Bodenwöhr Waldwerk - Mtt Bf 109 K-4 assembly lines 1944 - 1945

[masmar]

Hi Marc,
see the following display detail. I enlarged this section and increased the contrast a bit. I think there are two lighter, wavy stripes visible, running left and right of the Balkenkreuz. While the Balkenkreuz itself is grounded with a darker colour (RLM81).

[masmar]

Today I recieved the book "Beiträge zur Geschichte im Landkreis Cham" Band 23 ("contribution on the history of the district of Cham" edition 23 ), where on pages 203-212 a short essay on the Cham-Michelsdorf airfield can be found, including for pictures taken by the U.S army. The pointer was given to me by the author himself who has published dozens of articles on the history of this town in east bavaria.
I opend up the book today and I was overjoyed. I saw more than I hoped to see.
But have a look on your own:
The first pics are two overview pictures of the airfield including the Messerschmitt production site, were the wings were attached to the fuselages delivered from Waldwerk Bodenwöhr.
The third showing a virgin K4- in front of a G-14 and a FW190, destroyed by the U.S. troops (see the Bodenwöhr-painting-style on the K-4,:-) )
The fourth picture is showing another 109, a FW190 A?-8 and a D-9 behind them.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hallo Masmar,

I couldn't identify for 100% the snake pattern on those fuselages, but fully concur for the unpainted undersides.

Looking forward with eagerness to discover those three pictures form the Cham-Michelsdorf book!

Thanks for your link; I cannot add anything to the Bf 109 G's; as for the FW 190 D-9, it just has been published by Jerry Crandall in his excellent volume II of the "Focke-Wulf FW 190 Dora" publication, p. 152. This machine is a D-9, W.Nr 211904, found in Würzburg.

Cheers
Marc

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hallo Matthias!

Thanks for sharing thse outstanding pics! The overview ones are excellent! Every step of the final assembly and test flying process is full and obvious, what a marvel!

As for the burnt out Bf 109 K-4, yes the snake pattern is great! As for the W.Nr., I tend to read 335141.

Great also to see a Fw 190D-9 with a Stkz, ?S+DH. Note that it has the old style canopy. Any chance to have a higher-res picture in order ot see its W.Nr?
The Fw 190 "White or Yellow 2" does seem to be an elderly A-4 type machine, with the rear part of the stylized black eagle motive showing behind the exhaust stacks.

As for the burnt out Bf 109 G "Brown 6", it is for me impossible to precise the subtype from what is visible G-6, G-10 or G-14... Anybody has better clues?

Thanks again for sharing those great pictures, Matthias! They make me wonder how many more are yet to be discovered among the ones taken by the US Signal Corps; alas, they are not yet on Footnote.com....

Cheers
Marc

[S Sheflin]

Hello all,

Several additional points on these exciting photos:

Bf 109 K-4 WNr. 335141 also has its WNr. on the tip of its wooden fin.

Fw 190 2+, with the JG 2 Eagle motif, has A-7/A-8 wings with its pitot tube on the right wingtip.

Bf 109 G 6+ has a “0” (the last numeral of its WNr.) on its wooden fin.


Steve Sheflin

[masmar]

Hello Steve,

thank you for those additions.
So "brown 6" is a G6, thanks for that one.

The G-14 seems to wear the number "2043" under it's swastika.
The D-9 is a 210034.
It's a little better with the original print, but that's the best my scanner can do.

Matthias

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Hi there Steve,

- Agreed for the K-4 W.Nr repetition on the fin except that the blow-up just posted by Matthias over at LEMB does show beyond doubt an 6141 on the rear fuselage... This would then point to an hitherto unheard of W.Nr 336 141... Houston, we have a problem ;-))

http://www.luftwaffe-experten.org/fo...=0&#entry52062

- Great, for the Fw 190, I was really at a loss for identifying it more precisely; Erich, in the same LEMB thread, also points for a late war model.

- "Brown 6": yep, correct, I didn't notice it sticking out beyond the right tailplane. Thanks!


Matthias,

To my knowledge, no way pinpointing the precise subtype of "Brown or Blue 6": nothing conclusive can be said beyond tying it down to the G-6, 10 or 14 subtype... (and with my usual luck, I will be told it was a...G-8;-))

Fw 109D-9 W.Nr. 210034: very interesting, this machine was totally undocumented so far, both by Jerry Crandall or by Eric Larger and al. A great new addition!

Cheers
Marc

[ouidjat]

Hello All,

What's the warning triangle above (and rear) the cross on "Brown/Blue/Green 6"? Never seen this before... Or never took care.
Regards, Franck.

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Salut Franck,

It's the octane triangle for the starter fuel tank which fuel cap is located there. Jean-Claude Mermet does explain it in its excellent publication on the Bf 109 G- K (Spécial Aéro Journal 1, 2009).

Cheers
Marc

[RolandF]

Thanks, Matthias, for this exceptional photos! This confirms my view that the whole Northern Bavarian a/c production and Luftwaffe complex mostly is still terra incognita for most experts.
Very interesting is the airview of the Cham-Michelsdorf site and how it takes advantage of this tiny patch of forest to conceal the production facilities. The forest is still existing, btw:
http://www.geodaten.bayern.de/Bayern...yer=DOP&step=1
I think, the K-4 photo is the proof where the "snake" camo comes from: It has to be the Mtt Bodenwöhr-Mappach and Cham-Michelsdorf production line and the Bf 109s produced here show different features in comparison to "Bürg"-Flossenbürg and Vilseck-Heringnohe prodeced K-4s like there are:

- Flossenbürg: Big W.Nr. stencil at the bottom of the rudder (my post #32), last three letters repeated crudely hand-painted at the end of the fuselage (necessary before adding the pre-fabricated tail unit)
- Cham: Small W.Nr. stencil at the top of the tailfin, last four letters repeated as a stencil at the end of the fuselage (necessary before adding the pre-fabricated tail unit)

The "snake" is obviously applied to unify the different camoes of Tail unit and fuselage. Even the brightly camoed engine cover gets some spraying in a darker tone. The question is whether Flossenbürg and Cham used different pre-fabricated fuselages (Mauthausen-Gusen?); perhaps "Bürg"-Flossenbürg had a complete independent production (Just an attempt to explain the fuselage piles). One fact is - Cham and Flossenbürg use the same tail units and engine covers - but they treat them differently.

Concerning the high W.Nr. - Schmoll doesn´t list it - Schmoll compiled his list based on production files and acceptance flight logs. Especially for Cham there might be considerable gaps towards the end of the war. We even don´t know the W.Nrn. of the Bf 109K-4s of post #32 and the production at Cham ceased earlier than at Flossenbürg.

The Fw 190D-9 interestingly shows the smaller late-war Stammkennzeichen - the Ta 152C-0 CI+XM being a well-known example for those letters.
To the right of the 2nd pic there seems to stand a damaged DC-3 transport (tailwheel or tail unit collapsed?)

Btw, I´m trying to get access to the KZ Flossenbürg archives, but this is a delicate task. It is easier to get information about the suffering people than about their products by slave-labour and you´re easily put into the wrong corner if you make a mistake...

Regards

Roland