Messerschmitt Me163B KOMET

Yellow 15, II/JG400

JG 400 was formed on 1-Feb-1944 in Brandis to fly the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter, the only military aviation unit of any size in history, to actively use rocket-powered combat aircraft in wartime. The aircraft was used to attack bomber formations and tactics were soon developed. Typically the aircraft would zoom through the bomber formations up to an altitude of 40,000 feet (12,000 m), and then to power-dive down through the formation again. This theoretically gave the pilot two chances to aim and fire a few bursts of 30mm cannon fire before gliding back towards the home airfield. They were extremely vulnerable on their glide back to base and allied fighters soon figured this out. Brandis was attacked often curtailing many operations. Although over 300 Me 163Bs were produced, only 9 confirmed air victories were credited to JG 400 by the end of the war, for 14 Komets lost from all causes (mainly crashes and accidents).

This was an older but still nice kit from Hasegawa. The cockpit details were adequate for the scale and the engine was nice enough so I built it visible. I used aftermarket decals from Rocketeer as the kit decals were old and yellowed.