Warbird Information Exchange

i went to an aviation auction today, & among the goodies was a wartime pic of a captured me 262 with a plexiglass bombardier nose. i totally forgot about the version after all these years. looks pretty cramped. was this version an experimental prototype?? used operationally?? how many of this type were made?? any survivors?? now that i'm thinking about it, there was also a prototype with a fairly large tank cannon attached, bigger than 40 mm i'm sure. i do know this version never got beyond the experimentation stage. what's the poop on this version?? regards, tom

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Tom

IIRC two of the plexiglass prone bomber types were built for testing, it has been suggested one is still in a lake near Rechlin where it was pushed post war.
Go to www.stormbirds.com for all things 262.

Dave

Where was the auction at?

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When all is said and done more is said than done.

I've always wondered if the "droop snoot" P-38 had any influence on the creation of the plexi-nosed 262's....

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Victory By Valor (Motto of the 20th Fighter Group)

In looking for the above picture I was reminded of a story about the 20th Fighter Group's "Droop Snoot", Col. Harold Rau, then the Group CO, recalled:

"One of the missions I recall being a little interesting was a mission I flew leading the group on a 'Droop Snoot' attack. We had a bombardier named Herschell Ezell, nicknamed 'Eze', so our 'Droop Snoot' had the name 'Eze Does It' painted on the nose. On this particular day, we were bombing an aerodrome way down near the Loire River. Coming in over the target, just as we released our bombs, we took a direct hit in the left engine of the 'Droop Snoot'; which tore part of the engine completely out of the airplane and parts went tumbling to the ground. The plane went into a spin, completely out of control and I was half stunned by the explosion. 'Eze' sat up in the nose, which was just about impossible to get out of, and very calmly said: 'What are we going to do boss? Are you going to bail out? I hope you don't get out and leave me sitting up here by myself.'

"At that point I was too busy to talk; I was fighting that airplane with everything I had, trying to get it under control. We spun down about 15,000 feet with pieces falling off the airplane all the way. I finally got the thing steadied down, stopped the spin and finally had it flying level on one engine. I looked around and the whole group had gone. At this point we were alone, 300 miles inside enemy airspace, with one good engine and a great gaping hole in the left wing where the other engine had been. Fortunately, we were able to struggle all the way home and I was able to land at Wittering. They patched up the 'Droop Snoot', put a new engine in it, and it wasn't long before it was flying again. It was a harrowing experience for me, but I'm sure it was ten times worse for poor old 'Eze' up there in the nose; not knowing what the heck was happening, what I was going to do, or how he was going to get out of there!"

Personally I don't think you could've convinced me to get in the thing...

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Victory By Valor (Motto of the 20th Fighter Group)

n/a

Martin

In response to Original Boxcar's post, many of the 20th Fighter Group's P-38's had polished noses to give them the appearance of being "droop snoots", probably one of the most often seen examples of this being "California Cutie".

Excellent pictures, Martin, you never cease to amaze me with your collection!

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Victory By Valor (Motto of the 20th Fighter Group)

You learn something new everyday. Thx Loco!

Found a colored pic:

http://home.introweb.nl/~erics/p-38/original.htm

regards,

t~