[Marc-André Haldimann]

Servus Matthias und Roland!

Thanks again for both your inputs. Any chance for you to pay a visit to the Cham municipal administration in the near future? Sure it would be great to see all this primary documentation. One wonders how many more Bf 109 K-4 pics did survive May 1945... 50 of them found there in 1945? Good to know. I surmize they all had their engines...

Roland, coming back to this engine issue, I don't doubt the Flossenbürg machines had theirs: the pics published by Poruba and Mol 2000 that you so kindly uploaded are self-explaining. But how is it then possible to explain what US photos do show: factory-fresh engineless Bf 109 K-4's fuselages both with Bodenwöhr and Flossenbürg camouflage patterns? Are there any clues to support your theory and observations (engine fitted fuselages as documented in Flossebürg and then dismantled at Wertheim, post #44) against mine (out-of DB 605/AS or D Waldwerke sending their finished fuselages to other workshops still supplied by Daimler-Benz?, post #40)?

Here again my two cents based upon the available pictures analysis:

A. Wertheim (Noro 2009, p. 101, *136, #post 11; Poruba and Mol 2000, p. 40, added here): Both pictures documenting the state of assembly ahead of the firewall bulkhead reveal the same situation: a substantial amount of wiring and boxes are affixed on the bulkhead's lower portion + lower engine bearers only are bolted to the firewall; the upper engine bearers are missing. This fits perfectly with the picture showing the 6+ DB 605/AS or D on their trolleys published by Carl Hildebrandt (Hildebrandt 1988, p.9, post #23): the foremost engine does show the left upper engine bearer bolted on it.

B. Unknown location (Noro 2009, p. 103, #138, post 11; post #27 by Carl): the photo posted by Carl does show the same prefitting situation. A substantial amount of wires and boxes are already fixed on the lower firewall bulkhead, as are only the lower engine bearers. Unfortunately, no DB 605 D on trolleys to confort the Wertheim clue.

What can we deduce? In both locations, the Bf 109 K-4 airframes do show the same level of fitting out: wires and boxes are already substantially fixed on the bulkhead's lower part; lower engine bearers only fixed. Evidence so far is thin, but on this basis, there is no indication that those airframes had their engines fitted at Bodenwöhr and then removed at Wertheim prior their dispersal in the woods. In the contrary, the fact that both the engines on trolleys and the wing sets were all located either next to or at the entrance of the Schlossberg tunnel does speak for sub-assemblies arriving there by railroad, being offloaded and readied in the tunnel workshop before being transported to the uphill forrested areas for mating on the waiting fuselages. Let's also remember the latter were dispersed in the woods surrounding Wertheim's airfield where the fly-ins and handing over tasks were carried out.

The depicted airframes complete with tailplanes and engines with their cowlings piled up at Flossenbürg inn May 1945 are one reality. That not all Flossenbürg Waldwerke could work along the same line is documented by Hideki Noro's #pic 138 and Carls post #27. The probability is thus high that, during the last two - three monthes, engine supply issues forced some Waldwerke to send their engineless fuselages to still engine supplied assembly shops like Wertheim.

Facit: a variety of makeshift production/assembly situations can be expected to have arisen in the crumbling Third Reich during the last final monthes or weeks as compared to the production plans implemented between October and December 1944...

Cheers
Marc

PS:
- I do hope to see on day pictures of airframes found at Bodenwöhr (so far, no currently available photos of stockpiled, already motorized fuselages, waiting for final assembly there...).
- No matter how hard I tried to swap keywords for a Google search, I did not find ANY information about Daimler-Benz aero production plants, especially for the DB 605/AS or D. Beyond description and power output, I drew a complete blank. Any ideas where to find the required documentation?