Me 262 flight test 1947 - Wright Field

[Kutscha]

Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a "Schwalbe" (Wk. Nr. 111711). This new airframe had been surrendered on 31 March 1945 by Messerschmitt test pilot Hans Fay who defected during a functional check flight rather than fly it to an operational unit, landing at Rhein-Main, Frankfurt. It was the first Me 262 to fall into Allied hands. The Me 262 was taken to Thornville, France, and shipped separately to USA on the Manawaska Victory. It was not one of Watson's Whizzers. The Me 262 was allocated Foreign Equipment number FE-107, and later T2-711. It was test flown by Russell E. Schleeh shortly after its capture. This aircraft was flown by Test Pilot Walter J. McAuley Jr. of the Flight Performance Section, Flight Test Division, Wright Field, Ohio, in a test flight for comparison with a Lockheed P-80. During the flight both engines of the Me 262 caught fire. McAuley, Jr., successfully parachuted to safety, surviving as the aircraft crashed on 20 Aug 1945 ~two miles South of Xenia, Ohio near Route 68.