He 162 "White 4" at Kassel an Leck

[Roger Gaemperle]

Hello,

I have seen several photos of a He 162 "White 4" at Kassel and of a "White 4" at Leck. They may have been one and the same He 162 with the W.Nr. 120097. That would mean this plane was transported from Leck to Kassel.

Are there any proofs for that? What would have been the likely reason for the transport?

Thanks,
Roger

[jmelson]

Hello Roger,

White '4' at Leck and White '4' at Kassel are the same He162 and the correct WNr is 120067. A replacement tail was put on White '4' at Kassel (no WNr). The wing from 120067 was eventually put onto White '7' WNr 120222. A fair amount of damage was done to the He162's at Leck at the end of hostilites. To get an aircraft in good shape a lot of parts were swapped around.
The British Army overran Leck.......a number He162's were transported to Kassel for the Americans.

John

[Roger Gaemperle]

John,

Thank you very much for the information about "White 4". That's very interesting. I would have expected that the He 162 at Leck were found more or less in operational status and that they were treated very carefully as it was a rare and valuable high-tech (at least its propulsion and ejection seat) plane. But I remember other He 162 with swapped airframe parts (e.g. White 23).

I am also looking for information about He 162 "White 5". I have a photo that presumably was taken at Erfurt-Nord (based on other aircraft on photos of the same series). White 5 is barely visible in the background with a collapsed nose gear. I couldn't find any information about the fate of "White 5" found at Leck but it appears to be one and the same aircraft.

Does anybody have an idea why these He 162 were transported over such a long distance and then apparently scrapped?

Regards,
Roger Gaemperle

[Robert Forsyth]

Hello Roger,

Does anybody have an idea why these He 162 were transported over such a long distance and then apparently scrapped?

I spent quite a bit of time trying to work this one out myself last year, but could not find an answer. Perhaps someone else will and I look forward to it.

It is highly unlikely anyone except a British pilot would have flown the machine from Leck (the British were very 'aware' of what they had and were extremely careful about 'who' got into the Heinkels). The problem is that - so far - there seems no evidence that a British pilot would have done so. Their priority - indeed orders – was to get aircraft over to RAE Farnborough for evaluation.

Perhaps an American pilot went to Leck to 'fetch' one? Possibly - but again no traceable record from either the British or US sides.

The He 162s that went to France were moved by rail and were (re)assembled quite easily; that could be a possibility, but somehow unlikely - it just doesn't 'look' like this happened to the Kassel airframe. I was stumped.

So if ever you find out, let me know!

Sorry not have been of more help.

Robert Forsyth

[Nick Beale]

AIR55/124 & 125 have a chart of captured aircraft disposals but that only says 31 He 162 were found in Germany (in the British Zone, as I understood it) and none in Denmark or Norway but not what was done with them.

AIR29/931 (Disarmament Servicing & Recovery Units 434, 435 and 436) notes that seven He 162 were among the jet/rocket aircraft dispatched to France by rail in (or by?) March 1946. The others were two Ar 234, 2 Me 262 and 4 Me 163.

[Dan O'Connell]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

AIR55/124 & 125 have a chart of captured aircraft disposals but that only says 31 He 162 were found in Germany (in the British Zone, as I understood it) and none in Denmark or Norway but not what was done with them.

AIR29/931 (Disarmament Servicing & Recovery Units 434, 435 and 436) notes that seven He 162 were among the jet/rockt aircraft dispatched to France by rail in (or by?) March 1946. The others were two Ar 234, 2 Me 262 and 4 Me 163.

Any Werk Nummer on the Me 262's Nick?

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Dan O'Connell

Any Werk Nummer on the Me 262's Nick?

No such luck, although that's what I'd hoped to find. They seemed mainly interested in putting Ju 52s back into use and sharing them among the Allies - there were lots of Werk Numern for those, as I recall. Then there was a blanket statement to the effect that "it was decided at the outset that Bf 109s and Fw 190s were of no further interest"!

[Dan O'Connell]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

No such luck, although that's what I'd hoped to find. They seemed mainly interested in putting Ju 52s back into use and sharing them among the Allies - there were lots of Werk Numern for those, as I recall. Then there was a blanket statement to the effect that "it was decided at the outset that Bf 109s and Fw 190s were of no further interest"!

Odd, I don't recall any being shipped, thought they were all flown over. Thanks Neil.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Dan O'Connell

Thanks Neil.

Neil?

[Dan O'Connell]

It was about 5 AM when I sent that LOL Sorry!