Messerschmitt ME 262 - Legend Flyers - Test flights

This is the last replica 262 completed by the folks at Legend Flyers at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The aircraft now resides at the Fighter Factory over in Virginia, where it is regularly flown. The museum’s aircraft was reconstructed and first flown in 2011. It is painted as “White 3”, flown by Ens. Hans Guido Mutke of JG 7, the most successful Me-262 squadron during the war. Guido Mutke visited our museum several years ago, before he passed away. The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe / Sturmvogel (English: “Swallow“/ “Storm Bird“) of Nazi Germany was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Design work started before World War II began, but engine problems and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. Heavily armed, it was faster than any Allied fighter, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during World War II, the M