One of the last to be completed, this Me 262 'Yellow 5' was surrendered to Allied forces at Munich-Riem in May 1945 and ferried on to Lechfeld by a Luftwaffe pilot. Flown on to Cherbourg via St Dizier and Melun, it was shipped as "Watsons Wizzers 111/Screamin' Meemie" to the US aboard HMS Reaper with 40 other captured aircraft. Barged to NAS Patuxent River and allocated BuNo 121442 for ten hours of flight tests in January 1946, these were curtailed after three engine failures. Abandoned in 1952, it was moved to the nascent USAF Museum in 1957. Restoration was accomplished from 1976 to 1979

On display in a tight space at NASM, Washington, D.C. 'Yellow 7' with a blue-red Reichsverteidigung band was flown by 49-victory ace Obfw Heinz Arnold who was wingman to Maj Rudolf Sinner of III./JG7. The wing was named "Nowotny" in honor of 258-victory ace Maj Walter Nowotny who headed Kdo Nowotny, the first jet fighter unit till he was shot down. JG 7 was equipped with the Me-262 from Dec 1944 till its surrender in May 1945, scoring victories till the end. After its capture at Lechfeld in 1945, this Me-262 was shipped under Op Lusty to the USA where it was numbered FE-111 for evaluation.

Aircraft captured by the US Army. Photo from: National Archives at College Park, Maryland

This Me-262A is on display in the WWII Gallery at the National Museum of the USAF. It was brought to the US from Germany in July 1945 for flight evaluation. Subsequently restored by the 96th Mobile Maintenance Squadron, Kelly Air Force Base, TX in 1976-1979. It is painted without operational unit markings to represent an aircraft that has just left the production line.

Previously N262MS. This new-build aircraft could not land on the grass but it made several passes