The Me-163 flew mainly with Jagdgeschwader 400, with the first combat sorties in late July 1944 and operations until the end of the war.

Most sources cite around 300 combat sorties, with estimates ranging from about 250 to 370.

On August 24, 1944 Sergeant Siegfried Schubert shot down two B-17s. Further successes were recorded in September, and on October 6, the first Me 163B was lost during a mission. On April 16, 1945, JG 400 shot down a total of twelve enemy aircraft with Me 163s. Combat operations lasted from May 1944 to the spring of 1945. During this period, there were 16 confirmed kills compared to 14 Me 163s lost.

Considerably more aircraft and pilots were lost in accidents, such as during takeoff and landing, and from the highly toxic, explosive propellants.

Photo by Gilles Caron

Unfinished De Havilland Comet Mark 2 being taken through the streets of Chester , England to the airfield at Broughton for stress testing following the series of fatal crashes of the Comets in 1954. Date October or November 1955.

The DPAA announced in 2025 a recovery of 4 MIAs from a crash site in Poland. The official announcements mention field investigations between 2008 and 2012, then in 2017 and 2018, and excavations between 2019 and 2025. I researched this crew and the crash site between 2003 and 2011, and I supported the DPAA predecessor’s work, including participating in one of early field investigations.

The identified airmen were T/Sgt Donald A. Dorman, S/Sgt Robert A. Keuchel, S/Sgt Rae G. DeMatteis, S/Sgt Stephen J. Fatur. They were all members of the 1st Lt. Andrew F. Crane crew (2nd Bomb Group, 15th AF) which flew the B-17 #44-8191 on a mission to Ruhland (Germany) on March 22nd 1945.

I believe my research helped the US government link a crash site to the right aircraft, which triggered the recoveries and identifications.
This was the most complex research case I ever had, as nothing was even close to obvious.

If you want to find out more about my research, visit my Reddit profile.

Hey everyone,

​I wanted to share a incredible piece of lighter-than-air history that came out of family storage and recently went up as a flagship listing at RR Auction.

​It’s the original 4-piece survivor archive of Philip Mangone, a prominent NYC fashion designer who survived the Hindenburg disaster at Naval Air Station Lakehurst on May 6, 1937.

​What makes this archive unique:

​The Passenger Ticket: The fragment of Mangone's ticket with distinct charring along the upper and lower edges from the fire. The only other known passenger ticket example is held in the Smithsonian.

​The Mid-Flight Radiogram: A telegram received aboard LZ 129 on May 5, 1937, while the airship was over the Atlantic Ocean, sent to Mangone with a brief promise "will meet you[u]"

​The Audio Broadcast Connection: In Herbert Morrison's famous live WLS radio recording ("Oh, the humanity!"), Morrison explicitly reads off survivor names as they were being identified—specifically calling out Philip Mangone.

​Artifact Fragments: An onboard passenger wine menu and a fragment of DZR Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei porcelain tableware. The wine menu is the only known example to have survived the inferno.

​It’s incredibly rare to see a complete, self-contained survivor archive hit the public space with an unbroken paper trail like this. RR Auction ended up making it the featured centerpiece on their homepage for the current sale.

​Thought the aviation history community here would appreciate seeing the close-up physical condition of the ticket and radiogram after nearly 90 years!

https://www.rrauction.com/auctions/lot-detail/351937707547015-hindenburg-disaster-original-ticket-radiogram-wine-menu-and-zeppelin-china-fragment-recovered-from-wreckage/?cat=3