|
|
|
This Komet was formerly shown on the 'White 54' page. During its dismantling process at Freeman Field it was fitted with the tail of 'White 54', which led to predictable results. But after it was established that the tail of 'White 54' had also been fitted to 'White 42', suspicion rose about the identity of this aircraft. Soon it turned out it indeed was another Komet. The mottle camouflage was different, it had a pitot boom, it seemed to have MK 108 armament, and it had later type cooling slots in the rear fuselage. Unfortunately no information on the identity of this Komet is known; no Werknummer, Stammkennzeichen or code is known. Therefore it will be simply identified as the 'Freeman Field Komet'.
Thanks to David E. Brown of Experten Decals and N. Malayney, we can now trace back the 'Freeman Field Komet' to Germany! It is seen here being loaded aboard a C-46 Commando, possibly for direct transportation to the USA. Note that the location appears to be the very same hangar apron as seen in the seven Komets on trucks photo. That would make Merseburg a likely location for this photo. Husum is another possibility.
|
|
The following set of photos give a good impression of a late-series Komet, including its camouflage and markings. The disassembly took place at Freeman Field, where a number of German aircraft were collected and studied.
|
|
|
|
A page dedicated to Freeman Army Air Field, part of James West's extensive Indiana Military Organization web site, shows lots of data and a large number of photos of these aircraft. Following the 'Captured Aircraft' link you will find an extensive list of all foreign aircraft at Freeman Field, including all known data on the five Komets that were present at Freeman at some point. The link to item '500' on this page leads to a subpage with Komet photos.
To be added.
Through James West of the extensive Indiana Military Organization web site, the following possible interesting sources were identified:
James West sells two CD's on his site, one that contains the entire collection of the weekly newspaper 'Twingine Time' published at Freeman Field, and a CD containing a 1,500 page 'Freeman official Army history'. James was kind enough to check for Komet content, but there is no mention of the enemy aircraft on either of them. Both end with the end of the Flight Training Center and before it became the Evaluation Center.