For anyone planning a visit to the USAF Museum in Dayton

[gecko]

If anyone is planning a visit to the USAF Museum in Dayton, would you please get a picture for me? I am trying to determine what this stencil (see picture) is on the Me 163. I can't quite make it out in the pictures Andy took a while back. By the way Andy, those pictures you took have been extremely helpful, thanks! Also, I'm curious if there are any stencils or markings on top of or under the wings. Pictures of that would be most welcome as well. Thanks!

Daniel

 

[MajorMagee]

[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Bei Wasserf[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]ü[/FONT]llung[/FONT]

 

[gecko]

Excellent, thanks! Now I just have to figure out what they meant by that. That's where the C-Stoff goes, not sure what the use for water would be. Unless it has something to do with the post-flight engine rinse. I'll keep digging.

 

[MajorMagee]

In the 2 seat trainer version they filled the C Stoff tank with water as ballast, but that would not be the case with this example, so you're probably right about it being some sort of rinse out point for storage between missions.

Operation posed serious problems. The C-Stoff and T-Stoff tankers could not be allowed to come within half a kilometre of each other, so refuelling and rearming a squadron of Me163s was a fraught business to say the least. The flight line would be washed down by firetrucks between them.

 

[gecko]

I considered water ballasting, but from what I can tell this wasn't done on the B model, and I have seen footage somewhere of the engine rinse. On the other hand, the museum could have applied it incorrectly, as I've only seen that particular stencil here and it wouldn't be the first time a museum made an error. Interestingly, as I've been trying to glean information from stencils, I've noticed that there seems to be no standardization whatsoever on wartime Komets.