Revell 1/72 Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a (04166)

The Messerschmitt Me 262 was the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, entering Luftwaffe service in the summer of 1944 — too late and in too few numbers to change the course of the war, but pointing unmistakably at the direction all military aviation would take in the decade that followed. The A-1a was the Schwalbe (Swallow) fighter variant, armed with four 30mm MK 108 cannon in the nose, capable of making a single high-speed pass through a B-17 formation and devastating any aircraft it hit. Hitler’s insistence on deploying it initially as a fast bomber squandered critical months — by the time the Me 262 was flying regularly as a fighter, Allied bombing of fuel supplies and airfields had crippled its operational effectiveness. Revell’s 1/72 kit covers this landmark aircraft in a scale that suits its elegant, elongated proportions well.

The aircraft that changed everything — Me 262 Schwalbe in 1/72 scale.

This kit box has been opened and the sprue bag has been opened. The kit is complete and unstarted. Instructions and decals are present.