Messerschmitt Me 264 V1 Flight Tests

Date Test Pilot Airfield Results

December 23, 1942 Karl Baur Augsburg After extensive taxiing trials, the Me 264 made its maiden flight. The duration of this first flight was 22 minutes, and for safety reasons the landing gear was left down. On landing, the airframe was damaged in the area of the flap mounts when the aircraft rolled over the end of the runway due to the failure of the brake system.

January 20, 1943 Karl Baur Augsburg The second test flight was made. Karl Baur complained that the forces on the controls were too high, about the poor placement of the instruments and of exhaust fumes penetrating into the cockpit.

January 22, 1943 Karl Baur Augsburg The Me 264 was transferred to Lechfeld.

January -

February, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld On the fifth test flight, the underside of the fuselage was damaged when it accidentally contacted the ground. Also, the hydraulic system of the landing gear failed, making it impossible to retract the gear.

February, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld Baur reported some problems with the inner flaps and a defective nose wheel. Despite some changes to the control surfaces, the forces against them were still too high and the changes had displaced the center of gravity. The nose wheel problems were fixed, and now the retraction functioned properly. Also, some minor defects were found in the electrical cables of the intercom system.

February, 1943 Gerhard Caroli Lechfeld Caroli also found that the forces against the control surfaces were still too high, especially at high speed. Small defects were still present in the radio system and landing gear.

February, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld During two flights by Baur, a speed of 600 km/h (373 mph) was reached. The faulty trimming and controls revealed that an eventual change in the entire control system would be inevitably needed. Flights with two or three engines were found to be satisfactory, but in flights with the automatic controls it was found that the servos were too low powered to control such a heavy aircraft.

March 2, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld Stability tests were continued.

March 4, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld A test of the polare system was cut short when after 15 minutes of flying time, the third engine began to smoke and had to be cut out. At this time, 11 test flights had been made totaling 12 hours flight time.

March 23, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld After the faulty engine was changed, the critical altitude tests were made. Several other test flights were made this day, mainly to check the longitudinal stability. Also, the first measures to improve the rudder effect was made.

March 23, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld During landing, the left oleo leg broke, which was probably not fully locked down, causing some damage.

March 23 -

May 21, 1943 Lechfeld During repairs, a new steering column, a reinforced wing skin, a modified nosewheel drive and a complete radio were added. Also, a new emergency tail skid was added, a changed tailplane and four new Jumo 211J engines were installed.

May 22 -

June 5, 1943 Karl Baur Lechfeld Continued high forces against the ailerons and rudder surfaces were found. Six flights were made totaling 12 hour 16 minutes.

June 2, 1943 Flight Capt. Wendel Lechfeld Serious problems arose when the nosewheel jammed during retraction.

June 10, 1943 FBM Böttcher Lechfeld Reported that the cockpit excessively heated up in the summer sun.

August 11, 1943 Lechfeld The Me 264 V1 was taken out of service, and re-equipped with BMW 801 twin row radial engines.

March 18, 1944 Lechfeld The Me 264 V1 was slightly damaged in an air raid, and was quickly repaired.

April 14, 1944 Lechfeld During the first test roll with the new engines, the brake shoes tore off.

April 16, 1944 Lechfeld The Me 264 V1 was transferred to Memmingen.

April, 1944 Memmingen During the 38th test flight, the emergency skid was torn out after a rough landing. When the rudders were fitted with balances, the excessive vibrations almost ceased.

late April, 1944 FBM Scheibe Lechfeld Scheibe, from the Rechlin Trial Establishment, complained about the canopy reflections during his test flight. He also indicated that the excessive airframe vibrations were the number one problem to fix.

late April, 1944 Colonel Barsewich Memmingen Barsewich, from the Chief Reconnaissance Department, judged the Me 264 V1 too slow for combat missions, even though the aircraft was about 10% faster than with the Jumo 211J engines.

early May, 1944 Lt. Colonel Knemeyer Memmingen After an uneventful flight, Knemeyer was completely enthusiastic about the Me 264, in his opinion all problems could be overcome in the further testing and refinement of the aircraft.

April 17 -

May 17, 1944 Karl Baur Memmingen Flight testing was performed for tailplane flutter and the emergency tail skid. The rear of the plane was found to be too heavy.

April 26 -

May 3, 1944 Captain Nebel Memmingen Three test flights were made by Capt. Nebel of the Rechlin Test Establishment to finally redress the tail vibrations. To avoid building an entire new tail, balance weights were added to get the vibration problems under control. Since the problem was not solved, a larger tail plane seemed inevitable.

June 5, 1944 Karl Baur Memmingen More stability tests were made, with a small improvement. However, the flights were complicated by the continuous problems with the Patin system.

June 6, 1944 Karl Baur Memmingen Extreme rudder fluttering was found in the 380 - 450 km/h (236 - 280 mph) range. Also criticized were the too soft automatic controls, which had to be adjusted again.

June 26, 1944 Karl Patin Memmingen A climb flight with combat performances was prematurely cut short when the fuel pressure of both inner engines fell to zero. After checking the fuel pumps, several defects were found. Also, the failure of the Patin, radio and electrical systems caused intensive repairs.