Me109 E-2

[Japanese researcher]

Hello all.
Me109 E-2 is little known.
I have found in some site it is E-1 rearmed type
that had one MGFF and four MG17s.
Is it correct?
And if so why it did not entered into production.

Cheers.

[Boandlgramer]

according to "Typenhandbuch der deutschen Luftfahrttechnik" the E2 had 2 x MG 17 and 3 X MG FF

[Japanese researcher]

Thank you very much for reply. I have misunderstood.
And did anyone know why MGFF motor canon was removed in afterward E types? Was it MGFF large size problem or vibration so on?
And how many prototypes were produced?
More detail information is very much appreciated.

Cheers

[John Beaman]

The E-2 was not put into production because of problems with using the MG FF in the through the engine position. The problems were with recoil, feed and magazine problems. Also, it was rather slow firing compared to the MG 151 which was on the verge of large scale production.

Unfortunately, many people still think there were Es with nose cannons, likely due to RAF intelligence reports of the time regarding the tests, and, perhaps, even disinformation by the Germans.

[olefebvre]

John, AFAIK the engine mounted MG-17 proved troublesome in the 109B for various reasons mostly related to poor cooling. In the later variants the space behind the engine was used for the Oil tank and installation of such a large weapon as the MG-FF would have required a move of the oil tank back in the wing as it was in the Berta. Nonetheless the DB engineers could not guarantee that the DB601A could work properly in such conditions probably because the longer oil circuit and oil tank position would have required more powerfull oil pumps. This lead to the the project being abandonned.
The introduction of the MG-FFM as an engine mounted weapon was put on hold, it was not until the advent of the 109F that this weapon was re-introduced thanks to a rethought Oil system permitting the use of an engien mounted weapon be it an MG-FFM or an MG-151.