Me 109F development

[George Hopp]

Re: Me 109F development

'I could not find much on the F-0, other than "... a preproduction batch of some twenty-five Bf 109 F-0 aircraft (W.Nr. 5601 to 5625) were completed over the next several months.... (page 4). "....Messerschmitt did not intend that the preproduction Bf 109 F-0s would be handed over to the Luftwaffe for operations....." '

In his book on Regensburg, Peter Schmoll notes the following about the early 109Fs. 5601: CE+BM; 5602: CE+BN, V21; 5603: CE+BP, V23; 5604: VK+AB, V-24. Then he cites the numbers 5605: VK+AC, F-0, and 5622: PI+IK, F-0 and states that between 1939 and 1941, 16 109 F-0s were manufactured.

Then he goes on to note that the first batch of F-1s, 5626-5631: SG+GU-SG+GZ,and 5632-5657: SG+EA-SG+EZ, were manufactured during Oct-Nov 1940. Altogether, Regensburg manufactured 8 batches (2 of them single a/c) during the period Oct 1940 through March 1941. Then in March 1941 they also produced about 26 F-2s, producing them through September 1941, before switching to the G-1 in November 1941.

Hope this helps,
George

[George Hopp]

Just happened across this old thread on the Bf 109F, and found the following items in my binders on the aircraft:

On 25 April 1939, tested cockpit temperatures up to 8 km altitude in 109F V22, W.Nr. 1800, D-IRRQ.

A report on the air testing of V22, on 1 and 2 Jun 39, of a revised supercharger air intake.

So, if they were flight testing the prototype 109F in Spring 1939, it's a pretty good guess that they began work on the model in 1938.

On 20.3.40 Rechlin tested W.Nr. 5603 (Thoenes and Beauvais were the pilots). It was noted that greater force was needed to move the controls than in the 109E, and a decrease of these forces would be desirable.

At the other end of the spectrum, I have a report on flight testing the Me 109-F2 (sic) to assess the elastic properties of the wing on the rolling velocity and rolling acceleration during aileron operation. It was completed in June 1944!

Here is a page from a 1943 document that indicates changes made to Bf 109 F 1/2 aircraft, specifically the rear fuselage supporting the tail unit, and it should give a pretty good listing of W.Nrs. for these aircraft. Notice that Arado production begins with 5401. Also, it appears that they have lumped in the F-0s with the F-1s and F-2s.