Bf 109G-4: spoked or stamped main wheels?

[Dénes Bernád]

Quote from 'Bf 109 In Action', Part 2, by John Beaman (p. 23):

"The oversized tires brought a degress of improved landing and ground handling (...). The new stamped wheels that were introduced on the G-3 , were considerably cheaper to produce than the spoked wheels(...)"

However, many photos show G-4s with the spoked main wheels.

So did the 'regular' G-4s have the old spoked wheels, or the new stamped (full) wheels?

Dénes

[Rabe Anton]

Hey Dénes!

For the Bf 109G-4, I believe that stamped metal wheels were standard, requiring small upper wing bulges. Don't have the book at hand, but Prien/Rodeike, Messerschmitt Bf 109F, G, and K will have the best information. My question is, Are you sure the airplane(s) you are looking at are really G-4s? The similarity to G-2s is very great.

Best,

RA

[George Hopp]

What John Beaman said about the G-3 is not incompatible with your finding spoked wheels on the G-4, since, as I recall, the G-4 was produced earlier than the G-3.

[Dénes Bernád]

Originally Posted by Rabe Anton

Are you sure the airplane(s) you are looking at are really G-4s? The similarity to G-2s is very great.

My concern regarding this topic were some Rumanian 'Gustav Vier' I have photos of. I identified the G-4s based on their Werknummern.

[Stefan Vetteriek]

Hello, Dénes,

quoted from

PRIEN, J., RODEIKE, P. (1993): Messerschmitt Bf 109 F,G & K Series. Shiffer Publishing. Atglen.

p. 84:

"Due to the steadily indreasing weight of the Bf 109, in late summer 1942 it was decided (...) to install 660 x 160 mainwheels on the G-4 instead of the previously used 650 X 150 size. It is obvious that the first G-4s received the smaller mainwheels of the G-2, while conversely the last G-2s were delivered from the factory with the larger tires of the G-4. The larger tires continued to be mounted on spoked rims on the G-4 and even rare examples of the later G-6 were to be seen with these."

HTH

Stefan