Us Official Photographs

Me 163 at German Airfield

German ME 163 rocket plane, shown in hangar at German airfield in Poltzen, Germany, near Leipzig, which was overrun and captured by combat Command A, 9th Armored Division, 1st U.S. Army. Camouflaged planes were found in woods around airfield, but most of them had been blown up or burned by retreating Germans. Other planes had been destroyed on the field and the runways had been blown up. Hundreds of planes were absolutely destroyed by Germans before they abandoned airfield. The airfield had also been badly damaged by American planes before its capture.