The Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is hoping to fly its scratch-built replica Me 262 to AirVenture in July. The museum released a short video on social media late last week showing a snippet of the first taxi test of the aircraft. “We reached a major milestone on the road to EAA AirVenture!” the museum said in its Facebook post. “Our Me 262 replica ‘White 3’ had its first (of many) taxi tests and the results were excellent!! There’s still a lot of work – and a few surprises – to come … but Oshkosh or Bust!!” The aircraft flew from 2011 to 2015 but has been on the ground for 10 years.
The aircraft was built using plans that were created during the restoration of an original Me 262 at another museum. It does not have the temperamental Jumo engines that gave German pilots fits during the aircraft’s relatively brief operational history in the Second World War. This plane was fitted with GE J-85 CJ610 engines, which are much more reliable and safe. The plane is painted in tribute to White 3, the jet flown by Hans Guido Mutke, who is believed to have flown it supersonically. Me 262s could overtake the fastest Allied piston fighters and did some serious damage, downing more than 500 Allied aircraft. Allied pilots discovered the planes took a long time to get off the ground and many of the 100 that were destroyed in action (quite a few crashed on their own) were caught on the ground.
