A factory fresh Me 109G-G14AS

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Here is another link which takes us to a veteran's pictures page

http://www.pbase.com/rhssr/after_dday

Among the planes shown, there is, if I'm not mistaken, this factory fresh Me 109G-14/AS found at Grafenwohr in 1945;

http://www.pbase.com/rhssr/image/1671876

Any idea of the units which used this airfield in the closing days of the war?

Thanks

Marc

[Kuba Plewka]

Marc, this is an Erla-built G-10, not a G-14/AS.
It's cowling, no chin bulges and a square panel under the windscreen are to be seen.
It's camouflage (dark green 83 or 81 for example) with smaller fuselage crosses identifies it's origin too.

There are some of those well documented in Japo book (a JG 52's 109 in Deutsch Brod).

cheers!
Kuba

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Kuba,

Thanks for correcting me! You're right, the Erla flat panel is obvious; I was at a loss for the lower cowling bulges; the radiator does not look very deep also... All told, an excellent picture. Too bad there is no W.Nr. to be made out. I have the JaPo book over the Deutsch Brod 109's, I'll check back.

Cheers

Marc

[S Sheflin]

Greetings all,

In late 1984, I published a color photo of a very darkly camouflaged Bf 109 G (AIRFOIL #1, page 21 top). Even though my photo was taken at Frankfurt Rhein-Main on 30 April, 1945, and Searl says Grafenwohr, April, 1945, I believe they are one in the same. Everything in the background of Mr. Searl’s photo matches my AIRFOIL color photo: the same berm, trees, and concrete bunker are in both photos, and both plane’s main wheels are resting near what looks like a small drainage ditch. Also, both aircraft have the “Erla-style” refined cowling and wider oil cooler, large upper wing bumps and short tail wheel leg; the same light patch above their raised oil filler hatch; and their Morane antenna is curved the same. While the Bf 109 in AIRFOIL has its spinner in 2/3 black and 1/3 white, apparently some time between the two photos being taken someone has turned its prop and opened its Erla-Haube canopy. Its camouflage is still somewhat of a mystery, however. In my color shot its looks very, very dark indeed (in fact, I thought it was black?). However, in Searl’s photo I think I can see some camouflage demarcation lines behind the cockpit and the fuselage Balkenkreuz. Finally, perhaps it is just wishful thinking, but on Searl’s photo I think I just make out a low-contrast blur on its fin and rudder where a Werknummer would normally be on an Erla-built G-10.

Steve Sheflin

[Mermet]

Originally Posted by S Sheflin

Greetings all,

Its camouflage is still somewhat of a mystery, however. In my color shot its looks very, very dark indeed (in fact, I thought it was black?).
Steve Sheflin

Hello all,

I know this color photograph. I think the black rendering of the camouflage (probably in 81/83 and 82 colors) is mainly due to the underexposure of the shot taken slightly against the sun...

Cheers,
Jicehem

[RolandF]

Hi all,

I´m glad my info was helpful for you. As far as I know there weren´t any G-10s assembled at Vilseck factory. And there wasn´t any official repair workshop according to my sources.

Concerning the lack of any Stammkennzeichen I´ve got some evidence that those signs were applied after being successfully test-flown at Amberg-Schafhof. Some photos exist from belly-landed test a/c at Schafhof with the common-known hand-painted final digits of the Werk-Nr. Due to poor quality of those 109s this happened rather often. The skill of the workers and subcontractors was rather low let alone the attepts of sabotage by the KZ workers. So I do think work was restricted simply to the montage of prefabricated wings and fuselages - afaik additional production was carried out at Floss-Plankenhammer some 5 km distant from KZ Flossenbürg - so that repair of damaged planes was beyond of the skills of those workers.

After March 1944 Messerschmitt Regensburg spread its production all over the so-called Upper Palatinate ("Oberpfalz) in Northern Bavaria to escape the then extensive bombing. The patchwork look of many late-war 109s can be explained by this production methods.

The Stammkennzeichen was applied just before handing over the 109s to the Luftwaffe, there´s a photo of a snow-covered K-4 W.Nr. 332 707 at Schafhof ready for delivery. At Falcon´s an "N" of the last letter is visible. Schafhof airfield together with numerous planes was totally destroyed on April 18, 1945.

I´ve found a webpage about the "Einflug-Flugplatz Amberg-Schafhof" with more additional info about Stammkennzeichen, Werknummern and flight accidents - unfortunately only in German. For those who can read it:

http://www.flugplatz-amberg-schafhof...ugbetrieb.html

If you need some translation feel free to ask

Concerning the fences I´m quite sure they still exist. They used good quality and aluminum does not rust ;-)

Thanks

Roland

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Originally Posted by RolandF

Hi all,

I´m glad my info was helpful for you. As far as I know there weren´t any G-10s assembled at Vilseck factory. And there wasn´t any official repair workshop according to my sources.

Concerning the lack of any Stammkennzeichen I´ve got some evidence that those signs were applied after being successfully test-flown at Amberg-Schafhof. Some photos exist from belly-landed test a/c at Schafhof with the common-known hand-painted final digits of the Werk-Nr. Due to poor quality of those 109s this happened rather often. The skill of the workers and subcontractors was rather low let alone the attepts of sabotage by the KZ workers. So I do think work was restricted simply to the montage of prefabricated wings and fuselages - afaik additional production was carried out at Floss-Plankenhammer some 5 km distant from KZ Flossenbürg - so that repair of damaged planes was beyond of the skills of those workers.

After March 1944 Messerschmitt Regensburg spread its production all over the so-called Upper Palatinate ("Oberpfalz) in Northern Bavaria to escape the then extensive bombing. The patchwork look of many late-war 109s can be explained by this production methods.

The Stammkennzeichen was applied just before handing over the 109s to the Luftwaffe, there´s a photo of a snow-covered K-4 W.Nr. 332 707 at Schafhof ready for delivery. At Falcon´s an "N" of the last letter is visible. Schafhof airfield together with numerous planes was totally destroyed on April 18, 1945.

I´ve found a webpage about the "Einflug-Flugplatz Amberg-Schafhof" with more additional info about Stammkennzeichen, Werknummern and flight accidents - unfortunately only in German. For those who can read it:

http://www.flugplatz-amberg-schafhof...ugbetrieb.html

If you need some translation feel free to ask

Concerning the fences I´m quite sure they still exist. They used good quality and aluminum does not rust ;-)

Thanks

Roland

Dear Roland,

Thanks for the link, thanks for your further precise details and arguments. It seems thus we should not expect brand new 109G-10's on this airfield. So we have again the possibility of having a G-14, as a K-4 can be positively ruled out. As for the G-10 possibility, especially the extended wing bulges, well, let's hope the colour picture will shed some more light...

Again, thanks for your very argumented input, and for making me dream about 109 wing ribs as fences... Any plan to publish your documentation one day? That would make for a fascinating insight in the late war industry realities....

Cheers

Marc

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your comment; any chance to see this picture in colour? I understand your impression to have an all black Me 109G-6/AS, like the colour photograph of Green 5 of 2./EJG 2 photographed on 14 april 1945 in Gardelegen, from the Jeff Ethell collection, recently published in the Luftwaffe in Focus Special 2, p. 26 - 27.
Actually, like you, Kuba pointed on a two tone 81/82 or 83 camouflage extended on most of the fuselage. A good example of his type of camo can be seen with Yellow 11 from JG 52 (?), found at the end of the war in Deutsch Brod (Jada and Poruba 2004, 46 - 49). Is your shot better concerning the possibility of reading the W. Nr.?

Thanks for the input

Marc

Sources:
- Axel Urbanke 2006, Almost a miracle: "Green 5" of 2./EJG 2 in colour, Luftwaffe im Focus, spezial 2, p. 26-27.

- Ales Janda and Thomas Poruba 2004, Messerschmitt Bf 109s of JG 52, in Deutsch Brod, JaPo, p. 46 - 49.

[Kuba Plewka]

No no, I'm afraid that due to my not so good english you have understood me wrong Marc. I meant, that G-10 (G-10/R6?) looks like it's uppersurfaces were painted solid dark colour, maybe 81, maybe 83 green.
What is interesting, what Mr. Sheflin wrote - a light patch near the oil filler neck - there are stencils painted on a light patches all over the airframe, as if they painted them on light colour, then masked and applied that dark paint next.
This photo is so small and blurry, that I can only guess, that it's Werknummer is painted on the rudder on the middle height.

cheers
Kuba

[Cpt_Farrel]

What makes it even stranger, the stencils being painted on light color is that these aircraft seem to have been painted without any RLM 76. Notice that the dark color, whatever it is, goes around the entire fuselage, even the underside, and I also think looking at other similarly camoflaged G-10's, it would have had the underside of the wings in natural metal. This would be the most extreme form of camoflage simplification at the end of the war, but it makes it strange indeed that the stencils seems to be painted on light surface. - unless they were painted on the bare metal...

Cheers! / Anders