Me 262 B-1a/U1 Nachtjäger. ITALERI 2679

Deriving from the Messerschmitt Me 262 A, the B-1a/U1 version was developed to produce a night time reaction bomber intended to check the numerous allied bomber air raids over the skies of Germany in the last phase of World War II. Equipped with the characteristic Neptun system antenna masts on its nose, it was characterised with a two-man fuselage which housed the pilot and the radar operator. Like the one-man Me 262 A version, it was powered by two Junker Jumo 004-B jet propulsion engines that brought it to a record speed, for the 1940’s, of 870 Km/h at a 6,000 metre altitude, making it about 150 Km/h faster than any other allied piston engine bomber. Heavily armed with 4 MK 108 30mm cannons, it arrived at operation units too late and with only a few models, but it quickly obtained a good number of victories over the allied airplanes.