A privilege to fly! Tom Allett spoke to Airbus test pilot Geri Krähenbühl who has the pleasure of displaying the Manching-based Messerschmitt 262 replica
They were once the most potent and feared weapon in the Luftwaffe’s inventory but today a Bavarian-based replica of the world’s first operational jet is a welcome visitor wherever it goes. The aircraft is D-IMTT ‘501244’ the second of five Messerschmitt Me 262 replicas built at Paine Field, USA, in the early 2000s. It is the only airworthy ‘262 in European skies and at the time of writing was about to appear as the star attraction at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT), Fairford…
The aircraft is owned by the Messerschmitt Foundation, which flies it in conjunction with Airbus. It is based at the Messerschmitt Museum of Flight, one of the more recently built hangars inside the giant Airbus Defence and Space facility at Manching, an hour’s drive north of Munich.
Publishing deadlines required this article to go to press before the Air Tattoo, but assuming the ‘262 made it, it is surely a contender to be the rarest headline act in RIAT’s history, and that’s quite a statement given the event’s prestigious past.
If everything went to plan, I think it is fair to say by the time …
