Evidence of Me109E's being up-armoured

[harrison987]

Well...this is odd...

I recently acquired from a Russian wreck, and Me109 Wing Cooler flap. I grabbed it, as it had some interesting markings...

What I did not know...is that it has a piece of steel armour plating bolted to it.

Appears this was added in the field to protect the wing coolers. I suspect it was from a Jabo Rei variant, and it helped with AA fire and such during bombing runs and strafing...

Anyone ever heard of this before?

[Wast1991]

Is this once again one of these wrecks where the dead pilot was found but nobody gave a shit and also authorities were not informed? Maybe because you can´t make money with human remains? Just an idea.

[Snautzer]

Why just not ask politely is stead of presuming?

[Wast1991]

Because it would not be the first time.

[harrison987]

Wast1991...please keep on topic.

if you have a beef with the Russians who are recovering aircraft and vehicles...maybe you should contact them directly.

[Wast1991]

It´s not just about the Russians or diggers in general - It´s also about the people that pay the diggers for doing this kind of business. About the people that sell these things on ebay without thinking about the fate of the pilot. I don´t know if you ever thought about, but when you take away the data plate of a plane from a crash site, you take away 50 % of the chance to identify the pilot. And if you sell parts on ebay and you know there were human remains in the wreck, but you just don´t care...well, this is not very respectable. At least people who do so should not be supported.

Also my anger is about the people that create weird stories to increase the value of items they sale on the internet.

...So I think my posts are not off topic here.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Wast1991

It´s not just about the Russians or diggers in general - It´s also about the people that pay the diggers for doing this kind of business. About the people that sell these things on ebay without thinking about the fate of the pilot. I don´t know if you ever thought about, but when you take away the data plate of a plane from a crash site, you take away 50 % of the chance to identify the pilot. And if you sell parts on ebay and you know there were human remains in the wreck, but you just don´t care...well, this is not very respectable. At least people who do so should not be supported.

Also my anger is about the people that create weird stories to increase the value of items they sale on the internet.

...So I think my posts are not off topic here.

Well I think you are right off topic. If you have information about a crime, tell the police; if you have information on armoured Bf 109 radiators, post it in this thread.

[Wast1991]

Yes, of course German police will take care of a U.S. guy selling Luftwaffe parts from Russia, Latvia, Poland, the rest of the world on ebay.

Maybe you should start to scrutinize requests about crashed planes and the intentions behind the request.

[harrison987]

Originally Posted by Nick Beale

Well I think you are right off topic. If you have information about a crime, tell the police; if you have information on armoured Bf 109 radiators, post it in this thread.

Well said.

getting BACK to topic...I just spoke with someone who confirmed that this was a common field mod (specifically over Russia). They bolted steel plates to the radiators themselves...and overall this added weight was around 80 lbs. or so (as he recalled).

My expertise is more on the F-K...so with limited knowledge on the E model...this was something new...

has anyone ever read anything about this?

[edwest2]

According to:


Messerschmitt Bf 109: The Design and Operational History

By Jan Forsgren


"The Bf 109E/U1 featured armoured protection for the radiator." It is listed under "Field Modification Designations"




Ed