Paul Allen's Me262 Update.

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11 years 2 months

Posts: 3,650

Hi All,
Thought I would post this news article courtesy of :-http://warbirdsnews.com/ :cool:
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A Jumo 004B during trial fitting on the Me 262's starboard wing earlier this year. The first rebuilt engine is now mounted on the airframe, with the second engine expected imminently. Taxi trials are expected to begin soon after mounting is complete.

As most readers are well aware, Paul G. Allen’s Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum (FHCAM) has one of the finest collections of vintage military aircraft and armament in the world. One of their most significant artifacts is Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe wk.nr.500453, which has been undergoing a long and painstaking restoration over the past decade or so on two different continents. Restoration updates are rare, of course, as the museum usually prefers to keep the details closely held until major milestones are approaching realization. And such is the case for the Me 262. The airframe began its restoration process with JME Aviation Ltd. in the UK back in 2007, and this is where much of the structural repairs to the wings and fuselage took place. When JME Aviation closed its doors in 2010, the project moved to Gosshawk Unlimited in Casa Grande, Arizona, and more latterly to Morgan Aircraft Ltd. in Arlington, Washington State.

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The Me 262 undergoing gear tests at Morgan Aircraft in May, 2015.
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A recent view inside the Me 262’s cockpit. This aircraft was one of a number recovered by Watson’s Whizzers from a German airfield in the dying days of WWII and sent to the USA for evaluation aboard HMS Reaper. After the military was done with her, Howard Hughes acquired the airframe, eventually passing it on to Cal Aero Technical Institute. The legendary Ed Maloney saved the airframe from scrapping in 1955, and she was on display at his Planes of Fame Air Museum until sold on to the nascent Flying Heritage Collection in 2000.

While restoring the 262’s airframe has certainly been a challenge, the project’s achilles heal has always been the ability to source and restore a pair of original Junker Jumo 004B jet engines to power her. We have to remember that the jet engine was in its infancy during WWII. The technology, while advanced for its time, was incredibly crude by modern standards. Added to this, the German supply chain for materials with appropriate metallurgical properties for jet engines was also under immense strain during their manufacture in 1944/45. As a consequence, German jet engines had a very short life span between major overhaul, reportedly just 10 to 25 operational hours, which means rebuildable core engines are exceedingly rare. Restoring and certifying original Jumo 004 engines to airworthy condition is therefore immensely complex, not to mention expensive. But given Paul Allen’s dedication to the project, this hurdle has also been overcome. Aero Turbine in Stockton, California is the company in charge of restoring the Me 262’s Jumos. They ran one for the first time in February, 2015, probably the first time any Jumo 004 variant has generated power since 1951 when Czechoslovakia retired their Avia S-92s (Czech-built Me 262s). The first fully certified Jumo 004B arrived for installation at Morgan Aircraft about two months ago, and it is now mounted to the 262’s starboard wing.
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Two Jumo 004Bs in the foreground at Aero Turbine's shop in Stockton, California earlier this year. One of these engines is now installed on the airframe, with the other set to arrive for mounting in the next two or three weeks.

(Full set of engine running and engine photos :-http://warbirdsnews.com/warbird-rest...ss-report.html )

In recent conversations with personnel at FHCAM, we have learned that the second engine is due to arrive by the end of September/beginning of October. Once the engine is installed and checked over, taxi tests will begin. If all goes well, the Me 262’s first flight will take place this winter, and possibly as soon as late December! The legendary Steve Hinton will perform the initial test flight, which will take place over Moses Lake, Washington. In additional news, the Me 262 is now fully painted, although the identity for its livery will not be revealed officially until the aircraft’s debut. Watch this space!

(WarbirdsNews/Warbird Digest wishes to thank personnel from FHCAM for making this article possible, especially Cory Graff and Michelle Donoghue.)

(All images courtesy of Paul G.Allen.)

Geoff.

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Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 2,146

very cool thank's for posting it

Member for

20 years 7 months

Posts: 7,025

Blimey ,so by the time it has done it's test flights the engines could need rebuilding --eeek.

Member for

17 years 10 months

Posts: 3,778

its only money, :cool:

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 8,464

The engines were so low time due to the quality of the materials used in the originals. That's not going to be the case - if you read the article, you will see that the engines have had an enormous investment in new parts, from modern materials. This is a serious investment.

Member for

16 years 9 months

Posts: 1,011

Extraordinary project! Thank goodness for someone with the pockets deep enough to do this. Never thought a Jumo 004B would ever run again.

Member for

19 years 8 months

Posts: 296

Great work.
The 262 is a beautiful aircraft. Must have been a real eye opener back during WW2.
Amazing, the engines are the problem, but with enough backing perhaps its possible. Good luck.
I'am surprised no one has asked this yet....Will it be at Legends?

Member for

13 years 11 months

Posts: 409

The engines are newly-manufactured and have been described as being faithful to the look/design of the original Jumo 004's while being improved upon for greater reliability and made with superior modern materials for longer serviceability. The whole engine program (including re-engineering, manufacturing and testing phases) has been going on for many years, and the engineers involved believe that they'll be able to get hundreds of hours out of the engines before overhaul.

For those who do not know the history of this very original airframe:

It is believed that the aircraft made its first flight on March 14, 1945 with Messerschmitt factory test pilot Otto Kaiser at the controls. The aircraft originally was configured as an A-1a/U3 variant with recon cameras located in the nose. The aircraft was discovered by American troops at an airfield near Lechfeld, south of Augsburg, Germany, and was shipped to the US for evaluation in the summer of 1945. The aircraft was sent to Freeman Field and designated "FE-4012". The fighter nose that the FHCAM Me-262 has today came from another Freeman Field Me-262, "FE-111", which today is displayed at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. At Patterson Field and Wright Field the aircraft was flown several times to compare it to the then new P-80 Shooting Star, though the test flight program was cut short following a number of engine failures. Soon after, the aircraft was handed over to Howard Hughes' Hughes Aircraft Company (during which time the engines were run but the aircraft was never flown) and was later transported to RKO Studios for use as a film prop. The aircraft was acquired by Ed Maloney in 1955, and remained displayed with the Planes of Fame Air Museum for decades, until it was acquired by Paul Allen/Flying Heritage in 2000. (This is a brief summary of information provided in the book Flying Warbirds by Cory Graff, which covered the FHCAM publicly-promoted collection of warbirds as of 2014)

And speaking to the question of "Will it be at Legends?" - the FHCAM fleet of warbirds never venture outside of the Everett/Seattle area once they're brought into the museum, typically only flown over/at the Museum's home airport of Paine Field.

Member for

17 years 1 month

Posts: 133

Seriously impressed.
I had a look at a Jumo in Berlin last year and was struck with how crude the engine was and how many low grade materials went into making one.
It's going to be interesting to see how the engine fares with high grade components.
There's a fantastic video on Youtube of a German Me262 training film for new pilots that's worth watching... I never even knew there was a two stroke jockey motor in the nose cone of each engine for starting the air compressor stage.

Member for

15 years 6 months

Posts: 291

What an incredible project. Certainly is a beautiful machine and my favourite jet aircraft of all time. As noted above I wonder just what it shall sound like? I shall be travelling to USA just to see it in the air.