The Messerschmitt Me 262 (suggestive name: Schwalbe or Sturmvogel), a development by Messerschmitt AG, Augsburg, was the first jet aircraft built in series. Between 1943 and 1945, 1,433 examples of the twin-engine aircraft were built, of which around 800 were delivered to the Wehrmacht Air Force during the Second World War. The aircraft, like the Me 163 and the Heinkel He 280, was developed with medium to low priority from the beginning of 1939.

Despite intensive efforts, the Allies did not manage to capture an airworthy aircraft before March 30, 1945. On that day, the Messerschmitt factory pilot Hans Fay landed at Frankfurt Airport, which was occupied by the Americans, with the idea that he could do something to shorten the war by defecting. He brought with him an unpainted, brand-new A-1 machine, which was subsequently subjected to intensive testing and was ultimately destroyed during one of the tests in 1946.

Another plane, that of Senior Ensign Hans Guido Mutke from Jagdgeschwader 7, had to make an emergency landing at Dübendorf airfield in Switzerland on April 25, 1945 due to a lack of fuel. It was extensively examined in Switzerland, but not flown. The machine is now on display in the German Museum in Munich.

There's also one at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.