87 Octane fuel triangle on Bf 109 F-2: possible?

[Roger Gaemperle]

Hello Harold, Lino and mmoustaf,

Thank you very much for your interesting posts. The reason why I was asking is that I have a photo of a Bf 109 F-2 W.Nr. 9227 that shows a yellow fuel triangle with '87'.

So, it appears that this one was retrofitted with a DB 601E. However, it was not built by Arado, but by the Mtt Regensburg plant.

From your comments I summarize:

1) Arado built Bf 109 F-2 were delivered by Mtt with a DB 601E from W.Nr. 9535 to 9734. The DB 601E became available from June 1941. According to J.Prien, P. Rodeike "Messerschmitt Bf 109 F,G,&K Series" the Arado block 9535-9734 was produced between June and August 1941. So, this would fit. Mtt Regensburg block 9151-9250 was produced between April and May 1941 when the DB 601E was not yet or just started to become available (the same book mentioned above says that the first F-4 were produced from May 1941 onwards, so the DB 601E must have been available already at that time).

2) Some Bf 109 F-2 were retrofitted with the DB 601E.

W.Nr. 9227 probably belonged to category 2)?

Regards,
Roger

[the_ivan]

Originally Posted by Roger Gaemperle

Hello Harold, Lino and mmoustaf,

Thank you very much for your interesting posts. The reason why I was asking is that I have a photo of a Bf 109 F-2 W.Nr. 9227 that shows a yellow fuel triangle with '87'.

So, it appears that this one was retrofitted with a DB 601E. However, it was not built by Arado, but by the Mtt Regensburg plant.

From your comments I summarize:

1) Arado built Bf 109 F-2 were delivered by Mtt with a DB 601E from W.Nr. 9535 to 9734. The DB 601E became available from June 1941. According to J.Prien, P. Rodeike "Messerschmitt Bf 109 F,G,&K Series" the Arado block 9535-9734 was produced between June and August 1941. So, this would fit. Mtt Regensburg block 9151-9250 was produced between April and May 1941 when the DB 601E was not yet or just started to become available (the same book mentioned above says that the first F-4 were produced from May 1941 onwards, so the DB 601E must have been available already at that time).

2) Some Bf 109 F-2 were retrofitted with the DB 601E.

W.Nr. 9227 probably belonged to category 2)?

Regards,
Roger

As was posted here, that particular machine was a test bed for the DB 605 powerplant installation in Bf 109 G series.

If the photo was taken after december 1941, when the conversion took place, the triangle just shows the required fuel for its DB 605 (B-0 W.Nr. 76003).