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Concise history from Phil Butler's "War Prizes":
AM210 Messerschmitt Me 163B WNr 191316
Coded 'Yellow 6' of JG400. Surrendered at Husum and shipped to the RAE. Despatched from Farnborough to No. 6 MU Brize Norton on 21st July 1945. With No. 6 MU in the Home Census of Aircraft on 21st March 1946 and despatched to No. 47 MU Sealand, on 17th June. In 1949, was with the GAFEC, No. 3 MU Stanmore Park, Remaining there until at least 1955. At this point the picture becomes confused in that 191316 is the aircraft now in the Science Museum while 'AM 210' is reported as the aircraft which presented to the Deutsches Museum at Munich by the RAF in April 1964. It may be that 191316 was not AM 210 as postulated but in any event it would appear that the Air Historical Branch held two different Me 163's, one of which went via Halton to the Science Museum, and the other via West Raynhom and Messerschmitt-Bolkow Blohm to the Deutsches Museum at Munich. It is possible that 191316 was AM 210 and that the Deutsches Museum aircraft was another so for unidentified Me 163B which was transposed with AM 210 during storage. These aircraft were frequently displayed at RAF 'At Home' days ond other events, and since their 'Air min' numbers were painted on their storage crates but not on the aircraft themselves, it would not be difficult for their true identities to be lost. Any readers with confirmed sightings of Me 163B's at displays in the 1945 - 1964 period who can clarify the true Werk Nummern of particular aircraft are invited to contact the author!
RAF Halton, on the former Rothschild estate, housed the No. 1 School of Technical Training until the late eighties or early nineties. Details are still rather scarce, but this Komet was at RAF Halton during the early sixties. Whether it was there as a training aid for the Aircraft Apprentice School, or only as a restoration project is not clear yet.
In 1993, a book titled 'Halton and the Apprentice scheme', written by Bill Taylor, was published by Midland Counties Publications. It contained the following very interesting photo of 191316. The Komet appears to be in its original camouflage, with a slightly heavier and larger mottling than seen in subsequent photographs. The center fuselage is painted in a solid camouflage, roughly between the extended wing leading and trailing edges. The nose cone appears to be the replacement part mentioned below. The wing looks polished as in most wartime photos, with scuffed areas on the leading edge.
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Another view of the same setting appears on a picture card from 1977 by by Edito-Service S.A.
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Roger Miller, webmaster of the 'The 95th Entry of RAF Halton Apprentices' website, kindly allowed the use of this photo taken at Halton. The 95th intake of apprentices was trained at Halton from May 1960 to April 1963, and the photo was taken somewhere during this period.
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Ian Hunt, now living in Alberta, Canada, was trained at RAF Halton as an aircraft apprentice from January 1960 to December 1962, as part of the 94th Entry at RAF Halton. He kindly sent the following two photographs. In 2010, Patrick Hinnigan, also in the 94th Entry, wrote to tell that he took these photos. They were taken on the day the aircraft was loaded onto a Pickfords low-loader for its journey to the museum.
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One interesting piece of information: in Kookaburra's 'Luftwaffe Painting Guide' it is reported that C. Rupert Moore had chips and fabric from 191316 from its stay at Halton. From a brief internet search on "C. Rupert Moore" I learned that he was an aviation artist, producing paintings, magazine covers (Aeromodeller), line drawings for MAP, and he worked on rubber powered model airplanes, for which he patented a twin engine drive system. He was born in 1904 and passed away in 1982.
History and pictures of this Komet yet to be added. In the mean time, see the Science Museum web site.
The Komet was modified somewhat before it was hung from the ceiling of the Science Museum. The engine was removed for separate display (see Shamus Reddin's Walter HWK 109-509 Site). To restore the center of gravity, or to reduce the weight, the armoured nose-cone was swapped for a replacement piece.
The oldest photos of this Komet in the Science Musuem were found in Koku Fan, 1971-1 issue, as seen in Internet Archive.
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Andrew Walker, who maintained his own Me 163 Home Page (via the Wayback Machine), kindly supplied the following photos he took at the Science Museum in 1997. The Komet is hanging from the ceiling and unfortunately difficult to access.
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The Science Museum has a storage facility in Wroughton, and fellow Komet fan Shamus Reddin found the dolly of this Komet, and another Walter motor in storage there. He took the following photographs in November 1999:
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André de Zwart, webmaster of the excellent Do 24 website, visited the Science Museum in November 2004, and kindly provided the following photos.
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A walkaround with 16 photos by Howard Mason can be found at the Prime Portal Web Site.