109G-6 or later with 20mm-Gondolas in the East?

[Juha]

Hello George and Nick
yes, Lipfert’s memoirs are good, IMHO they are one of the very best WWII fighter pilot’s memoirs I have read.

Hello George
IIRC FAF didn’t get any of MK 108 armed G-6s, was its designation G-6/U4 or something like that. So G-6/R6 was handy against Il-2s but as I wrote Finns were so badly outnumbered by Soviet fighters that it was decided that those gun gondolas must go.

Juha

[yogybär]

Chuck, thanks for the info. I had a look at the book. The author seems to be pretty sure, but shows no "proof" or pic with the gondolas.

I believe that the gondolas were not used from late 1943 or so onwards, with some exceptions, like attacking the US-4mots during these rare "Sternflüge" in Romania.

A proof would be a picture of a plane or even better: A Abschußmeldung.

[sergeypopov2566]

in August 1942 over station Касторная were shot down 9 Russian bombers.
what you know about this?

[chuckschmitz]

Yogy,

The only "picture" unfortunately does not show the wing area.

Chuck

[George Hopp]

Hello George
IIRC FAF didn’t get any of MK 108 armed G-6s, was its designation G-6/U4 or something like that. So G-6/R6 was handy against Il-2s but as I wrote Finns were so badly outnumbered by Soviet fighters that it was decided that those gun gondolas must go.

Yes, the designation with the engine-mounted MK 108 was the /U4. And Bernd Barbas shows them in the East with the G-6, G-10, and G-14.
All the best, Juha,
George

[Juha]

Thanks George.

On Lt. Ewald, talked on this last evening with a friend and he told me that in his memoirs Ewald tells flying G-6/R6 and that he liked the plane and tells, like Finnish Kössi and Tappi, that with skilful use of throttle G-6/R6 was almost as manoeuvrable as plain G-6, which IIRC was anyway a minority opinion. But I don’t have the book and forgot to ask is there a photo on the plane in the book. But a possible lead.

Looked more carefully my collection of Finnish books on LW over here and in Norway and found one profile drawing in Hannu Valtonen’s Pohjoinen Ilmasota (1996) published by Keski-Suomen Ilmailumuseo (The Aviation Museum of Central Finland) (One can see the front cover of the book here http://www.airforcemuseum.fi/hannu_v...oinen_ilmasota)
on page 242 and it showed a Bf 109G-6/R6 of 9./III./JG 5 “White 2” at Kirkkoniemi Oct. 44.

So these seems to be some G-6/R6s around on Eastern front but they were rare.

Juha

[atckyrre]

Yogy,
I have a picture of Podewil (iirc)of I/JG5 standing in front of a wintery G-6/R6 in Romania. From what I remember it was from the winter of '43/'44, while Podewil was later transfered back to Norway.
I thought I had the pic uploaded to my photobucket-account, but alas. I'll have to search for it at home.

Additionally:
While not for fighting in the East it was noted that at least one of the NJG.11(?) Bf109G-10 that landed in Norway May 5 1945 had underwing gondolas.
http://www.luftwaffe.no/SIG/1945/5MAI.html

Kyrre