Messerschmitt Me 262A1-a, WNr. 500071, "Weisse 3"
History
Aircraft WNr. 500071 was built in 1945, near the war's end, and final assembly was done at Erding Air Base. It was part of a batch intended for use by Jagdgeschwader 7 (JG 7), the world's first operational jet fighter wing.
On April 25, 1945, the aircraft was flown by Fähnrich Hans-Guido Mütke, a young Luftwaffe pilot. Ordered to relocate to Bad Aibling to avoid the aircraft falling into Allied hands, Mütke instead flew west and, according to his later accounts, experienced severe turbulence and vibrations—possibly from exceeding the speed of sound (he controversially claimed to have broken the sound barrier).
With low fuel, Mütke made an emergency landing in Dübendorf, Switzerland. The neutral Swiss authorities impoundedthe aircraft and interned the pilot. Unlike some other captured aircraft, this Me 262 was never flown by the Swiss.
The Me 262 remained stored at Dübendorf until August 30, 1957, when it was transferred to the Deutsches Museum in Munich.