 phoenix7187 wrote: |
| ipmsfl wrote: | | >Ipmsfl you have any pics of either me262's built by the US from spare parts and speed tested at wright field? AFAIK, none were ever built from spare parts. Some received replacement parts from other wrecked/damaged jets. What do you mean by "speed tested?" |
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I am chasing down a claim made that 2 were constructed by the US from production parts picked up post war. I have yet to find any additional info to back it up. This person has said that these 262 were actually assembled at Wright field. I know they had extra engines tails, noses and a set of wings. I was not aware tech air intell had enough parts to build 2 of them state side. I was taking a stab thst since you had mentioned in the past about having pics of captured aircraft maybe you had info of better yet pics of one of these. The US tested the life out of the me262 I know they set one up as a speed test bed. |
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Here's all I know about that. Information was extracted from the source indictated following the information.
QUOTE
Watson's Whizzers
'Watson's Whizzers' was the popular name of a group of pilots, engineers and maintenance men who worked under Colonel Harold E. Watson to execute Project 'Lusty', the retrieval of German aircraft, engines and aviation equipment for study at Wright Field and other Centers in the USA.
Col Watson was seconded to Air Technical Intelligence at the end of the war, to achieve these objectives. He had previously served at Wright Field, although he had actually gone to Europe as Director of Maintenance in the 9th Air Force Service Command, an organisation tasked among other things with the maintenance of American aircraft in service with the French Air Force, and the training of French servicing personnel.
The intelligence task was to recover, for investigation, items of equipment named on a list compiled by experts at Wright Field. This list was later combined with a similar list compiled by British intelligence, to eliminate duplication of effort between the Allies.
Watson's group had two sections, one under Lt Bob Strobell, which was concerned with the acquisition of jet aircraft, and a second under Capt Fred McIntosh which was assigned to collect piston‑engined aircraft. The overall title of 'Watson's Whizzers' related to the higher profile of these tasks, the collection of the jets. The jet pilots removed the propeller blades from their standard USAAF insignia to underline the point that they had no need of these out‑dated appendages.
The pilots selected to support Watson were all experienced fighter pilots, many of them with an engineering background and/ or rated flight instructors. The jet pilots were transferred to Lechfeld in southern Germany, where a number of Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighters had been found, and the initial efforts of the group were concentrated at this airfield. A number of Me 262s were selected for repair and work was started on these by the 54th Air Disarmament Squadron (ADS). More than thirty Me 262s were found on the field but many of these had been damaged before the arrival of the Air Intelligence personnel, some being bulldozed to scrap areas by the US troops clearing the site for Allied use. The 54th ADS set about to build up ten flyable aircraft from the wreckage. The individual aircraft were given names by the 54th ADS mechanics, names such as Wilma Jeanne and Doris, which were painted on the port side of the aircraft nose. M/Sgt Eugene E. Freiburger was assigned to the 54th ADS, in charge of Platoon 1. The squadron arrived at Augsberg on Ist May 1945, moving to nearby Lechfeld a few days later. One intact Me 262A (the one now in the NASM) landed at Lechfeld after the ADS arrived there, but all the other 'Whizzers' were built up by cannibalising wrecked '262s. The intact '262 was named Dennis after Freiburger's son, while Wilma Jeanne and Vera were named after his wife and his sister‑in‑law. Connie the Sharp Article was named by M/Sgt H. W. Preston of Platoon 2, after his wife. Other key members of the "Feudin' 54th" were T/Sgts P. S. Dutcher and L. B. Fielder ‑ the nickname being coined by a Sgt Brown after he analysed the disputes and discussions amongst the ADS personnel, who came from many different previous units and backgrounds. "Feudin' 54th" was also painted on several '262 noses. Its job done, 54th ADS moved from Lechfeld on 2nd June 1945 and the Me 262s were taken over by Watson's ATI personnel. After the aircraft flew away to Melun in France, en route to Cherbourg, the original names were painted out and new ones applied by Watson's pilots. Thus Wilma Jeanne became Happy Hunter Il after Harold Watson's son, Hunter, and each of the other aircraft had a name personal to its USAAF pilot.
Source: Butler, Phil. War Prizes (Oxford: Alden Press, 1994), p187
UNQUOTE
Ed R.
Special Operations
Any time, any place