Bodenwöhr Waldwerk - Mtt Bf 109 K-4 assembly lines 1944 - 1945

[Marc-André Haldimann]

Salut Franck,

It's the octane triangle for the starter fuel tank which fuel cap is located there. Jean-Claude Mermet does explain it in its excellent publication on the Bf 109 G- K (Spécial Aéro Journal 1, 2009).

Cheers
Marc

[RolandF]

Thanks, Matthias, for this exceptional photos! This confirms my view that the whole Northern Bavarian a/c production and Luftwaffe complex mostly is still terra incognita for most experts.
Very interesting is the airview of the Cham-Michelsdorf site and how it takes advantage of this tiny patch of forest to conceal the production facilities. The forest is still existing, btw:
http://www.geodaten.bayern.de/Bayern...yer=DOP&step=1
I think, the K-4 photo is the proof where the "snake" camo comes from: It has to be the Mtt Bodenwöhr-Mappach and Cham-Michelsdorf production line and the Bf 109s produced here show different features in comparison to "Bürg"-Flossenbürg and Vilseck-Heringnohe prodeced K-4s like there are:

- Flossenbürg: Big W.Nr. stencil at the bottom of the rudder (my post #32), last three letters repeated crudely hand-painted at the end of the fuselage (necessary before adding the pre-fabricated tail unit)
- Cham: Small W.Nr. stencil at the top of the tailfin, last four letters repeated as a stencil at the end of the fuselage (necessary before adding the pre-fabricated tail unit)

The "snake" is obviously applied to unify the different camoes of Tail unit and fuselage. Even the brightly camoed engine cover gets some spraying in a darker tone. The question is whether Flossenbürg and Cham used different pre-fabricated fuselages (Mauthausen-Gusen?); perhaps "Bürg"-Flossenbürg had a complete independent production (Just an attempt to explain the fuselage piles). One fact is - Cham and Flossenbürg use the same tail units and engine covers - but they treat them differently.

Concerning the high W.Nr. - Schmoll doesn´t list it - Schmoll compiled his list based on production files and acceptance flight logs. Especially for Cham there might be considerable gaps towards the end of the war. We even don´t know the W.Nrn. of the Bf 109K-4s of post #32 and the production at Cham ceased earlier than at Flossenbürg.

The Fw 190D-9 interestingly shows the smaller late-war Stammkennzeichen - the Ta 152C-0 CI+XM being a well-known example for those letters.
To the right of the 2nd pic there seems to stand a damaged DC-3 transport (tailwheel or tail unit collapsed?)

Btw, I´m trying to get access to the KZ Flossenbürg archives, but this is a delicate task. It is easier to get information about the suffering people than about their products by slave-labour and you´re easily put into the wrong corner if you make a mistake...

Regards

Roland