Data Plates Exposed #11: Bf 109 G-6

[stephen f. polyak]

The next installment shows a plate from a Messerschmitt Bf 109 that ended its final mission wheels-up on English soil. Through pilot error, W.Nr. 163240 with I/JG 301 landed in the early hours of July 21, 1944 at RAF Manston. Some forty years later the fighter’s ID plate (retained at the time for intellegence purposes) would be found where it had been disposed after the war at RAF Kenley.

The plate represents a basic, commonly used style. Here it served as the aircraft’s main identification plate. The Gerät-Nr (equipment number) is marked “ME 109 G6”. Next is the Werk-Nr “163240”. (Interestingly, beneath the last two digits of the W.Nr [i.e., xxxx40] can be seen faint impressions of the numbers 3 and 5.) A Hersteller (manufacturer) code completes the entries - it’s “MEP” for Messerschmitt G.m.b.H., Regensburg.

Another Bf 109 G-6 from I./JG 301 would also landed at Manston that morning - W.Nr. 412951. That plane was subsequently flown in trials (until a crash on 11/23/44), and several photos of it in that role exist. I have had no luck locating photos of 163240; it was apparently scrapped shortly after the belly-landing due to major damages.