From: Steve Malikoff (MIL-VEH account) (44gpw@phaedra.apana.org.au)
Date: Mon Jan 20 2003 - 13:22:16 PST
G'day all,
I just read this on another list, and I hope it's on-topic.
It's a flying HMV, and I know that a number of listmembers are warbird
enthusiasts (actually, I don't know _anyone_ who is interested in HMV's
who _doesn't_ appreciate warbirds).
Steve.
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Subject: Me262 Update
Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 21:01:41 -0800
To One and All:
Today was not a good day for the Me262 Project. I was in the chase plane with Katsu Tokunaga, Jim Larsen and Art Fraser. This was the bird's second time up, and it's first flight with the gear up.
The take-off was uneventful, and the Citation chase was right behind the Me262. We headed over Saratoga Passage (north end of Puget Sound), Wolf cycled the landing gear up, and everything looked fine.
We then repositioned the chase to the right side of the Me262, Wolf cycled the gear again, and we all saw that the nose gear did not retract completely. The pilots maneuvered the Citation, allowing us to view the Me262 from various angles. None of us saw anything unusual or anything that would appear to be causing a nose gear malfunction.
Wolf executed an emergency gear extension and we headed back to Paine Field. Our plane flew right alongside Wolf's as he touched down, landing from the south. The touch down seemed normal and the Citation flew right on past.
After we landed and exited the aircraft, Jeff (the Citation's owner) said: "I hope your friend Wolf is okay." That struck me as rather odd, and he continued: "It went nose down into something that looked like a drainage ditch." My initial response was that he must be feeding us a line of bull.
During the formation flying Bud G. was also at the controls. Suddenly it hit me that Bud's face was beet red. Bud confirmed that the Me262 had run off the west side of the runway. My immediate thoughts were for Wolf's well being. I headed right over the Me262 project hangar and was vastly relieved to learn that Wolf was okay. It appeared that the Me262 was severely
damaged, however.
According to Wolf, the landing appeared to be normal. He said he thought the first 50-80 yards of the touch-down roll had been fine, but then the Me262 started to drop to the left. He could not could not keep the aircraft on the runway. The aircraft crossed over the runway apron and an access road, and then hit a very large concrete block. (The block's dimensions are
approximately three feet wide, three and one-half feet tall, and six to seven feet long.)
The Me262 came to rest stuck nose-down in a drainage ditch, at a 50-60 degree nose-down attitude. I saw that the left main had punched through the top of the wing. It looked to me like the left engine nacelle had been ripped off the wing. Most everything forward of the wing leading edge seemed either bent or broken.
Wolf said that if he had landed to the south, the collapsed gear could have caused the plane to go veer into an entire row of hangars. Not a good day for the Me262 project.
Tomorrow Bob Hammer and his crew will be at the crash site, to begin recovery. Boeing is bringing a crane over on Monday to lift the Me262 onto a flat bed, to be transported back to the hangar.
As I learn more, I will keep you up to date.
FYI ... it's a full moon to boot!
Cheers...Jim Goodall
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