Junkers Ju248 found at Leck Airfield in 1945?

[Leading Observer]

Ju248 Flounder - Found at Leck Airfield 1945

Leck airfield near the Danish Border, formerly the base of Luftwaffe unit I./JG1 was occupied by the Royal Air Force on 5 May 1945. At the base, the RAF found 45 brand new He162 "Salamander" (English: "Newt", and better known today as the "Volksjäger") of which 15 were combat ready, and 30 in final assembly. A curious British soldier put himself in the seat of one and accidently activated the ejection seat. He was ejected from the aircraft and thrown about 30 meter (100feet) into the air, before fatally crashing into the ground.

11 of the He162's were sent to the USA for evaluation, another 5 went to France and 3 to England.  Only the RAE performed extensive tests on the He162, concluding the machine, in the hands of an experienced Pilot, would have outperformed the Gloster Meteor.

What was not revealed to the other allies, and only recently came to light, was that hidden under tarpaulins at the back of one of the hangers were several large crates marked ~Junkers Motoren-Patentstelle GmbH -  Entwurfsflugzeug - Projekt Flunder~. The Team that found them realised that they had stumbled on something Important and reported it immediately to the senior RAF Officer, who ordered the hanger to be put under guard, citing the discovery of unexploded ordinance, pending  inspection by a member of the Air Intelligence (AI) Organisation, who were responsible for deciding which aircraft were to be sent to the UK for evaluation.

 When the AI Officer arrived, the crates were opened and they were found to contain a dismantled, but complete example of the Ju248, along with its technical manuals and spares, including two complete  HWK 109-509C dual-chamber rocket motors. The AI Officer immediately ordered that the crates were to be re-sealed and shipped in secrecy to the RAE at Farnborough for evaluation. He also ordered that under no circumstances were any of the Allies, especially the Americans, to be told of the discovery, as he feared that the Americans would endeavour to acquire the aircraft for themselves.
The crates were delivered to RAE Farnborough, who sent them to the Wrenn Aircraft Company, where the aircraft assembled. The services of Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown were called upon to test the aircraft, as he had already flown (albeit unofficially) the Me163, and it was thought this, along with his vast experience of testing German aircraft, would give him some insight into the operation of the aircraft. After conducting several unpowered flights, Captain Brown asked for the aircraft to be fuelled ready for a powered flight. Brown described the handling characteristics to be comparable to the Me163, but that the extended flight time and range due to the increased fuel capacity, along with the improvements due to the dual chamber engine (The main upper chamber was tuned for high thrust while the lower Marschofen combustion chamber was designed for much less thrust (about 400 kgf maximum) for economic cruise. In operation, throttling was accomplished by stopping and restarting the main engine, which was about four times as powerful as the smaller one. This change greatly simplified the engine, while giving much higher efficiency during cruise) would have made the aircraft a formidable opponent should it have entered production. The improved visibility and pressurised cockpit would also have made interception of higher altitude bombers much easier – Brown thought that the proposed armament of two 30mm cannon would have proved deadly to the USAAF B-17, B-24 and B-29 at altitude.

After three powered flights had been complete, the RAE passed all of the collected data to Miles Aircraft for the M.52 programme, and the aircraft was dismantled and put into storage, eventually being broken up and scrapped sometime in the 1950's.

[PR19_Kit]

Was the Ju 248 a licence built version of the Me 263,or just a close relative? 

[Leading Observer]

Was the Ju 248 a licence built version of the Me 263,or just a close relative? 

The Me263 programme was handed over to Junkers to develop and build the prototypes as Messerschmidt had their hands full building the 262. Junkers gave it their own designation and built and flew it with unpowered with a fixed undercarriage. When it looked like it was going to prove a feasible development of the 163, the project went back to Messerschmidt

[George the Cat]

Very nice. I built one of these several years back. Must check where it is.

[chrisonord]

That is really cool 

[Rheged]

I LIKE IT!! Both the model and backstory.

[Rick Lowe]

Agree, nicely done. 

[NARSES2]

Both story and model have come out well