Messerschmitt Me 163B Komet,1:72 Scale Model

The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet was a German rocket-powered interceptor  aircraft. Designed by Alexander Lippisch, it is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational and the first piloted aircraft of any type to exceed 1000 km/h (621 mph) in level flight. Its performance and aspects of its design were unprecedented. German test pilot Heini Dittmar in early July 1944 reached 1,130 km/h (700 mph), an unofficial flight airspeed record unmatched by turbojet-powered aircraft for almost a decade. Over 300 Komets were built, but the aircraft proved lackluster in its dedicated role as an interceptor and destroyed between 9 and 18 Allied aircraft against 10 losses.  Aside from combat losses many pilots were killed during testing and training.

Jagdgeschwader 400 (JG 400) was a Luftwaffe fighter-wing of World War II. JG 400 was formed on 1 February 1944 in Brandis with Stab (staff) only for the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter, as the only military aviation unit of any size in history, to actively use rocket-powered combat aircraft in wartime. Mjaor Wofgang Späte was the first and only commander of the  JG 400. 

The Me 163B-1a fighters first flew operationally on 6 August 1944, two Me 163s reportedly claiming three North American P-51 Mustangs of the 352nd Fighter Group. JG 400 intercepted formations of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers for the first time on 16 August 1944. Leutnant Hartmut Ryll engaged the B-17s but was shot down and killed by two P-51s of the 359th Fighter Group.

This Oxford Aviation replica is of Me 163B “White 54” assigned to Jagdgeshwasder 400 (JG 400). The model’s wings are painted in red brown and green camouflage sched with the fuselage painted in mottled grey.  The underside is painted grey.

This Me 163B Komet is an excellent addition to your historical model aircraft collection.