Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Hi Guys,

I was just perusing some Wartime German/Luftwaffe footage on You tube and it shows early wartime Bf109E's taxing and taking off. I happened to notice one bf109E's Werk Nummer is clearly visible on the tail fin as it taxiing by the camera. It shows in what looks like white numbers 966.
I looked in the book the Battle of Britain Then and Now by Winston Ramsey and on page 681 and it states;

9th October 1940
Bf109E4 (0966) Rubber Dinghy accidentally inflated in cockpit during Free-lance sortie over Kent. Lost control and crash landed near Vensons Farm, Eastry at 7:45 am. Lt Escherhaus captured unhurt. Aircraft 10+ a write-off.

Please look at the footage and see if you spot it.

Here is the You tube link;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY87PnIj2i0

I just thought I would share it with you.

Kind Regards

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Very early wartime footage and although I am no expert, the footage appears to show an E-1? Likelihood of this plane still being around in October 1940 would be slim? However, I stand to be corrected

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Briefly you get a glimpse of the MG-FF drum bulge under the wing, but no cannon installed whilst filming. So Erla E-3, WNr.966 upgraded with E-4 cannons sometime prior to loss in October 1940. :)

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Missed the bulges-just saw no cannon & an early canopy

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

That's what I thought, they sneakily removed the cannons and thought no one would notice until 70+ years later... :)

BTW this footage is available in DVD quality in several German language documentary DVDs. A shame there is not more of it. I think the original can be obtained from the Polar Films Archives or Spiegel Archive from memory.

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Yes it certainly looks like the cannons have been removed. You can definitely see the FF drum bulges.
Would anyone happen to have contact information how to obtain a copy of this film?

Yes definitely a pity there wasn't more of it.

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

It's possible these guys have it: Spiegel TV Archive

I'm pretty sure these guys made one or two of the documentaries that features this footage. On one of the DVDs there is a small section that explains the editing of the old colour films.

Let me know if they have it?

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Those seem to be Bf 109s based at Breslau-Schöngarten. Remember WNr 4034.

Regards

RolandF

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Yes, the officer is Hannes Trautloft. I./JG 77

Re: Bf109E Early film footage of eventual Battle of Britain Loss.
 

Interesting to see the low contrast between 70/71 and the use of Savoia Marchettis SM.82 as transportplane for Falschrimmjägers so early in the war.