Pavla 72020 1/72 Messerschmitt Me 163S Luftwaffe Rocket Training Interceptor

This is a resin model kit, which comes unassembled and unpainted. So glue, model paints and other basic modelling tools are additionally required.

On the 13th May 1944, the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet interceptor fighter was flown on the first operational sortie by Major Wolfgang Spate, commander of Erprobungskommando 16 test unit, agains an American P-47 fighter. In spring 1944 the design of a two-seat Me 163 version started to facilitate the training of the pilots for combat Me 163Bs. The first prototype was an adaptation of the standard Me 163B airframe with the fuselage T-Stoff and ammunition tanks removed from the bays immediately aft of the cockpit, and the available space being utilized for an instructor's cockpit. The re-built plane designated Me 163S was ready in May 1944 and was flown for the first time by pilot Hohmann. The Me 163S was flown purely as a glider, being towed off the ground by a Bf 110. The decision to built 42 of the Me 163S was accepted after the prototype's trials. The production planes had a differently shaped instructor's canopy. The two-seat Me 163S were to be built in Junkers Dessau factory, but only a small number were completed as the production of the combat versions was far more important. A few Komets, including some two or three Me 163S, were acguired by the Soviet Union. They were tested by V. E. Golofastov, M. Gallaj, G. K. Mosolov and some other test pilots.