Bf 109 H WNr.110073

[pvanroy]

Many thanks for your reply! Just some comments:

- Erla Haube: unless I overlooked something, the Ghostbombers website only states "On 11 May, 5.(F)/123 had been told that 15 all-round vision canopies were ready for collection from the ERLA works airfield at Antwerp-Deurne: the Staffel was to keep three, the rest were for Guyancourt." So, they received Erla Hauben from Erla VII, but that does not necessarily mean one of those was used on the H conversion (for which it would have needed to be a pressurized version, which was quite significantly different in a number of aspects from the regular Vollsichthaube). Also, maybe again I overlooked it, but I don't see any mention of a Erla Haube in the transcript reproduced by Nick Beale here.

- Cabin pressurization intake: interesting if there were some that lacked this intake... I just wonder, in that case: where would the compressor get its air, if there was no intake? And weren't these Erla cowlings standardized - after all, there are lots of G-6 and G-14 without pressurization that do have the bump and intake even though on those aircraft it's not needed. In the case of G-5/AS conversions, I think there is some question as to whether those retained cabin pressurization after conversion - if not, they wouldn't have needed the intake on the refined cowling anyway.

- Radiators: I tend to agree, but on the other hand I do find it interesting the document specifically references the installation of the H V55, and not the V54.

Thanks for your efforts!