Book Review (with corrections and expansions) of Jan Forsgren: Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun (Mushroom Yellow Series No. 6132)

[INM@RLM]

This is the full version of an over-long review I posted on amazon uk.

This title covers not only the Bf 108 but also the derivatives of the Nord 1000-series, as well as the Me 208 and the Nord 1100-series. This review is deals solely with the Bf 108/Me 208 content making up the majority of the book.
This is a useful and rather nice little book on a very nice little aircraft about which almost nothing is ever written. The Bf 108 was both a classic, near-perfect, functional design, and when it appeared, the first German embodiment of the revolutionary leap forward to lightweight, all-metal, stressed skin construction. Everything that went into the Bf 108 was re-used in the design of the Bf 109 fighter: Messerschmitt simply took out three seats, added armament and a radio, and substituted an engine of three times the power (and later four to seven times). Had the opposing air forces included a visionary, purchasing a Bf 108 in 1937 would have given a pretty good idea of what the opposition was going to look like.

The Bf 108 was exhibited, demonstrated, raced, and sold to air forces, airlines, clubs, companies and individuals all over the world, including a significant number to companies and individuals within Germany. Most of these orders were for just a single aircraft. So it is a tangled tale of many threads, a lot which have been captured reasonably faithfully here. However, a few important points have been missed, misunderstood or are inadequately addressed.

One of the more complex and strange episodes in the story of the Bf 108 relates to the seven Bf 108 B-0 Null-Serie machines (W.Nr. 823 to 829). Normally the Null-Serie are a small hand-built preproduction batch used to develop production tooling whilst the design is optimised for manufacture in quantity. The account of the Bf 108 B-0s given on p.18 here makes it sound as if an almost ‘normal’ approach was being followed.

However, the order for the seven Bf 108 B-0 Null-Serie was in fact something else again. The RLM ordered two examples to be fitted with the Siemens-Halske SH 14 A engine (a mere 160 PS and only ever used in two-seaters) and the other five B-0 with the Hirth HM 8U (with a respectable 250 PS); not a single one was to be fitted with the superb Argus As 10 C-3 that was used in all Bf 108 standard production examples. Then there was also the curious retention of wing-folding in the B-0. (Wing-folding had stemmed from one of the requirements in the 1934 Challenge rules: it made no sense in a production aircraft.) Meantime Messerschmitt were already preparing series production of the Bf 108 B-1 powered by the unbeatable Argus 10 engine and without folding wings.

When RLM Lieferplan 5 came into effect on 01-Apr-37, only two of the seven B-0s had been delivered, both with the weakly SH 14 A [one of which was D-IELE illustrated here at p.26(top)], whilst 29 Argus-engined Bf 108 B-1 had already been delivered to the German government along with a further 17 B-1 commercial sales. In the final upshot, apart from the two SH 14A B-0s, three B-0s were delivered with the Hirth HM 8U engine (D-IAJO, D-IANO & D-IIPY) with the final two B-0s apparently being fitted with the Argus As 10 C. [These were D-IGNY & D-IZTA, the latter generously shown here in photos at pp.32(btm), 73, 115(btm) & 117(btm). D-IONO also claimed on p.18 to be a B-0 fitted with an Argus As 10 engine delivered in 1936, was in fact a B-1.] All in all the B-0s made a strange little tale. Was the SH 14A model possibly explored as a two-seater advanced trainer for the Luftwaffe? Or was this whole blind alley just another of those occasions when the ‘gentlemen of the RLM’ applied special, obstructive rules to Messerschmitt?

Strikingly, in almost every one of the Bf 108 side profiles and colour paintings throughout this title the shape of the prop boss and forward cap has been made to look more like that of an aircraft fitted with the spinner that accompanied the variable-pitch MeP-7 propeller rather than the fixed pitch prop actually mostly used (and shown in the related photos here). The problem comes from excluding the prop blades from most drawings, thus introducing a completely artificial spinner line that has no foundation reality. However, even where the prop blades are included, as on pp.24/5, the drawing has not caught the point that the profile of one blade sweeps straight through into the other: there is no spinner-line across the bottoms of the blades. The photos at pp.59, 81 & 153(btm) capture this precisely and in close-up. (Even better is the ultra-clear photo at p.27(btm) in Peter Schmoll’s Mtt-Werke.) The fixed pitch propeller also has a small but prominent fastener protruding from the very front of the cap fixed forward of the boss. For an example in extenso, compare the photos and paintings across pp. 90/3. The drawings on the 1/48th insert capture the correct shape better but are still not perfect: the boss cover protrudes further and is almost conical – see the photo of D-IBFW at p.21, where it is also clear the upper cowling forms a slight lip above the profile of the propeller rear. (To improve engine cooling in early models of the Bf 109 the front of the cowling was also made slightly wider than the diameter of the propeller boss.)

On p.52 the figures for monthly Bf 108 deliveries from the SNCA Nord plant at Les Mureaux are accurate, but only as far as they go. Only monthly aircraft deliveries for the first quarter of 1944 are given: these have been published on the web at the Luftwaffe in Norway SIG site. The rest of the story has to be found in the archives (e.g. on Microfilm T-177, reel no. 42. in the US NARA). To complete the picture the following additions should be made at the foot of p.52: April 8, May 5, June 2, July 4 & August 1. The cumulative total of 159 French-built Bf 108 D-1 given here for the end of Jan-44 is one too many; the correct figure was 158. Adding in the succeeding months there were 191 French-built Bf 108s in total. This figure is confirmed in the table at p.139 of Bettina Glass 2004 dissertation (Der lange Schatten der Rüstung: die Entwicklung der Luftfahrtindustrie im Raum Toulouse von der Mitte der 1930er Jahre bis 1970) published online by the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. By that point German orders for the Bf 108 from Les Mureaux had increased to 795. Not bad for an aircraft where, in the Luftwaffe planning of mid-1940, deliveries were to end in Oct-40.

The idea that the Bf 108 B-1 was the civil version and the Bf 108 B-2 the military version (as stated on p.53) is a myth that was given life in the Bf 108 article of Luftfahrt International #17 (Sep/Oct 1976 issue). It is crystal clear from the Luftwaffe manuals that the sub-types bought by the Luftwaffe were the Bf 108 B-1 and D-1. Messerschmitt brochures supporting civil sales simply describe the aircraft as the Messerschmitt 108 ‘Taifun’, but this was no more than the B-1 sub-type with a plusher cockpit. There is some evidence though that internally Messerschmitt applied the B-2 designation to aircraft fitted with the variable pitch MeP-7 prop. However, when this prop was standardized on the tropical version of the B-series it still remained a B-1 trop as far as the Luftwaffe was concerned.

There are still a few parts of the Bf 108 story where we do not yet have cut-and-dried answers. However, despite a degree of uncertainty it is still clear that some of the major statements made in this title cannot be correct. There are two main areas of contention.

Although we have no definitive documentation it is clear that total Bf 108 production was significantly more than the 699+ aircraft given on p.52. Thanks to Peter Schmoll’s ‘Messerschmitt-Werke’ and to Bettina Glass we already have a reasonably accurate picture of Bf 108 series production from Regensburg and Les Mureaux. The difficulties relate to the earlier Augsburg period. Nevertheless there are sufficient confirmed identities of individual aircraft to reconstruct with fair accuracy a significantly higher total for Bf 108 production. At least 891 Bf 108s were built and delivered in total, comprising: 6 x Bf 108 As (all from BFW AG, Augsburg), 7 x Bf 108 B-0 (Augsburg), 633 x Bf 108 B-1 (171 from Augsburg & 462 from BFW - later Mtt - GmbH, Regensburg) & 245 x Bf 108 D-1 (54 from Regensburg & 191 from Les Mureaux). The series-production blocks by Werk-Nummern (both inclusive) look to be:
Augsburg series production batches
38 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 830 to 867, delivered 1935/7)
7 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 871 to 877, delivered 1937)
Together these two blocks made up the initial order quantity of 45 (see the 27-Nov-35 document ‘Planned Deliveries from 1 October 1935 to 31 March 1937’ quoted in Radinger & Schick: Me 109 A/E p.16). The initial order quantity given here as 32 on p.21 and in the footnote at p.52 (as taken from van Ishoven: Mtt p.92) was not the final quantity of the initial order.
6 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 987 to 992, delivered 1937)
65 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 1074 to 1138, delivered 1937)
55 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 1540 to 1594, delivered 1937/38)
Regensburg series production batches
109 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 1595 to 1703, delivered 1938) – production was transferred to Regensburg mid-block: the complete W.Nr. block 1540 to 1703 totalled 164 x Bf 108 B-1)
32 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 1895 to 1926, delivered 1938)
179 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 1980 to 2158, delivered 1938/9)
102 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 2199 to 2300, delivered 1939/41)
40 x Bf 108 B-1 (W.Nr. 3001 to 3040, delivered 1941/2)
54 x Bf 108 D-1 (W.Nr. 3041 to 3094, delivered 1942)
Les Mureaux series production batches
191 x Bf 108 D-1 (all in the 5xxx sequence, split something like: W.Nr. 5001 to 5020, W.Nr. 5031 to 5160, W.Nr. 5211 to 5240 & W.Nr. 5251 to 5261 delivered 1942/4)
Still to be worked out is which aircraft were produced as factory-built trop versions of the Bf 108 B-1 and D-1.

Secondly, the Bf 108 Flugzeug-Handbuch section devoted to itemising the differences between the Bf 108 B-1 and D-1 does not support the ideas that the Bf 108 D was fitted as standard with either the As 10 R engine or an Argus propeller (as stated on pp.53 & 56). According to the Fz-Handbuch the Bf 108 D-1 there was no change in engine model but the Messerschmitt MeP-7 variable pitch propeller was standardised. (“Soweit greifbar, ist an Stelle der festen Luftschraube eine Verstell-Luftschraube Me P 7 eingebaut.”)
The MeP-7 propeller is easily distinguished from the earlier fixed-pitch propellers by its longer and smoother spinner. (Compare the photos at pp.27 & 147; also the photos on the web of Sonderkommando Blaich’s Bf 109 D-1 trop, KG+EM. There are precious few photographs here though of Luftwaffe Bf 108s fitted with either a MeP-7 or an Argus propeller.)

Yet some Luftwaffe Bf 108s were undeniably fitted with the Argus variable-pitch propeller with its characteristic much-extended, vaned hub, as illustrated in the drawing and photo on p.53 as well as seen in the photo at pp. 51(top). Probably the substitution of an Argus propeller on some aircraft followed the issue of a Luftwaffe technical change note (Änderungs-Anweisung) to be applied by units or workshops in particular circumstances. However, this change definitely did not alter the sub-type designation. (More research is needed. Perhaps the Spanish Air Force have a complete set of Bf 108 ÄA?)

Some simply daft mistakes have also crept into this book:
• pp.5 & 21 On 24 July, 1936 the BFW company did not change its name to Messerschmitt GmbH. There were two completely independent Messerschmitt legal entities. The privately-owned Bayerische Flugzeugwerke A.G. designed and built aircraft, and was renamed as Messerchmitt A.G. in Sep-38. It was the majority government-owned Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Regensburg GmbH that was formed on 24-Jul-36. This company only built aircraft under licence in an arrangement that paralleled the ‘shadow factory’ scheme of the UK’s rearmament. In turn the Regensburg company was renamed Messerschmitt GmbH on 13-Nov-1940. Both Messerschmitt AG & Messerschmitt GmbH continued as separate legal entities to the end of the Reich.
• p.8 There were only ever six (not seven) Bf 108 A-series (Versuchs) aircraft produced: these were assigned W.Nr. 695 to 700 (both inclusive). The Bf 108 A-series, as all other Bf 108s, was designed as a four-seater: for competitions the two rear seats were not mounted. D-IBRE was a series-production Bf 108 B-1, not a Bf 108 A as mentioned here.
• P.21 Elly Beinhorn’s Aug-35 flight was made in Bf 108 A, D-IJES, not a Bf 108 B as stated here in the preceding sentence. No Bf 108 Bs were delivered until late 1936.
• p.23 The top drawing is of a Bf 108 B-0 (not a B-1). The drawing of the Bf 108 B-1 immediately below is a ‘Normalausführung’ fitted with the Argus As 10 C engine. The bottom drawing is a Bf 108 D-1 (not a B): no B-series Bf 108 was ever fitted with this type of fin & rudder.
• p.26 The aircraft in the top photo is clearly Bf 108 B-0 D-IELE (not Bf 108 A D-IZAN). This was not “experimentally fitted with a … SH 14A radial” but was specifically ordered with this low-powered engine by a perverse RLM. D-IELE was the aircraft flown daily between Berlin and Stockholm during the 1936 Olympics, as described here on p.21.
• p.27 D-IOIO was W.Nr. 2122: it was built at Regensburg and would have been delivered around the last third of 1939 (not in 1935 as stated here). In Apr-40 this aircraft was used to test a MeP-7 propeller with experimental automated variable pitch control. (Radinger & Schick: Me 109 A/E p.130)
• p.42 The sub-type in the caption to the right-hand aircraft (KG+EM) should be Bf 108 D-1 trop
• p.46 The Stammkz in the caption to the left-hand aircraft should be BD+JG.
• p.47 NF+MS was Bf 108 B-1, W.Nr. 2249, not 2236 (table Schmoll: Mtt-Werke p.207)
• p.52 It was in Jan-38 that the first Bf 108 was completed at Regensburg (Schmoll: Mtt-Werke p.14): the date of Jul-38 given here is entirely too late. In the Augsburg column of the table, the figure of 7 for 1936 actually belongs in the 1935 row [see van Ishoven: Messerschmitt p.93]. Rather than “some 500”, total Bf 108 production from Regensburg has been documented exactly as 516 (see P. Schmoll: Mtt-Werke pp.201 & 205).
• p.54 The wings of the Bf 108 B-1 were not foldable. The wing-folding facility was only included in the Bf 108 A Versuchsmaschinen and the B-0 Null-Serie. On all other Bf 108s the wings were fixed but detachable in the normal fashion.
• p.56 The Bf 108 D-series was fitted with the exact same engine type as the B-series, and not with the Argus As 10 R as stated here. The As 10 R as a series production engine is a myth.
• p.56 Strike the words “fitted in the fuselage” from the first line of the ‘Fuel system’ section. The sentence is then accurate.
• p.60 For now we know only four facts about the aircraft of the Me 208 program. Five Me 208 Versuchsmaschinen were ordered from Mtt/SNCAN by the RLM. Only the Me 208 V1 was ever completed and this was first flown in Jul-43: no Me 208 V2 ever left the assembly hanger (so the statement that there were two prototypes on each of pp.5 & 60 is wrong). Not long after, on 03-Sep-43, Les Mureaux was heavily bombed by the 8th Air Force, and, amongst other consequences the whole Me 208 program was abandoned: it was hardly going to move the war in Germany’s favour during 1944. Prior to the appearance of the Me 208 V1, a Bf 108 D-1 built under licence by SNCAN had been fitted at Les Mureaux with a nose wheel for preliminary trials (using the tailwheel of a Potez 63): this was first flown in Oct-42. (See Ebert+Kaiser+Peters: Willy Mtt pp.108/9.) GK+RZ probably was the Me 208 V1 – the Stammkz. is from a sequence used for Les Mureaux Bf 108s in 1943, but KR+BZ was not the Me 208 V2; more plausible is that this was the SNCAN Bf 108 D-1 modified for the preliminary nosewheel trials (and possibly W.Nr. 5020). The Me 208 was to be fitted with the Argus As 10 P also of 240 h.p., not with a suddenly-more-powerful As 10 C as stated here.
• p. 143 The wings could only be folded in the six Bf 108 A-series and the seven Bf 108 B-0 Null-Serie machines. Although the caption implies this was the general case, wing-folding was not included in any Bf 108 series production aircraft. With wings demounted the aircraft appeared as shown in the photo at p.118(top); there is clearly no boss present here around which the outer wing can be rotated.
• p.146 Here we have a 24-carat howler: the two drawings at the foot have been taken from a Bf 109 Technical Manual: the lower profile of the horn balance is completely different in the Bf 108. A drawing of a genuine Bf 108 B-series tailplane appears on p.55 and in the photos at p.159(top & mid). For the D-series the protruding horn balance was eliminated and replaced by a counterweight on a prong at the top of the rudder (photos at pp.52, 95 & 96(btm).
• Insert with 1/48th scale drawings: the side view labelled Bf 108 C1 is actually a Bf 108 B-0 fitted with the SH 14 A radial engine. It is another hoary Bf 108 myth erroneously propagated by the 1976 article in Luftfahrt International #17, that the SH 14-engined Bf 108s were the Mustermaschinen for a proposed C-series. They weren’t. As the Messerschmitt sales brochure for the Bf 108 makes abundantly clear the airframe was a four-seater designed to take any modern aero engine outputting between 180 and 250 PS, and not weighing more than 200 kg. The single C-series Bf 108 was W.Nr. 1078 fitted with the HM 508 C engine. (To this same point corrections are also needed in the text at pp.5 and 22.)

A few other sundry observations and additions:
p.5 At least into 1940, the RLM & Luftwaffe classified the Bf 108 as a Reiseflugzeug (touring aircraft = light personnel transport), and the Fi 156 as a Verbindungsflugzeug (liaison aircraft). Only later in the war was the Verbindungs classification expanded and applied to both designs. In the RAF the Bf 108 would have been classified as a light communications aircraft. (Although the RAF had to trundle around in fixed-undercarriage wooden Percival Proctors, cruising at 225 km/h compared to the 250 km/h of the Bf 108.)
p.14 The photos on this page and at the top of p.15 document the elimination of the upper tailplane bracing struts during the continuing development of the Bf 108 A airframes. (Not just as part of the redesign for the B-series, as claimed in some other accounts.) Note that fixing points are still apparent on both surfaces: clearly the original parts were not replaced with new ones.
pp.20/1 The logo visible on the prop blades seen across these two pages (and elsewhere in this work) is that of the Schwarz company (photo Schmoll: Mtt-Werke p.27(btm)). The Luftwaffe required that prop blades be painted, so no logos on their blades. (Despite the setting, the Bf 108 in the photo at the top of p.39 is probably a civil or a recently impressed ex-civil machine. That captured in the photo at the foot of p.59 will also be an impressed civil machine.)
p.22 The landing speed of “in the region of 70 km/h” given in the Flight article slightly overpraises the Bf 108: according to the aircraft manual it was actually 85 km/h. The track width of the Bf 108 was 1,492 mm., so it was even narrower than the Bf 109 (1,975 mm until the E-series, becoming 2,062 mm. with the Bf 109 F). Landing the Bf 108 has never been described as challenging. It was not the narrowness of the Bf 109’s undercarriage alone then that caused the difficulties.
p.27 A Marg. Thiel Werkfoto in colour of D-IOIO appeared in an early-war Messerschmitt calendar. This shows the same scheme but in a deep blue (slightly darker than Spanish Blue) and creamy white, with the upper framing of the canopy left in clear metal.
p.28 The shade of blue used here is far too dark. The colour was apparently called Kobaltblau but in contemporary photographs it actually presents somewhere between the Powder Blue and Cerulean Blue shades in the Winsor and Newton range of acrylics. (For example, see the photo on the outside back cover of Luftfahrt International #17.)
p.29 D-IMTT was B-1, W.Nr. 1545 and D-IGNY was B-0, W.Nr. 825.
p.43 painting of KG+EM Apparently Efta Einak is the pidgin Arabic equivalent of “Holzauge, sei wachsam” (see http//forums.gunboards.com/ … Weekend-Quiz-4U-(Sonderkommando-Blaich- etc).
pp.45/5 Bf 108 B-1, Stammkz. TI+EY in the paintings across these two pages was W.Nr. 2299, and would have been delivered to the Lw c.Jun-41. So the I. Gruppe Stab of JG 27 would have been the first holder.
pp.99/100 Schmoll: Mtt-Werke at p.27(top) has a photo of Bf 108 YR-MDR being taken over by the Rumanian Air Force in Regensburg during 1939. It is possible this is the third, missing ‘civil’ pre-war Romanian Bf 108 registration.
p.53 A Bf 108 D-series was already under consideration by mid-1938: the title of the Bf 108 Fz-Handbuch issued in July that year indicated that it was for both the B- and the D-series. Although the contents only covered the B-series, the implicit message was that differences between the two series would only be minor. The only definitive way of externally distinguishing the two series is by the differences in the fin and rudder, and the related counter-balance arrangements.
p.100 It was three Bf 108s that were transferred from the Legion Condor to the Spanish Air Force at the end of the Civil War [Serrano: Unidades y el Material pp.145/7]. These were 44*7/*8/*9, strongly suggesting that nine Bf 108s in all were sent to serve in Spain.
p.107 Messerschmitt company records show 17 (not 13) Bf 108 Bs delivered to Yugoslavia in 1939 as fuselages only (table at Schmoll: Mtt-Werke p.28). Presumably construction was completed in Yugoslavia.
pp.110/1 for clarity, the surviving Bf 108 shown carrying the post-war registration D-IOIO is not the same aircraft that was registered with this code pre-war. The original Bf 108 B-1, D-IOIO was W.Nr. 2122; in Sep-41 this aircraft was assigned Stammkz. DI+CB. “The machine remained in use by Messerschmitt as a courier aircraft until January 1942." (Radinger & Schick: Me 109 A/E p.130). W.Nr. 2064, carrying the post-war registration D-IOIO, was originally delivered from Regensburg in May-39 as the Swiss HB-EKO (Trenkle photo in Schmoll: Mtt-Werke p.25).
p.118 photo D-IRNU, W.Nr. 990 was used by Messerschmitt for trials of the Bf 108 with the Me.P.7 propeller. The first flight with this propeller was on 08-Jul-37 [see text Radinger+Schick: Bf 109 A-E (Schiffer) p.128]

It would be nice to see a corrected and expanded reissue of this title in the Mushroom Orange (history) series. From 1935 to 1939 the aviation press (‘Flugsport’, ‘Flight’, ‘Aeroplane’, ‘Luftwissen’ etc.) was stuffed with articles featuring or mentioning the Bf 108 so there is plenty of material available to fill out the story of this superb aircraft. Indeed, to do it full justice the Bf 108 really deserves a far larger work that includes coverage of:
• all the aviation exhibitions where a Bf 108 was displayed,
• all air races and competitions of the late-30s in which Bf 108s participated,
• all epic journeys flown in Bf 108s,
• a detailed tabling of all genuinely civilian-owned Bf 108s. At least 39 civil Bf 108 B-1 deliveries were made within Germany, of which 36 can still be identified by registration, and a minimum of a further 33 civil sales were made abroad. (This count includes all sales to Manchukuo Air Transport but excludes those aircraft sold on to a foreign civil owner by a German civil owner).
• something of the story attaching to the approximately 15 Bf 108 Bs used by the various non-civilian organizations of the Reich (the DVL, the NSFKK and the Deutsche Arbeitsfront),
• an expanded account of the Bf 108 in Luftwaffe service.

Regardless of its limitations and imperfections though this book is still an essential (and very affordable) title for anyone with an affection for or interest in the Bf 108.