A Photographic Examination of the Me 163Bs sent to the USA

[Karoband]

According to Richard A Franks, Air Frame Album 10: The Me 163 Komet, (Valiant, 2016), pp. 18-19; Phil Butler, War Prizes, (Crecy, 2022), pp. 236, 239; and Joe Baugher in his online USAAF/USAF Serial Numbers, in 1945 five Me 163Bs were issued the "Foreign Equipment" numbers FE495, FE500, FE501, FE502 and FE503. All five were supposedly changed to T2-495, T2-500, T2-501, T2-502 and T2-503 in 1946.

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1905

1. I have only found photos for two of the above three-digit numerals. This photo shows FE495 being used as a recruiting tool at an exhibition of captured German aircraft in the United States.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1906

2. With extra large lettering in the tail, FE500 is seen with its Morane radio mast behind the cockpit.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1907

3. This photo is one of a number of bogus "FE500"s, with smaller lettering, no radio mast and a spurious balkenkreuz. Note the bulbous air vent fairing on the tailpipe.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1911

4. Now "T-2-500", this Me 163B was tested in 1946 at Muroc, California. Note its Morane aerial.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1908

5. I have pictures of only three Me 163Bs in their original markings after they arrived in the USA in the summer of 1945. This aircraft I will call "White 54". Note the missing long wing root fairing among other things.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1909

6. This one I will call "White 42". Note the missing long wing root fairing.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1910

7. And this one is "191301". Note its Morane radio mast ... and the missing long wing root fairing.

I intend to show photographic evidence as to where these three aircraft came from and what happened to them.

[Tony Kambic]

Jim,

The Me163 with the T2-500 is currently displayed on the floor at the Udvar-Hazy Museum. You can find images on the NASM site. It does not have images of the port side tail nor do I have any. I can will get them later.

Tony

[edwest2]

For the record, T-2 is code for Technical Intelligence at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. They operated as various divisions after the war, including the Wright Air Development Center.

During the war, captured German aircraft were sent there for evaluation. T-3 was code for their Engineering department.

Captured German documents in both translated and untranslated form, became available to aircraft manufacturers. They were required to submit a formal request on letterhead to get these documents.

There is no comprehensive history of activities at Wright Field that I am aware of.

[Karoband]

Hi Tony, thank you.

Hi Ed, thank you. Much of this I was unaware of. It explains why Bell Aircraft could expect the use of FE503 as we will see.

[edwest2]

The former military head of Peenemünde, Walter Dornberger, became a consultant to Bell Aircraft after the war. He had a number of interesting proposals.

[Karoband]

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1913

8. This photograph is deceptive. The He 162 is readily identified as W.Nr. 120067 "White 4" and the location as Kassel, Germany. This is where the British-captured He 162s that were allocated to the Americans were crated for shipment overland to Cherbourg to be loaded on the Liberty Ship Richard J. Gatling. In the background are the tailless fuselages of Me 163Bs in preparation for crating. All authors agree that, while one Me 163 was disassembled and flown to the USA, the other four were shipped aboard the Gatling that left Cherbourg on 12 August 1945. The logical conclusion would be that these Me 163s also came from the British.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1914

9. At Kassel, the fuselages were prepared to be crated with protective coverings of canopy and windscreen using generous amounts of tape. Franks, pp. 18-19, concluded that these Me 163s must have been captured at Rendsburg, near Hamburg. Joe Baugher thought "White 54" came from Husum.
In this photo you can see, luckily for us, that each Me 163B had a unique camouflage pattern.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1915

10. However, the author of the online site, https://robdebie.home.xs4all.nl/me163.htm has Paul L. Tremblay, the son of a member of the 818th Engineer Aviation Battalion, identify the fource of the American Me 163Bs as the training unit, 14./EJG 2. Possibly ten Me 163s were captured by American forces at Altenburg, just 20 kilometers south of Leipzig, on 14 April 1945.


http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/album....pictureid=1916

11. According to Tremblay, his father was part of the 818th team that escorted seven Me 163Bs loaded on American trucks and driven by road to Merseburg, the Allied collection point for captured German technology. Ransom & Cammann, Me 163 Rocket Interceptor, Revised Edition, (Classic, 2021), p. 334, gives the date that "White 54" and "W.Nr. 191301" were at Merseburg as 2 May 1945. Rendsburg and Husum were not captured until 5 May 1945.
The hangar behind the trucks identifies the location as Merseburg.

[richdlc]

This page from the manifest of the Richard J. Gatling shows 89(!) 'rocket planes'. I'm not 100% sure if the 'rocket planes' were in the ship's hold or just delivered to the docks at Cherbourg though, or even if this refers to the Me 163 or He 162. And 726 cubic feet is only around 9 feet long by 9 feet wide by 9 feet high, most odd.

[richdlc]

I should add this is page 16 of a 17 page report

[edwest2]

Odd that there are two identical entries for rocket plane.

[Karoband]

As well, there are also two identical entries for "wing for Ta-154" and only 28 were built. I suspect that "32" is code for Ta-154 and "89" is code for Me-163. If so two rocket powered specimens were shipped to Cherbourg as well as one glider. Indeed, as we will see, one of the Me 163Bs at Kassel was a glider. Which leads to another question, as one was shipped by air, how did the other two get to the USA? or did they?