Arado 109E plates

[Stig Jarlevik]

Guys

I echo Tom on this. How can the aircraft have been built by AGO if the plate says Arado?
Also on a perhaps more trivial note, why does the physical appearance of the two plates differ so much? Did the engraver (is it called that?) with Arado do just as he pleased when he manufactured these plates....?

Also Stephen, what is the meaning of the plate in the middle?

Cheers
Stig

[stephen f. polyak]

Hi to all,

Am not sure I can add much clarity to all this, but here goes.

Based on recollection, the upper two plates came from the same airplane (3346); the lower plate came from another (3356).

At least one source linking 109 W.Nr.'s to makers shows AGO for both of these W.Nr. Yet, in all my years of collecting and studying plates, as I recall sitting here, I have not seen a 109 plate marked AGO (I will check further, and that does not mean that there weren't any); however, I have seen AGO plates for other types of airplanes. Could it be that AGO assembled 109's (or parts thereof) using subparts made by others such as Arado? The subparts would be marked to their original source. Thus, Arado plates could end up on an airplane built by AGO. I would expect that in such a case, the airplane's main ID plate would show AGO.

Alternatively, could the information on W.Nr.'s and makers be off?

The plates as made (acid-etched) are very comparable in style. One minor difference here: the size of the etched font on the middle plate is slightly larger than the other two. The punched/stamped (not engraved) entries vary a lot, but that is typical. It's the result of different workers, using different tool sets, at different times, entering similar and dissimilar information and working by hand.

Steve