MESSERSCHMITT Me-262 Replica (D-IMTT)

I understand why it is, but the tail simply looks wrong without the swastika. Fine shot of an aircraft that ushered in a new epoch.

Nice. I was fortunate to be stationed at NAS Willow Grove, PA during the '80's, they had an actual 262, made in Germany during the war on static display.

I understand these aircraft were built from original tech data under license from Messerschmitt. They continued the S/N's from the war time production. That would indicate that these are not replicas, but are indeed an extended production run and are the real deal. They did change out the original Jumo 004 engines with a pair of J-85's due to the lack of support and very low reliability of the Jumos. The J-85's weigh far less, more powerful, more efficient, very reliable and are available. They were a generation ahead of anything else at the time.

SO ahead of it's time!

jthyland, I grew up down the street from NAS Willow Grove (Collegeville, PA). My dad used to take us to airshows there all the time until they stopped due to the Ejection Seat accident in 1980. Sadly the kid didn't make it.

A cornerstone of aviation. All my respect and appreciation to the men that designed and built it !!

jthyland
All the “replicas” were built from drawings made after disassembling the Willow Grove aircraft and copying each part individually. They then rebuilt the aircraft to “static display” quality....and the Navy moved it to Pensacola.
Read the interesting history of the WWII end of this story and the “replica” portion in books by Col. Wolfgang Samuels DFC (USAF Ret.)

P.S. Re: above entry. At the end of WWII, there were no existing construction drawings of the ME-262 known to the U.S. Army Air Corps. Reverse engineering was the only way to accomplish the planned “replica” operation.

Thanks for your comments!