Messerschmitt Me262B / CS92 (Luftwaffe, Czech AF) 2 kit2 included)

Me 262A/B kits are all ex-Eduard, two in one box, new decals & photo-etched parts have been added

The Me 262 Schwalbe was a German jet fighter designed by the team led by Willy Messerschmitt. It was one of the most advanced warplanes to see front-line service during WWII. Its protracted development began in 1939, but aerodynamics research work and jet engine development delayed its mass production.

The training aircraft based on the Me 262A-series was conceived in August 1943, but its prototype, a Blohm und Voss-converted  Me 262 S5 was first flown only in July 1944.

In total, some 29 Me 262Bs were modified, with the conversions shared between B&V and DLH, and in fact all two-seaters were adapted from existing Me 262A airframes. Of these, nine aircraft were later upgraded to the combat night-fighter variant, the Me 262B-1a/U1.

The Me 262B was an all-metal low-wing monoplane, of a streamlined design and with two cockpits in tandem. It was powered by two Jumo 004 turbojets suspended under the wings. It was fitted with a swept-back wing and a tricycle landing gear. It had a long clear-view canopy and was fitted with a non-ejection seats. The original Me 262A's on-board offensive armament was to be deleted, but some B-model aircraft carried two or even four MK 108 cannons in the fuselage nose.

A number of Me 262s fell into Allied hands and some were examined in Britain, the USSR and the USA post-war. In Czechoslovakia, three two-seater CS-92s were completed and utilised by the Air Force until 1951.

Colour schemes included in the kit:

1)   Messerschmitt Me 262 S5/B-1a (V15), Black VI+AJ (W.Nr. 130010), Blohm und Voss, Luftwaffe, Wenzendorf Air Base, Germany, July 1944

2)   Messerschmitt Me 262B-1a, White S, B3+SH (W.Nr. 170075), 1./KG(J) 54, Luftwaffe, Giebelstadt Air Base, Germany, November 1944

3)   Messerschmitt Me 262B-1a, White Z, B3+ZM (W.Nr. 111643), 4./KG(J) 54, Luftwaffe, Lužec nad Vltavou airfield, Bohemia-Moravia Protectorate, May 1945

4)   Avia CS-92 (modified Me 262B-1), Black KR-35 (c/n 5), 5th Fighter Sq. (5. stíhací letka), Czechoslovak Air Force (vojenské letectvo ?SLA), Mladá Air Base, spring 1951

Two injection-moulded kits are supplied in this box and each kit contains 38 parts and one clear part (the cockpit canopy). One small fret with photo-etched parts and a comprehensive decal sheet are included.