Messerschmitt 109 Design Problems

[Graham Boak]

Messerschmitt was perfectly capable of designing a wing with guns, as the Bf 109E had such. However, he is not the only designer to avoid such, the Russians being perhaps the most obvious and Yakovlev is on record as giving at least partial reasons. Placing guns in the wings (inside or outside) increases the inertias in roll and yaw, making the aircraft less agile. The wings twist during flight, making accurate firing even more difficult.

A wing without guns can also be made simpler and lighter, which brings its own advantages. Once a wing has been designed without guns, then finding room for the weapon, ammunition, case ejection storage or chutes, and heating, is not a simple problem. Redesigning a wing to achieve this would mean major disruptions to the factory lines, with significant lost production. The gondolas may have penalised the 109 in speed, but even more so in agility, and this would have been the same with internal guns. As it was, the gondolas could be removed and the fighter returned to its optimum agility: with internal carriage much of the penalty would have been retained at all times.

Hopefully, of course, the gondola-equipped aircraft would be limited to bomber destruction, with the clean examples taking care of any enemy fighters. Messerschmitt did produce an internal fitting for the stubby MK108 for very late Ks, but this can only be regarded as a specialist bomber destroyer.