White Spiral on Me 109G Spinners

[Oberst]

Ahhhh thank you very much. Now I'm begging to understand the method applied to this spinner.

[RolandF]

That´s WNr 163824, isnt it? Built by Mtt Regensburg, July '44.
This Bf 109G-6 is a plane which had been repaired several times. I think this is either a spinner of an earlier batch or one of the last spinner with a "Kullerschnauze".
Brought to "spiral" standard by the last operational owner of this 109.
On earlier photographs of 163824 the white segment is not visible.

Regards

roland

[Dénes Bernád]

It's obviously a nonsense to confuse enemy gunners, as not only Axis fighters, but bombers, recce, etc. had also the Spiralschnauze.

[Oberst]

Yes that is W.Nr.163824. According to the book, 'Augsburg's Last Eagles Colors, Markings and Variants' By Brett Green, he says the spinner most likely original.

I guess a good way to find out for sure would be to find other spinners painted the same way, more or less.

[klemchen]

Hello,

unfortunately I noticed this thread only very recently. I must say that I do not believe the impression by the movie because a motion picture is a close sequence of static pictures. This can produce unrealistic effects like e.g. the wheels of a running car standing still or even turning in the opposite direction.
The Daimler Benz engine of a Me 109 could be running at over 2500 rpm, and its reduction gear worked at a ratio of somewhat above 0.5. so it seems to be realistic to assume that the prop often was spinning at around 1200 rpm, that is 20 rotations per second. Although I have never seen it in reality I cannot imagine that at that rpm the human eye would perceive anything else but a solid mix of the two colors. So, at least rationally, the purpose of the spiral spinner could not have been confusing the gunners.

Best regards,
klemchen

[Oberst]

I just seen that today in real life. I was watching a car rim at about 62kph, depending on the angle, I could see the rim speed up, slow down, looked to be stopped moving, and reversing, while still going at 60kph. There's a name for this phenomenon I just can't remember at the moment.

[D.B. Andrus]

Originally Posted by Oberst

I just seen that today in real life. I was watching a car rim at about 62kph, depending on the angle, I could see the rim speed up, slow down, looked to be stopped moving, and reversing, while still going at 60kph. There's a name for this phenomenon I just can't remember at the moment.

Hi Oberst

The phenomenon is known as stoboscopy.

Cheers,

D.B.

[John Beaman]

D.B, would you mean "stroboscopy"?

[ruspren]

Airliners have a similar spiral on the hub of the fan at the front of the engine. When the engine is running it is still visible as a white area which seems to "pulse" if that makes sense.
Nowadays it is a safety feature rather than an IFF marking as on a Luftwaffe spinner.

[D.B. Andrus]

Originally Posted by John Beaman

D.B, would you mean "stroboscopy"?

Yes, the infernal typo rears it's head again.

Cheers,

D.B.