50 Dollars Me 262A 1a Schwalbe

The Marshall Islands issued commemorative silver dollars throughout the 1990s in large series honoring WWII aircraft, and the Me 262 entry is among the more historically loaded subjects in that run. The Me 262A-1a entered Luftwaffe service in mid-1944 — the first turbojet aircraft to achieve operational combat status anywhere in the world — but Hitler's insistence on deploying it primarily as a bomber rather than an interceptor famously delayed its effectiveness and remains one of the more debated command decisions of the air war.

Production was further hampered by Allied bombing of manufacturing facilities and chronic shortages of the specialized alloys required for the Jumo 004 engines. Fewer than 300 aircraft ever flew in combat.