WIX Archives

Me262s in Canada circa 1946

Posted by Lee Walsh on Tue Dec 18, 2001 10:57:30 PM

By: Bill Wheeler
Canadian Aviation Historical Society - Journal
?2001

MESSERCHMITT Me262s IN CANADA
Is ?Yellow 17? the Downsview Swallow?

Most of the German war prize aircraft brought to Canada following the Second World War are happily accounted for ? in the safe hands of the Canada Aviation Museum. But the fates of a pair of Messerschmitt Me262s that also came here have always been a matter of conjecture. There are intriguing snippets of information. CAHS President Ed Rice recalls seeing a Me262, minus engines, at the former No. 14 SFTS, Alymer, Ontario, while on a summer Air Cadet excursion during the late 1940?s. Bob Fowler, retired DeHavilland Canada chief Production Test Pilot and frequent Journal contributor, sat in the cockpit of a Me262 at Downsview. The windscreen was in place but the canopy was missing. DHC and National Aeronautical Establishment (NAE) engineers fired up both axial-flow Jumo engines, testing them to destruction, one by shoveling in ice cubes until it refused to run. While he did not see the actual disposal of the aircraft he is certain that it is buried ? with engines still in the nacelles and essentially complete ? as part of the fill bulldozed into a marshy area off the east-west runway. This summer it is rumored that a party from the Toronto Aerospace Heritage Museum will attempt to unearth the remains of what is probably ?Yellow 17? of the Luftwaffe?s I/JG 7.
The following data from a recently published book War Prizes: An Illustrated Survey of German War Prize Aircraft complied by Phil Butler (reviewed on Page 38) sheds some light on the situation. Butler?s research proves that two of the twinjet fighters were indeed shipped to Canada in relatively good condition. These machines were:

AM 52 (Air Ministry 52) ?
Messerschmitt Me262A-2a
WNr500310

?Coded ?Yellow 17? of I/JG 7. Surrendered at Fassberg and taken over by 616 Squadron RAF. Flown by them to Lubeck on 29 may 1945, but then ferried to Schleiswig and handed over to A12 (g) to become AM52. Flown from Schleiswig to Farnborough via Melsbroek and Manston, on 9 June 1945 by F/L Arend. Allocated RAF serial number VH509 on 14 June. Ferried from Farnborough to No. 6 Maintenance Unit, Brize Norton, on 29 June 1945, by S/L Martindale.?
?It remained in storage there until allocated to No. 47 Maintenance Unit, Sealand, on I July 1946. Although it had been reported that it made one test flight at Brize Norton on an unknown date, prior to moving to Sealand. It is believed that the test was flown by Jack Woolams, Chief Test Pilot of Bell Aircraft. The fuel for the flight was obtained by draining the tanks of an Arado Ar234B in storage at the unit (jet fuel then being a rare commodity).
?Shipped to Canada, leaving Ellesmere Port on board the S.S. Manchester Shipper on 23 August 1946, ?Yellow 17? arrived at Montreal, Quebec on 1 September. In and about 1947, it was sold to Cameron Logan of New Scotland, Ontario with about 300 surplus RCAF aircraft and was eventually scrapped by him.?

AM 80 (Air Ministry 52) ?
Messerschmitt Me262A-1
WNr111690

?Coded ?White 5? of I/JG 7. Surrendered at Fassberg (pilot: Frtiz Stehle) and flown from there to Meldbrock on 5 August 1945 after servicing by No. 417 Repair Service Unit at Fassberg, its ferry flight to Manston on 6 August and to Farnborough on 7 August by S/L Martindale. On static display during the German Aircraft Exhibition. Still at RAE in January 1946; but by May was with No. 47 Maintenance Unit, Sealand for packing and shipment to Canada. Packing was completed in July and the aircraft left Ellesmere Port aboard the SS Manchester Shipper on 23 August 1946, arriving at Montreal, Quebec on 1 September. This aircraft was burned in fire-fighting exercises at the former base at Alymer, Ontario, in about 1949. Wnr111690 was built by Messerschmitt at Schwabisch Hall.?
When War Prizes first appeared it seemed to relegate the existence of the Downsview 262 to the realm of mythology ? despite of the creditable witnesses who observed the interment.
Additional information on the Cameron Logan Me262 is to be found in a short but profusely illustrated article by Walter P. Fydenchuk in the May 2000 issue of Warbirds International ? The Amazing Saga of How Canada?s World War Two Air Force Was Sold For Scrap? deals with the surplus in southwestern Ontario.
After Logan, according to the author Fydenchuck, had hauled the Me262 home (with nose wheel removed and wings sawn off), he was advised that the representatives from Wright Patterson Field would like to inspect the aircraft for parts usable in the restoration of they possessed. The 262?s Junkers Jumos had previously removed from the nacelles presumably for testing. Logan met the Americans at the Brantford Airport and brought them to his home where they discovered that the lower surfaces of the Messerschmitt, made of aluminum honeycomb, were badly corroded. The machine was ?not worth cannibalizing.? Apparently after a few parts were removed, Logan eventually buried it on his property. The remains were later dug up and ?taken by a crew salvaging a Swordfish purchased from Logan.? The article does not identify the buyers of the Swordfish (one of 19 owned by Logan) and the Me262 remains. And, contrary to the information in War Prizes, Logan was positive that this Me262 was ?White 5? and not ?Yellow 7? (presumably the ?Yellow 17? of ?War Prizes?). A photograph accompanying the article bears him out.
Further at odds with War Prizes, Fydenchuk quotes Logan as stating that his was the sole Me262 at Aylmer and that the only aircraft burned there was not a 262, but a Hawker Hurricane accidentally set afire by an acetylene cutting torch. While the 262 is said to have been collecting from Aylmer since the previous year (1948) and presumably would be well aware of the various machines stored at the station awaiting disposal. ?Yellow 17? does not seem to have been among them. And so ? back to Downsview?

William Wheeler





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