Messerschmitt Me262

Finally glad to get this aircraft out of the hanger! It’s a deceptively tricky one to build and I’ve never found the results worth the pain; yet I return to it time after time in a vain attempt to beat it!

This, as I suggested last week, is the Messerschmitt Me262 that became the first victim of the Mustang flying Red Tails. It was the world’s first operational jet powered fighter aircraft which understandably set the standard for the development of post war fighters. Design actually began before the start of WW2 but it wasn’t until the tide started to turn badly for the Axis powers that work was speeded up; eventually entering service in April 1944.

Able to out accelerate any opposition’s aircraft, similar to our own Lightning, it also suffered from having a short range and although its straight line speed was outstanding, the Mustang for one, was able to out turn it in a dogfight.

It was, fortunately for us, too late to turn back the tide of defeat. Most of the Me262s built failed to even take to the air due to a lack of parts, fuel and trained pilots, or were simply destroyed on the ground by the relentless waves of Allied bombers.

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The Model ...

Make: Airfix 

Model: Supermarine Spitfire Pr.XIX 

Scale: 1:72

Part No: A03088

Year of Release: 2017