
56. Today, still unrestored, the original
werknummer, 191301, can be seen on its tail. It is on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum at Washington's Dulles International Airport.