A bit more info about the history of the Me 163 at Cosford
AM207 Messerschmitt Me 163B WNr 191614
Aircraft of JG 400. Surrendered at Husum and shipped to the RAE. Despatched from Farnborough to No. 6 MU, Brize Norton, on 21st July 1945. No further record. This may conceivably, be the aircraft (reputedly; WNr1916-14') which was for many, years at the Rocket Propulsion Establishment at Westcott and which in 1980 was transferred to the Aerospace Museum at RAF Cosford and is currently there as '191614' (8481 M).
The RAF Cosford Komet was at RAF Cottesmore in the late 60's for a Battle of Britain open day. A Flight Lieutenant who was overseeing the preparations decided it would look much better if it were to be repainted. The painters and dopers discussed colours and told him that they had no paint that matched the original colours. They were told to 'knock something up' and paint it quickly as time was getting short. Some time later the Flt/Lt came running over shouting "Stop painting that aircraft!" Cosford has said it must not be painted or have the appearance changed in any way. By this time the painter had painted half the airframe and was asked to clean it off, which he could not do. So it was decided to finish the spraying. After the respray it had unfortunately lost a lot of impact from the original German colours.
Also I have found this out about its condition in 2000, I do not think it has changed since then.
The airframe is largely complete, although upper wing root panels on both sides are missing, and have been replaced by hardboard dummies. It is also likely that both underside panels are not original. Wing root panel edges on the upper and lower surfaces are held with wide bands of doped fabric, extending from the nose along to the tail, and across the forward and rear edges of the panels. The airframe has an engine fitted - this was not available for inspection. No cannon are installed. Two Mk.108 cannon are displayed on a stand alongside the airframe, and although it cannot yet be accurately ascertained if they were originally from the Komet, they do have painted reference codes which indicate they belong with the Komet.
The paintwork is of poor quality and in several places has cracked and worn very thin. The starboard upper wing surface clearly shows the grain of the wing construction through the thin paint. There are a number of patches where the paint is worn down to the bare wood. The colour scheme is abstract and does not appear to follow any standard scheme for the type. One assumes the painting was done by personnel who did no research, painting in "generic" Luftwaffe colours - dark green with sprayed patches of black-green on the upper fuselage and wings. The under surface more closely matches RAF duck egg green/blue. The repaint has been done over the doped fabric.
