Post by Don Gieseke on Dec 19, 2011 8:15:38 GMT -6
Here's a beauty..most will not appreciate how rare this aircraft is.
Here's a note from our own Captain Wolfgang Czaia who when he's not flying Lockheed F-104s he's flying Messerschmitt 262s.
Hello friends,
as promised, an update on Me262 "WHITE 3". After the successful completion of the flight test program and some bureaucratic and weather delays, I ferried the airplane from Paine Field, Washington to Suffolk County Airport in Virginia. For the last two test flights we had converted it to the two-seat configuration, which allowed our lead mechanic Mike Anderson to come along as crew chief/navigator on this 2 500 mile trip. As our FAA- operating limitations mandated 'Day VFR only', and the max altitude of 18 000ft not exactly optimal for range, it took us four days and six refueling stops across the continent to reach our destination, with "WHITE 3" performing flawlessly.
ATC doesn't have a computer code yet for the Me262, and controllers frequently asked me for the type of airplane. They usually couldn't wait then to pass the information on to 'their' airliners on the same frequency, e.g. "Delta 123, you have a MESSERSCHMITT!! in your ten o'clock, five miles". One of the many funny replies: "Are we being invaded?"...
After receiving its new airworthiness certificate and operating limitations (the initial ones were valid only for flight test and repositioning), I'll be flying "WHITE 3" from its maintenace base in Suffolk County to its final destination, a small airport south of Virginia Beach with a 5 000ft grass runway, where it will join - as the first jet - the world's largest collection of privately owned warbirds in the "Military Aviation Museum."
I am sure you'll be able to follow the operation of this airplane in the future on u-tube and in aviation magazines.
Jim Larsen took the picture of "White 3" with Mt. Baker in the background.
Here's a note from our own Captain Wolfgang Czaia who when he's not flying Lockheed F-104s he's flying Messerschmitt 262s.
Hello friends,
as promised, an update on Me262 "WHITE 3". After the successful completion of the flight test program and some bureaucratic and weather delays, I ferried the airplane from Paine Field, Washington to Suffolk County Airport in Virginia. For the last two test flights we had converted it to the two-seat configuration, which allowed our lead mechanic Mike Anderson to come along as crew chief/navigator on this 2 500 mile trip. As our FAA- operating limitations mandated 'Day VFR only', and the max altitude of 18 000ft not exactly optimal for range, it took us four days and six refueling stops across the continent to reach our destination, with "WHITE 3" performing flawlessly.
ATC doesn't have a computer code yet for the Me262, and controllers frequently asked me for the type of airplane. They usually couldn't wait then to pass the information on to 'their' airliners on the same frequency, e.g. "Delta 123, you have a MESSERSCHMITT!! in your ten o'clock, five miles". One of the many funny replies: "Are we being invaded?"...
After receiving its new airworthiness certificate and operating limitations (the initial ones were valid only for flight test and repositioning), I'll be flying "WHITE 3" from its maintenace base in Suffolk County to its final destination, a small airport south of Virginia Beach with a 5 000ft grass runway, where it will join - as the first jet - the world's largest collection of privately owned warbirds in the "Military Aviation Museum."
I am sure you'll be able to follow the operation of this airplane in the future on u-tube and in aviation magazines.
Jim Larsen took the picture of "White 3" with Mt. Baker in the background.
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