Correct spelling

[CJE]

Raised with William Green's books in my feeding bottle, I was in the habit of writing: Bf 109G-6, He 111H-2, Me 262A-1...
For some years I have been reading more books by more recent authors who write: Bf 109 G-6, He 111 H-2, Me 262 A-1... (ie with a blank between the aircraft designation and the version letter).

What is the correct spelling?
And why this change?

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[tango35]

For a correct spelling write e.g. Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-8, so you have a complete right spelling. For the correct spelling of a 109 or 110 you have to seperate the the series before and after 1939. When Professor Willy Meserschmitt become the owner of the company the designation changed from BF 109 to Me 109 ; for the special model and the spelling look at th beginning.
e.g. Messerschmitt Me 109 K-4 " Kurfürst"

greets

Thomas

[ArtieBob]

IMHO, CJE is really asking what was the correct format for writing RLM aircraft designations, as they applied both to military and civilian aircraft. In most documents, the format is: RLM manufacturer 2 or three letter code, space, sequential 8-list number, space, Alpha subtype, hyphen, numeric sequence modifier as follows for the Messerschmitt Bf 109 K-4.
For Messerschmitt designs, the RLM code was not based upon manufacture date, but rather 8-nummer sequence assignment date. Thus Bf 109 and 110 were the correct formats through production to war's end. I believe the last design to use the Bf code was the Bf 163, but IIRC some of the earliest 209 and 210 documents I have seen may have used it.

As is true of almost all issues related to the LW, there are exceptions. In less frequent text references (but not in manuals, production or operational documents), Me is used in relation to the 109. Also some documents do not have a hyphen between the subtype and numeric, but thias also is fairly rare. I am no expert, but this is based on looking at least a quarter million pages of original documents and copies.

Best Regards,

Artie Bob

[Jim P.]

"at least a quarter million pages of original documents and copies."

I hereby dub thee at expert......

[CJE]

Thanks to all.
So I guess I have to update my way of spelling designations.

[ju55dk]

Acccording to an official RLM-document from 19. april 1941 named:

Zusammenstellung der eingeführten Flugzeugmuster

Spelling is like this.
Bf 109 F-1, Ju 87 B-2, Do 17 U-1, He 111 H-6 and so on!

Junker

[Primoz]

Originally Posted by ArtieBob

I believe the last design to use the Bf code was the Bf 163

Maybe you ought to have mentioned that the Bf 163 has nothing to do with the Me 163 (you certainly know it - but I'm not sure if casual readers know it too )

[George Hopp]

Acccording to an official RLM-document from 19. april 1941 named:
Zusammenstellung der eingeführten Flugzeugmuster
Spelling is like this.
Bf 109 F-1, Ju 87 B-2, Do 17 U-1, He 111 H-6 and so on!
Junker

Thanks for that, Junker. How do they handle further breakdowns such as Bf 109 G-6 /R2?

Again, thanks,
George

[ju55dk]

Originally Posted by George Hopp

Thanks for that, Junker. How do they handle further breakdowns such as Bf 109 G-6 /R2?

Again, thanks,
George

As the list is from 1941 it does not contain examples of this sort sadly!

Junker

[Martti Kujansuu]

Originally Posted by ju55dk

Zusammenstellung der eingeführten Flugzeugmuster

Spelling is like this.
Bf 109 F-1, Ju 87 B-2, Do 17 U-1, He 111 H-6 and so on!

On the other hand, on "Ersatzteilliste (Truppenersatzteilliste) Für VDM-Verstelluftschraube. Ausgabe Oktober 1941" the spelling is like this:

Bf 109 F 1, but
He 111 H-1!

Martti