ZFR-4 and the 109F?

[George Hopp]

Hi Paul

This site has a few pictures some from the pilot's view, but none from an Bf 109F:

www.luftarchiv.de/bordgerate/optisch.htm search for 'optisch'.

And I have this picture.

Cheers

Chris

Yes, but the one shot from roughly the pilot's view is of the gunsight mounted in a 109G, so it would be a pretty close fit, except for the inset bullet-proof windshield.

All the best,
George

[pstrany]

First, thank you very much for that photo. That is incredibly helpful!!

The sight that was referred to as being from a Me 109G is in fact not a 109G, but rather an Me 110. This looks to me to be (possibly) an infra-red sight for night operations, but that is only a guess. It is definitely not something that would ever be installed in a 109 of any type.

From the very slim information I have (and again, thanks for the picture, now I at least have a clear view of the outside installation) this sight appears to be separate from the standard Revi sight. Galland had this style sight installed in both his "E" and "F". In addition, at least some of the Stab flight of II/JG 53 had either the same or a similar sight installed in their 109Fs, including the pilot whose aircraft I am modeling, Hauptman Heinz Bretnutz.

From what little I have found, it is unclear to me if this is indeed a ZFR-4 sight, as everything I've found associates these with the Me 410. Given the rarity of its appearance, I wonder if it wasn't just a rifle scope adapted for the purpose?

Again, thank you for your help on this rather obscure matter.

Paul

[ChrisS]

Hi Paul

I guess you may have these already. Two shots of Bretnutz's plane with the telescope from the Jochen Prien JG 53 Pik As book.

I hope these prove useful.

Cheers

Chris

[George Hopp]

I think, Paul, that you are confusing the ZFR3/4 telescopic gunsights, and the plain vanilla telescopes mounted in Galland's machines, and in the photos posted by Chris.

The ZFR dual gunsight shown below, from www.archiv.de, is one tested in the 109G. And yes, it was mainly used in the Me 410s that mounted the twin 30mm cannon and the 50mm BK5 cannon -- but in its 4x magnification form.