Warplanes of Germany: Luftwaffe aircraft preserved in the USA

German Luftwaffe Warplanes, 1939-1945 preserved in the USA

The aim of this website is to locate, identify and document Warplanes from the Second World War preserved in the USA.  Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these aircraft to provide and update the data on this website.  Photos are as credited.  Any errors found here are by the author, and any additions, corrections or amendments to this list of Warplane Survivors of the Second World War in the United States of America would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at hskaarup@rogers.com.

German Fighters, Bombers and Patrol Aircraft of the Second World War preserved in the USA by aircraft type, serial number, registration number and location:

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Arado Ar 196A-5 (Wk. Nr. 623 167), coded PO+HG, later coded T3+BH of Bordfl Gr 196, which served aboard the German cruiser Prinz Eugen, which became a War Pirze in 1945, Philadelphia Navy Yard.  This aircraft is in storage with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

Arado Ar 196 A-5 (Wk. Nr. 623 183).  Also from the German cruiser Prinz Eugen, currently with the National Museum of Naval Aviation (NMNA), at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.   The upper fuselage and canopy were damaged during transit, and it remained in storage awaiting restoration. In December 2012, it was packed into containers and shipped to Nordholz, Germany. Restoration began in August 2013, in time for that city's celebration for 100 years of German naval aviation. The plane, on long term loan from the National Naval Aviation Museum, will eventually be displayed at the Naval Air Wing 3 (Marinefliegergeschwader 3) headquarters at Nordholz Naval Airbase.

(Kogo Photo)

Arado Ar 234B-2 Blitz (Lightning), (Wk. Nr. 140312), coded F1+GS, USA 50, 505, Reg. No. 27, restored coded as F1+GS.  This aircraft was one of nine Ar 234s surrendered to British forces at Sola Airfield near Stavanger, Norway.  The aircraft had been operating with 9. Staffel III./Kampfgeschwader 76 (later reorganised as Einsatzstaffel) during the final weeks of the war, having operated previously with the 8th squadron, carrying the full-four-character Geschwaderkennungmilitary code of "F1+GS" on the fuselage sides, with the wing code of "F1" painted on in a much reduced size for "low-visibility" requirements.  This aircraft and three others were collected by the "Watson's Whizzers" of the USAAF to be shipped back to the United States for flight testing.  The aircraft was flown from Sola to Cherbourg on 24 June 1945 where it joined 34 other advanced German aircraft shipped back to the U.S. aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper, arriving at Newark, New Jersey on 28 July.  Upon arrival two of the Ar 234s were reassembled (including 140312) and flown by USAAF pilots to Freeman Field, Indiana for testing and evaluation.  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1010, later T2-1010.  After receiving new engines, radio and oxygen equipment, 140312 was transferred to Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio and delivered to the Accelerated Service Test Maintenance Squadron (ASTMS) of the Flight Test Division in July 1946.  Flight testing was completed on 16 October 1946 though the aircraft remained at Wright Field until 1947.  It was then stored until transferred to the Smithsonian Institution.  Restoration was completed in 1989.  This aircraft is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(Creanium Photo)

Bachem Ba 349B-1 Natter (Snake), (Wk. Nr. unknown).  This is the only surviving original Ba 349, likely captured by US forces at St. Leonhard im Pitztal, Austria in May 1945.  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-1, later T2-1. The Natter is of the experimental type as launched from the steel tower and is painted to look like an M17.  It is currently in storage awaiting restoration.  This aircraft is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(Luftwaffe Photo)

Blohm & Voss Bv 155B, ca April 1945.

Blohm & Voss Bv 155B-V3 (Wk. Nr. unknown), captured by the RAF in May 1945 and forwarded to the USAAF.  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-505, later T2-505.  This aircraft is in storage in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(Nick-D Photo)

Dornier Do-335A-02 Pfeil (Arrow) (Werknummer 240102), coded VG+PH.  FE-1012.  This aircraft was assigned factory radio code registration, or Stammkennzeichen, of VG+PH.  The aircraft was assembled at the Dornier plant in Oberpfaffenhofen, Bavaria on 16 April 1945.  It was captured by Allied forces at the plant on 22 April 1945.  VG+PH was one of two Do 335s to be shipped to the United States aboard the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Reaper, along with other captured German aircraft, to be used for testing and evaluation under a USAAF program called "Operation Sea Horse".  VG+PH went to the Navy for evaluation and was sent to the Test and Evaluation Center, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland.  Following testing from 1945 to 1948, the aircraft was placed in storage at Norfolk, until donated to the Smithsonian in 1961.   In October 1974, VG+PH was returned to the Dornier plant in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany for a complete restoration.  In 1975, the aircraft was restored by Dornier employees, many of whom had worked on the airplane originally.  They were amazed that the explosive charges built into the aircraft to blow off the dorsal fin and rear propeller prior to pilot ejection were still installed and active 30 years later.  The aircraft was on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich until 1986 when it was returned to the Smithsonian.  This aircraft is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Fieseler Fi-156C-1 Storch (Wk. Nr. TBC), coded 5F+YK.  This aircraft is painted as the Storch used by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in North Africa.  Built in 1940, it was exported to Sweden where it remained until 1948. The last German to fly it before its acquisition by the donors in 1973 was German Second World War ace Erich Hartmann.  National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

(Chairboy Photo)

Focke-Achgelis Fa 330A-1 Bachstelze (Sandpiper), rotor kite towed behind U-Boats (Wk. Nr. 100463 ), National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

Focke-Achgelis Fa 330A-1 Bachstelze (Sandpiper), rotor kite towed behind U-Boats (Wk. Nr. 60133).  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-4618, later T2-4618.  It is currently on loan to the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona from the National Air and Space Museum.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters preserved in the USA are listed on a separate page on this web site.

(USAAF Photo)

Focke-Wulf Ta 152H-0/R-11 (Wk. Nr. 1500010), coded CW+CJ, "Green 4", JG301, USA 11, Reg. No. 32.  This Ta 152 is the only existing example of this fighter in the world today.  The British recovered Wk. Nr. 1500010 in Aalborg, Denmark, at the end of hostilities.  They turned the airplane over to “Watson’s Whizzers", an American unit charged with collecting Luftwaffe aircraft for further study.  Lt Harold McIntosh flew ‘020 to Melun, France, where it was loaded aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Reaper and shipped Newark Army Airfield, New Jersey.  From Newark, McIntosh flew this Ta 152 to Freeman Field, Indiana.  The airplane was later transferred to Wright Field, Ohio, to undergo extensive flight testing.  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-112, later T2-112.  After testing, the Army stored the aircraft and then turned it over to the National Air Museum in 1960.

Research conducted late in 1998 may have revealed the airplane’s true identity as Werk-Nummer 150010, not 150003 or ‘020 as has been widely reported.  This places the airframe toward the end of the range of pre-production H-0 models, a variant marking the transition from the Ta 152 prototypes to full production Ta 152H-1 airplanes.  It was probably built at Focke-Wulf’s production facility at Cottbus, Germany, in December 1944, and delivered to Erprobungskommando Ta 152 at Rechlin, Germany, for service testing.  As with most Ta 152s produced, ‘020’ was apparently transferred to Jagdgeswader (fighter squadron) JG 301 in early 1945.  A Green ‘4’ was painted on the fuselage and this may have been the squadron identification and radio call sign “Green 4”.  The aircraft has a wooden tail and only (Wk. Nr. 150003) and (Wk. Nr. 150010) were fitted with this and on historical photos the overpainted remains of the code CW+CJ is visible which belongs to (Wk. Nr. 150010).  (Wk. Nr. 150020) was coded CW+CT.  Data courtesy of Peter W. Cohausz.  This aircraft is stored in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

Grumman J2F-4 Duck (Serial No. V-1640), downed in a storm on a Greenland glacier on 29 November 1942.  The United States Coast Guard worked with North South Polar, Inc. plans to recover this J2F-4 Duck.  Two Coast Guard airmen were lost along with a rescued U.S. Army Air Forces passenger from a downed B-17 searching for a downed C-53 with five on board.  The three men of the Duck are presumed to still be entombed at the site.  North South Polar, under the auspices of the Coast Guard team, located the aircraft in August 2012 resting 38 feet beneath the surface of the icesheet.  As per the mandate of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, North South Polar, the Coast Guard and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command plan to recover the men's remains for proper interment.  The Coast Guard and North South Polar are also developing plans to recover the aircraft and restore it to flying condition as a memorial to the aircrew.

(USAAF Photo)

Heinkel He 162A-2 Spatz (Sparrow),Volksjager (Wk. Nr. 120230), coded White 23, 1/JG1, painted (Wk. Nr. 120222).  This He 162A was captured by the British at Leck and sent to the US on board the escort carrier HMS Reaper.  It is currently fitted with the tail unit from (Wk. Nr. 120222).  This aircraft was one of thirty-one JG 1 aircraft manufactured by Heinkel at Rostock-Marienehe and captured by the British at captured at Leck, Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on 8 May 1945.  It was painted with the number White 23, and its red-white-black nose bands were in reverse order from the usual paint scheme, which may indicate that the wing commander and high-scoring ace, Col Herbert Ihlefeld, flew this particular aircraft.  After transfer to Britain, the US Army Air Forces accepted the airplane and shipped it to Wright Field, Ohio, for evaluation. It received the foreign equipment number FE-504, later T2-504, and was later moved to Freeman Field, Indiana.  For unknown reasons, mechanics replaced the tail unit at Wright Field with the tail unit of aircraft Wk. Nr. 120222.  FE-504/T2-504 was apparently never flown.  Its flying days ended permanently when someone at Freeman Field neatly sawed through the outer wing panels sometime before September 1946.  The wings were reattached with door hinges and the jet was shipped to air shows and military displays around the country.  The USAF transferred the aircraft to the Smithsonian Institution in 1949 but it remained in storage at Park Ridge, Illinois, until transfer to the Garber Facility in January 1955.  This aircraft is stored in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

Heinkel He 162 A-2 (Wk. Nr. 120222).  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-504, later T2-504.  The remains of this aircraft may be stored in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(Alan Wilson Photo)

Heinkel He 162 A-2 (Wk. Nr 120077) is displayed at the Planes of Fame Museum, Chino, California. This aircraft was captured by the British at Leck and sent to the United States in 1945 where it was given the designation FE-489 (Foreign Equipment 489) and later T-2-489.

(Kogo Photo)

Heinkel He 219A-2 Uhu (Eagle Owl) (Werknummer 290202), coded GI+KQ.  This aircraft was one of three He 219s found at Grove airfield in Denmark, which had been operated by the 1st Night Fighter Wing (Nachtjagdgeschwader 1) in Jutland.  It was captured by the RAF and assigned the designation USA 10.  It was transferred to the USAAF and was made flight worthy by Watson's Whizzers (US Army Intelligence Service) and flown to Cherbourg, France, 16 June 1945.  It was shipped to the USA along with 21 other captured German aircraft onboard the British escort carrier HMS Reaper and reassembled at Ford Field, Newark, New Jersey.  Assigned foreign equipment number FE-614 and later TE-614, it was flown to Freeman Field, Indiana for testing.  It was then stored until transferred to the Smithsonian's National Air Museum on 3 Jan 1949.  Restoration is continuing.  This aircraft is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

Horten H IIL, Reg. No. D-10-125 (Serial No. 6). It was flown by Reimar Horten, who tested the intake design for Ho IX/229.  After being collected, this aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-7, later T2-7.  On loan to the Deutsches Technikalmuseum, Berlin, Germany, from the National Air and Space Museum.

Horten H IIIf (Wk. Nr. 32), this is the only one of its kind still intact, originally flown by a pilot in the prone position.  On arrival in the USA it was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-5042, later T2-5042.  It is currently on loan to the Deutsches Technikalmuseum, Berlin, Germany from the National Air and Space Museum.

(Mike Peel Photo)

Horten H IIIh, LA-AI (Wk. Nr. 31), the only version still intact, it is a modified H IIIg.  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-5039, later T2-5039.  it is currenly on loan to the Deutsches Technikalmuseum, Berlin, Germany, from the National Air and Space Museum.

Horten H VI-V2 (Serial No. 34).  This aircraft was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-5040, later T2-5040.  It was never flown.  It is currently on loan to the Deutsches Technikalmuseum, Berlin, Germany, on loan from the National Air and Space Museum.

(Michael Katzman Photo)

Horten IX/229-V3 (Wk. Nr. unknown).  It was never flown.  This Horten was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-490, later T2-490.  It is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Junkers Ju-52/3m (CASA 352L) Trimotor (Serial No. T2B-244), 901-20, C/N 135.  National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

(Eric Salard Photo)

Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 353L) (Serial No. 146), Reg. No. G-BFHD.  T.2B-255 (Spain), D-ADLH.  This aircraft is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(Tomás Del Coro Photo)

Junkers Ju 52/3m (CASA 352L) (N352JU), coded 1Z+AR, at the Military Aviation Museum, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 88 D-1/Trop (Serial No. 0880430650), F6-Al, 105, C/N 430650.  Ex-RAF (Serial No. HK959).  Romanian Air Force colours.  National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

(USAAF Photo)

Junkers Ju 388L-1 Störtebeker, (Wk. Nr. 560049).  This aircraft was brought to Freeman Field, Indiana, after the war, and was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-4010, later T2-4010.  The Störtebeker is currently stored in the Paul E. Garber Facility, Suitland, Maryland.  

Messerschmitt Bf 109s preserved in the USA are listed on a separate page on this web site.

(NMUSAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Me 163B-1A Komet (Serial No. 191095), C/N 191095.  National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.  Five Me 163s were originally brought to the United States in 1945, receiving the Foreign Equipment numbers FE-495 and FE-500 to 503.

(Aaron Headley Photo)

Messerschmitt Me 163 B-1a Komet (Wk. Nr. 191301), arrived at Freeman Field, Indiana, during mid-1945, and received the foreign equipment number FE-500.  On 12 April 1946, it was flown aboard a cargo aircraft to the U.S. Army Air Forces facility at Muroc dry lake in California for flight testing.  Testing began on 3 May 1946 and involved towing the unfueled Komet behind a Boeing B-29 Superfortress to an altitude of 9,000–10,500 m (29,500–34,400 ft) before it was released for a glide back to earth under the control of test pilot Major Gus Lundquist.  Powered tests were planned, but not carried out after delamination of the aircraft's wooden wings was discovered.  It is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

Messerschmitt Me 163B B-1a Komet (Wk. Nr. 191660), "Yellow 3", Flying Heritage Collection, Everett, Washington.

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a Schwalbe (Wk. Nr. 501232), 5, c/n 501232, " Yellow 5", 3./KG(J)6, and its Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine.  National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.

Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a/U3 Schwalbe (Wk. Nr. 500453), "White 9". Flying Heritage Collection, Everett, Washington.

(Tomás Del Coro Photo)

Messerschmitt Me 262B-1a Schwalbe (Wk. Nr. 110639), "White 35", two seat trainer, USN (BuNo. 110639), previously "Red 13".  Test flown by the USN post-war and then put on display at NAS Willow Grove for many years, recently restored to static display.  National Museum of Naval Aviation, Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

(Tony Hisgett Photo)

MesserschmittMe 262 A-1a/R7 Schwalbe (Wk. Nr. 500491), Yellow 7, II./JG 7, equipped with twin original underwing racks for 24 R4M unguided rockets.in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(USAAF Photo)

Messerschmitt Me 410A-3/U1 Hornisse (Hornet), (Wk. Nr. 10018), coded F6+WK, 2(F)/122.  It was found intact at an airfield in Trapani, Sicily, in August 1943 bearing the markings of the Luftwaffe's 2.Staffel/Fernaufklärungsgruppe 122 and was shipped to the United States in 1944.  Initially designated EB-103, this Hornisse was assigned the foreign equipment number FE-499, later T2-499.  It is preserved in the National Air and Space Museum (NASM), Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia.

(Clemens Vasters Photo)

V-2 Rocket, Mittelwerk A-4 V-2 with Meillerwagen.  National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio.