Me 163B 'White 42' / FE495

I'm quite sure this is the same aircraft as the fake 'FE-500'. It's missing the Morane antenna, it has the typical rear window and locally fabricated tail root fairing again, and it shows a similar buckle in the tail wheel fairing (down and rearwards from the lifting point). The pitot boom is missing like in all 'White 42' photos.

The paint scheme is completely different again, consisting of two colors in a rather typical scheme. I first thought the darker parts were caused by shadows, but the shadow cast on the grass shows it was lit from the left rear. So the strange scheme was painted on. Like the fake 'FE-500', it is covered with white text stencils, but they are not identical. The swastika has moved down a couple of centimeters, and the fuselage cross is different.

Source: "Messerschmitt's mighty midget - part 2" in Aeroplane Monthly, August 1983 issue




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