Me 262 leading edge slats

[menright]

There seems to be conflicting evidence as to whether when at rest, on the ground, the leading edge slats of the Me 262 automatically sat in the extended position. On the modelingmadness site, Tom Cleaver is adamant that they were extended. Galland writes of checking their operation by pulling these slats out and letting them snap back to the retracted postion.

Many photographs appear to provide evidence of both postions.

For the purposes of commencing a 1/48 Tamiya version, are there any definitive views one way or the other? (or hopefully either: it will certainly be easier to do them retracted, I suppose).

Thanks,

Michael

[Dan O'Connell]

Always extended on the ground.

[harrison987]

yes...but the ground crew would push them in.

They were on a roller, and could move freely in either direction.

Mike

[menright]

Thanks for the responses

Michael

[ruspren]

I'm in the down camp.

Check this out at around the 1'50" mark.

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65...t_twin-engines

Rus

[Oberst]

Parked on the ground the slats were required to be retracted, as to not contaminate with foreign debris.

[ruspren]

Originally Posted by Oberst

Parked on the ground the slats were required to be retracted, as to not contaminate with foreign debris.

Look at photographs. On the Bf 109 they are often seen in/up on parked aircraft because exactly that has happened.
I'm not sure that the slats on an Me 262 would stay up even if pushed in. Most images of parked Me 262s in which the slats are visible show them to be down. I've just had a flick through the first three volumes of Smith and Creek's Me 262 series!
The US serviceman in the film is clearly demonstrating how freely the slats move but is he pulling them down or are they sliding back down under their own weight?

Rus

[menright]

Thank you for these further responses.
I am most appreciative of the help given by you all; very kind.

At the 1.10 and 1.40 stages of the video, the slats look to be retracted. At the 1.54 point they seem extended then moved in and out by the serviceman.

Perhaps Galland's observation will remain unexplained. In the initial post, he is cited as pulling them out and then letting them snap back. Perhaps his memory was incorrect, or the translator / editor inaccurately worked on the comment. The only other thing I can think of is that more than one system of slat operation was in use at the time.

My first model will have the slats retracted. I'll save the resin bits for a second.

Again, thanks for your thoughts,

Michael