I am referring specifically to planes that saw combat in WWII, but none exist anymore, not even non-flying examples in a museum.
One is the Douglas Devastator torpedo bomber. After more than half of all of those in existence were shot down at Midway, they were taken out of combat and the rest were scrapped in 1944. Wiki notes 4 “survivors”, all of these are underwater after ditching – AFAIK none have been recovered for restoration. In my mind they don’t count, nor would wreckage out in a jungle somewhere.
I’m sure there are plenty of others but I don’t know which they are. Wiki also says there is one Fairey Barracuda (another torpedo bomber) currently being rebuilt out of two wrecks, so if that’s correct it’s another example that will soon be rectified.
I think all of the B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning) were either destroyed in the Operation Chastise, or refitted to different configurations. Don’t know if you’d count something like that.
Most Messerschmitt 323’s (the giant transport with the clamshell nose) were shot down over the Mediterranean, and none survive, except that a wreck of one was recently found off Sardinia.
The Blohm und Voss BV222 *Wiking *seaplane is also extinct, again with the wreckage of one known to exist on the sea bottom.
A handful of DC-2’s got drafted into the US military, but none are left, of any pedigree. The sole DC-1 didn’t last even that long.
Same for the Martin M-130 flying boats, including the famous China Clipper. The three that were still flying at the start of the war, after the disappearance of Hawaii Clipper, all crashed and were scrapped while in USN service. A few Boeing 314’s survived the war, but not long after.
Re: The Komet: the fuels were so dangerous that they fuel and oxidizer came in separate trucks, that never were together during fueling. A fair number did explode upon landing.
Things which were novel attracted the attention of Allied scientists and ensured that (mostly) the type was passed to the Smithsonian (or someone) once its value was exhausted. Types which had been made earlier in the war, of which a great deal was already known, were of less interest. Dornier 17/217s, Hampdens or Whitleys, Fairey Battles, Blenheims (though some have been reconstructed out of Canadian Bolingbrokes in recent years) the list is endless. As late as 1949 a number of unique types were scrapped for want of storage space when the Air Historical Branch was instructed to severely prune its holdings for financial reasons.
