Nice photo find - German planes captured by British Paratroopers

[ChristianK]

The attached pics plus some more can be found here: www.pegasusarchive.org/varsity/frames.htm

These two Fw 190 F-9s with flame dampers (440382 "10" and ?????? "11") are already known, but can someone tell me anything about the identity of Fw 190 "KT+UO"? I can't find this Stammkennzeichen block in my references.

Also: What are the installations on the wing leading edges of the attached Bf 109? Cameras?

Cheers,
Christian

[ouidjat]

Hello Christian,

Wonderful find! Here is the first photo - expired eBay auction, October 2011 - we already got!

[ouidjat]

Same source:
Then... I believe - we already talked about it times ago - it's one of the first MG108 trials for future Bf109K-6.
Look at K-6 mock-up photo, look at the leading edge and look at the same leading edge curves (yellow arrows) on actual picture ..

StKz ??+EM or ??+LM.

Regards, Franck.

[veltro]

Sorry Franck, but I don't think those are MK 108 structures, or for any other weapon.

IMHO, the "mouth" of the structure is far too smooth and devoid of any visible support to receive a bolted-on part to let us think that a barrel and its cap could be placed there.

Also, the shape of the structure extends also above the wing, whereas the mock-up of the MK 108 nacelle is protuding only below the wing.

Last but not least, the whole frontal part of the mock-up seems to me a lot rounder.

This for why it doesn't seems a weapon to me; to determine what it could be it's all another matter... my wild guess is that those could be aerodinamic enclosures for photo or cine cameras.

Always IMHO, of course.

[ouidjat]

Dear Ferdinando,

These are your thoughts. Technical details between this and that aren't that important when we don't know what's the matter.

Can be more rounded, can be less rounded as well. What I said is the gun tubes have been removed.

Place seems to be Luneburg which is very close to weapon test plane at E-Stelle Travemünde.
Last known cameras to be put on Bf109G and K-4 were BSK 16 (or something like that) And fairings were quite different than what we are discovering down there.

Best and friendly regards, Franck.

[bearoutwest]

Originally Posted by veltro

.......
Also, the shape of the structure extends also above the wing, whereas the mock-up of the MK 108 nacelle is protuding only below the wing.
......

Ferdinando,
I don't know enough about Bf109K-6's to agree or disagree with you on your overall conclusion....except that the wing-only photo is probably placed on the test-rig upside down - so the wheel well is on the top. So the cannon or camera or whatever mounting, does protrude below the wing on an installed aircraft.

Regards,
...geoff

[veltro]

Originally Posted by bearoutwest

Ferdinando,
I don't know enough about Bf109K-6's to agree or disagree with you on your overall conclusion....except that the wing-only photo is probably placed on the test-rig upside down - so the wheel well is on the top. So the cannon or camera or whatever mounting, does protrude below the wing on an installed aircraft.

Regards,
...geoff

Geoff, just to be precise, I know that photo of the 30mm cannon "blended gondola" mock-up since it appeared fifteen years ago in the fantastic Tomas Poruba's work on the Bf 109K-4 C&M, and yes, I noticed it was upside down... my comment was relative to the fact that "that" mock-up appears to protude only below the wing, whereas the structure on the modified G-6 is clearly extending also above the wing leading edge.

That such structure could be a variation to the one shown by Poruba's photo is certainly possible, but, beyond apparent logic, I still feel that it could house something else. Silly me, of course...

[ChrisS]

Thank you Christian, there is also a Ju 88 and Me 262 on the same website all found by British Paratroops
.

Regards
Chris

[Martin388]

As far as I can see this is definitely not a Bf109K-6 but very likely a G-6. There seem to be a Stammkenzeichen applied xx+EM or LM visible. This would be likely for a weapon test bed aircraft. It could be a trail for an integration of a Bordrakete BR into the wing structure in order to reduce the drag from external racks for e.g. BR21.

Is there an indication for the location where this photo has been taken?

Martin

[ouidjat]

Originally Posted by Martin388

As far as I can see this is definitely not a Bf109K-6 but very likely a G-6. There seem to be a Stammkenzeichen applied xx+EM or LM visible. This would be likely for a weapon test bed aircraft. It could be a trail for an integration of a Bordrakete BR into the wing structure in order to reduce the drag from external racks for e.g. BR21.

Is there an indication for the location where this photo has been taken?

Martin

No one said it was a K-6.