WHITE 8
Messerschmitt - Me-262a-1a
SCHWALBE - "Swallow"
AvHistory - Version-4.00.141

AIRCRAFT BACKGROUND:

John Whelan BRAVO/4 has painted the Swallow in the livery of Major Walter Nowotny's aircraft known as WHITE 8. This plane uses a custom painted cockpit by Alex Mets' who is better known as Artmag-Reloaded aka artmag.



In September 1944, Major Nowotny was put in charge of Kommando Nowotny, equipped with the Me 262 jet fighter. The unit consolidated a number of test units and was tasked with acquiring tactical knowledge and experience of Me 262 operations. The unit was based on two airfields northwest of Osnabruck: Achmer and Hesepe.



Nowotny was besieged with difficulties in operationally testing the jet fighter. In addition to staving off the increasing Allied fighter presence the jets attracted, he was also beset with the technical difficulties a new and immature technology presented. By 7 November 1944, Nowotny had claimed three victories in the new jet fighter.



Nowotny took off on 8 November 1944, flying against USAAF bombers with a fighter escort. The exact circumstances of Nowotnys death remain uncertain. Ground personnel reported hearing combat above the clouds.Nowotny reported he had downed a B-24 four-engine bomber and probably destroyed a P-51 fighter. He then reported an engine failure before making a garbled transmission referring to burning over the radio. His Me 262 A-1a (W.Nr. 110 400)

White 8 was seen to dive vertically out of the clouds and crash at Epe, 2.5 kilometers east of Hesepe. It is generally accepted that he was shot down by 1st Lt Edward Buddy Haydon of the 357th Fighter Group, USAAF and Capt Ernest Feeb Fiebelkorn (9 victories) of the 20th Fighter Group, USAAF whom shared a Me 262 victory at 12:45 over Achmer that day.

Walter Nowotny flew over 442 missions in achieving 258 victories. He recorded 255 of his victories over the Eastern front. Of his three victories recorded over the Western front, 2 were four-engine bombers and all 3 victories were gained while flying the Me 262 jet fighter.

Developed from a 1938 design by the Messerschmitt company, the Me 262 "Schwalbe," ("Swallow") was the worlds first operational turbojet aircraft. First flown as a pure jet on July 18, 1942, it proved much faster than conventional airplanes.

Development problems, Allied bombings, and cautious Luftwaffe leadership contributed to delays in quantity production. In late 1943, Adolf Hitler agreed to mass production, but insisted the aircraft be used primarily as a fighter-bomber.

On July 25, 1944, an Me 262 became the first jet airplane used in combat when it attacked a British photo-reconnaissance Mosquito flying over Munich. As a fighter, the German jet scored heavily against allied bomber formations. The bombers, however, destroyed hundreds of Me 262s on the ground. More than 1,400 Me 262s were produced, but fewer than 300 saw combat.

Most remained on the ground awaiting conversion to bombers, or were unable to fly because of lack of fuel, spare parts, or trained pilots.

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NSS wrote on Jan 3^rd, 2007 at 5:52am:


And Thank You..... three or four times I think.