On July 18, 1943, the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet prototype made its first flight, marking a turning point in aviation as the world's first operational jet fighter took to the skies.

By Randy Malmstrom Since his childhood, Randy Malmstrom has had a passion for aviation history and historic military aircraft in particular. He has a particular penchant for documenting specific ...

The National Air and Space Museum completed a restoration of its Me 262 in 1979. The project required 6,077 man-hours, and the most daunting problem was removing corrosion.

An Me 262 replica flees a Mustang near the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. For pilots of propeller-driven airplanes, used to small differences between top speeds, jets were a shock: Me ...

Wolfgang Czaia, the Whidbey Island test pilot for the Paine Field-based Me-262 Project, had the rare opportunity to fly the first authentic reproduction of the famous World War II German jet fighter.