Me 109 canopy with slot at the top?!

[Roger Gaemperle]

Hello,

While updating my blog lwcollectibles.blogspot.com I came across an interesting photo of a Me 109 canopy with a slot at the top. Was this standard or a field modification? Perhaps for Me 109 in the mediterranean? Does any Me 109 expert know more about this?

Regards
Roger Gaemperle

[David Ransome]

Hi,

I don't think that it is a slot! It looks to me more like a 'glued on' piece, fixed in a similar fashion to the perspex 'knobs' on cockpit glazing sliding panels.

There is possibly a tonal difference to back this up. Look at the frame that runs along the bottom of the canopy on it's port (left) side. Where it is definitely not obscured by perspex it is more toward black, through the perspex it is more grey. Through the 'slot' it is more to the grey.

Then I looked at two of my books and saw the same 'slot' and it does look more like a bar. P.35 Bf109 James F Craig 1968, P.92 Bf109 PSL/Airfix 1972 - don't laugh, I'm not into 109s!

Kind regards,

David

[Roger Gaemperle]

Hi David,

Thank you for your response. You are probably right! If it is a glued piece it must be on the indside (on the outside it would only add drag without an obvious purpose). Could it be that the forward half of the top canopy could be slided backwards? I have never heard of this before, but that's the only explanation I can imagine.

Best regards
Roger

Originally Posted by Roger Gaemperle

Hi David,

Thank you for your response. You are probably right! If it is a glued piece it must be on the indside (on the outside it would only add drag without an obvious purpose). Could it be that the forward half of the top canopy could be slided backwards? I have never heard of this before, but that's the only explanation I can imagine.

Best regards
Roger

might be some sort of vent to stop steamin up at higher alt.
Gary

[Jon]

Interesting i have never seen anything like this before.
I am sure its not stuck on and is infact a cut out slot, if you look closely you can see through the cut out at the leads and detail etc.. in the cockpit.
If it was, as has been suggested glued on the inside the view would not be clear, if able to see through it at all.

The only thing it can be is a vent of somekind but why?

[David Ransome]

Hi,

I've just had word from one of my contacts and he recalls that on one type of 109 canopy there was a pull back section on the top that had a perspex strip bonded to it. (I've not been able to send a picture to him, he doesn't own a PC and at 92 years he reckons that he's too old to get involved with one now!)

As regards visibility it was fairly common to have handles etc 'glued' to sliding perspex panels on cockpit/canopy sides, such as found on He111, Bf109, Do17,Ju87 etc. On a light aircraft I flew several years ago the door windows had sliding panels with perspex pull bars and must say that I can't recall any major problems with visibilty or image distortion.

All that said, if it does turn out to be a slot, I'lllet my contact know and I'll stick to He111s!!! There must be a 109 afficionado out there who can enlighten us all one way or the other!

Kind regards,

David

[Kutscha]

How thick was the top glazing of the 109 canopy?

[Falcon]

The "Ersatzteil-Liste Bf 109 F" from April 1941 show on page 32 the follow.

[F19Gladiator]

Originally Posted by Falcon

The "Ersatzteil-Liste Bf 109 F" from April 1941 show on page 32 the follow.

Thanks Falcon! This confirms that the canopy had three sliding plexiglas panels: One on top and one each on the left and right hand side. This is consistent with the pictures I have compared with.
I get the impression that this feature can be found starting with the type of canopy introduced with the E-4 and then running with the F-series.

I have seen one picture where the top panel seems to have been opened, judging from the position of the "handle" piece.

Pressurized canopies do not seem to have this function which is quite understandable.

Later on the G-versions seem to have a fixed top panel instead of the sliding one???

[Kutscha]

Why would a slot be cut or even a plexiglass piece added, when there was a small tit/button for opening the side windows?