pranged 109 in SA meuseum - history?

[Guest]

Anyone maybe have some history on this 109E in the SA war meuseum?

It looks like it has the same "S in shield" like on Muncheberg's ride.

Was it JG 26 maybe?[ATTACH]87613.IPB[/ATTACH]


Theuns

[stona]

,The aircraft you now have in South Africa is a Bf 109 E-3, W.Nr. 1289. It was flown by Uffz. Heinz Wolf and did indeed belong to 2./JG 26. Wolf made a forced landing in the back garden of Stocks Cottage in Udimore, Sussex, following an engine failure. He was unhurt.

You will notice that the aircraft, as displayed in South Africa, doesn't have a tail. This is because it was removed in England before the aircraft was shipped to SA and attached to another Bf 109, an E-1 W.Nr. 6313, which was shipped to the US.

6313 was missing its tail plane assembly because it had been removed and fitted to yet another Bf 109, W.Nr.4101, which was flown as DG200 of the RAF's Enemy Aircraft Flight.

It was a case of 'all change' for the tails of these three aircraft They were all acquired by the British between 28th and 30th November 1940.

The honorary title 'Schlageter', represented by the gothic S in the shield, was given to a predecessor of JG 26, JG 132, on December 11th 1938. It was in memory of Albert Leo Schlageter who had blown up rail cars in protest at reparation payments imposed on Germany by the victorious WW1 allies. For this he was executed by a French firing squad on 26th May 1923.

Cheers

Steve

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

This looks a lot like the one I saw when I visited Duxford last year, I know there are most likely loads of examples around but couldn't help noticing the similarities.

Adrian

[stona]

The Duxford example is also from JG 26 (4./JG 26) and is an E-4, W.Nr. 1190. It made a forced landing in a field at East Dean (near Eastbourne) on 30th September 1940. The pilot, Uffz. Horst Perez, was unhurt in the landing but was shot and wounded in the hand and jaw by an over enthusiastic member of the Home Guard before surrendering to a P.C. Hyde.

The aircraft was sent to the USA in 1941 and toured various cities in support of the 'Bundles for Britain' campaign. Somehow it ended up in a scrap yard in Ottawa, Canada, from where it was saved in 1962, eventually finding its way to the IWM.

Cheers

Steve

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I knew if I posted that you'd help me out You really are a font of all knowledge Steve

Adrian

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

Just looked through my pictures and found it,, its amazing how much alike they look !

[ATTACH]87622.IPB[/ATTACH]


Adrian

[stona]

Same type, same unit, same time period ( downed September 30th and November 28th 1940).

I'd be surprised if they looked very different

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

That is cool info Steve. I see the one we have here has the spinner for the cannon, the model I made of Muncheberg's plane does not have his spinner.

Does the paint on the one here look correct to you? I know it is hard to judge from such a small pic.

We have a meeting at the meuseum Saturday and it will be interesting to compare my model's colors and mottle to the real one :-)

Theuns

[stona]

As far as the spinner goes, the central cannon wasn't fitted to the E series.

The original armament of the Bf 109 was just two MG 17s above the engine (cowl guns). They tried to increase this to three MG 17s, one firing through the spinner, but the centreline MG kept jamming and was removed on most B series aircraft. Messerschmitt designed the 'gun wing' to take two MG 17s or two MG FF cannon almost as an afterthought. Subsequent production (C (? haven't checked),D and E) all had this wing and some form of wing armament. They tried to get a 20mm cannon firing through the spinner on the E, but never got it to work properly. The open, uncapped spinner was retained and is seen on many Es.

The centreline cannon was finally made to work and fitted to the F series.

The museum aircraft has obviously been repainted but from what I can see it looks like a decent effort.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Cheers mate :-)

Theuns