In my much younger days I knew the Merrerschmidt test pilot, Karl Bauer. I
was very young then but I do remember hearing him give a series of lectures
at this aviation historical group my dad belong to, about his flying
experiences during WWII. Each week a different person gave his experiences
during aviations greatest and worst moments.

Karl told us that one of his friends was killed by the Komet when it crashed
on landing. The plane flipped over and the fuel cell broken open. By the
time the ground crew/medics arrive the pilot had the back of his head
dissolved by the fuel. Dad and I talked about this years later and it seems
Karl refused to fly the Komet. Probably the only Me design he didn't fly.

Point of interest, Dad told me that the Gigant flying transport originally
was a glider. But after a very nasty crash in which over 100+ paras were
killed and four aircraft crashed it was converted to engines. Probably was
that the pilot didn't have a direct linkage to the engine. It seems in the
wings were the flight engineers and the pilot spoke into speaking tubes
giving orders about power settings. This was almost as dangerous as the
glider idea and Karl complained bitterly. Finally the pilot had some direct
power control on the engines.

Really interesting man, saddly he died when a nurse screwed up a put an air
bubble into his vein. The bubble hit his heart and that was it. I remember
dad crying when he heard the news. Karl was very respected by the
historical community.