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HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Meteor
Productions
Meteor Productions
has supplied the following information on
new Messerschmitt Me 163 decals that are shipping soon:
Like you, we have been excited over the years to
see the various Me 163 drawings and paintings showing cool unit badges
on the nose. Unfortunately, there is only ONE minimally documented
aircraft with a unit badge on the nose, White 1, and we've given it on
the Cutting Edge Me 163 sheet. Unfortunately, even that plane is not
fully photo documented, and the number may be "4" rather than 1.
Classic Publications in England has just released their second volume
on the Me 163, for a total of more than 900 pages of documentation and
hundreds of photos. They only documented one aircraft with a badge, a
B-0 airframe which was only photographed postwar, with the markings
possibly repainted by the Allies. If they could not find clear
documentation of any other insignia on specific airframes, it's not
likely to have come to light anywhere yet--but please let us know via
email at
support@meteorprod.com if you have or can lead us to
definitive documentation!
We found one photo, white 1 (or 4), in which only
the top of the numeral was present, and have supplied it on our sheet.
I have dozens of books and magazines articles on the 163 in my files,
and none show adequate documentation of nose insignia on specific
airframes. Many photos are out there clearly showing the forward
fuselages of aircraft with various badges, but they always have the
tail or fuselage number blocked from view.
So what about all those cool drawings and profiles?
First, there are historical Luftwaffe closeup
photos of several different unit insignia on the noses of Me 163s. The
problem is that in NONE of these cases is enough of the remainder of
the plane visible to make positive identification. In addition, there
are many photos of postwar 163s showing nose insignia, and many more
photos of museum jets. Therein lies the problem. NONE of these photos
are reliable documentation of what the Luftwaffe actually flew. The
Americans and Brits regularly fully or partially repainted captured
aircraft, so those markings are suspect at best. The problems with
museum aircraft markings are obvious.
The simple truth is that until definitive photo documentation should
become available, any depiction of a 163 with nose insignia (except
White 1?/4? mentioned above) is a guess or wishful thinking, and
unless you want to build a model of a museum bird or fantasy plane,
you are probably limited to White 1?/4?.
If you want to show a nose insignia, sorry about
that!
1/48 Scale
CED48259 PREORDERS ONLY! Me
163Bs
Me 163 B, Yellow 11, 7./JG 400,
April, 1945; Me 163 B, White 1 (or possible White 4), 1./JG 400,
Brandis, February 1945-NOTE this is the ONLY photo documented wartime
Luftwaffe Komet with a badge on the nose (see discussion in
instructions!); Me 163 B, White 10, Lt. Hans-Ludwig Löscher, 1./JG
400, Brandis, February 1945; Me 163 B, Yellow 15, II./JG 400, 1945; Me
163 S, White 94, Soviet Air Force, TsAGI & LII test institutes,
Moscow, 1945; Me 163 B, Yellow 2, 7./JG 400, Husim, April 1945. All
these schemes are documented in the new Classic Publications book on
the Me 163, Volume 2.
USD$8.99
Thanks to
Cutting Edge Modelworks for
the preview information and images
Cutting Edge Modelworks products,
including Cutting Edge Decals, can be viewed at
Meteor Productions website
Review Copyright © 2004 by
Brett Green
This Page Created on 28 January, 2004
Last updated
29 January, 2004
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