BfW production of Bf 109 Type As

[Tom1UK]

Hi guys

I was scrolling through the old stuff from nearly a year ago, and I noticed the discussion on the Production of the type B-1s.

In the discussion was a mention of 20 Type As being build but someone (Seaplanes) firmly stated that there were 22 built/delivered.

I tend to agree with this as I have

803 to 810 8 a/c
994 to 997 4 a/c
1000 to 1009 10 a/c

Just how many Type As went to Spain. There are 4 with no civil regs so perhaps the batch were those that served with the Legion Condor

There was also mention of the W/nrs 0998 & 0999 as being Type B-1s

I agree as I have these 2 airframes as being used as license instructional prototypes for Erla & Fieseler

Can anybody confirm any of the above

Regards

Tom Willis

[olefebvre]

While i agree on the 22, i have to disagree with the Wknrs, 803 to 807 being Erla built E-3s.

[Tom1UK]

Hi Olefebvre

Who mentioned anyhting about Erla Production!!!!

The title of the request was BfW Production of Bf 109As

Regards

Tom Willis

[olefebvre]

Hummm Tom, I'm a bit lost to say the least, maybe i was not clear enough.

You mentionned that Wknr 803 to 810 were assigned to Ausburg built Anton to which i replied that this was not the case since the 803 to 807 Wknrs were attributed to Erla built Emils, but 808 to 810 were indeed Ausburg built Antons. The other Wknr blocks you mentionned were indeed attributed to Antons as well.

Cheers,
Olivier

[Tom1UK]

Hi Olivier

I now see where youre coming from. I have the 803 to 807 as being BfW Production W/nrs. My Source is the German Production Book by Vajda.

But he has many, many mistakes in his lists.

Does your info come via German Production docs. I only have a few of these and only relating to Foreign types being built by the Germans. Hence my reliance on Vajda.

Okay, taking out the 5 W/nrs that I had attributed as Antons. Which W/Nrs do you know as true Antons? Can you please list them. As my data now only shows at least 19 a/c.

Cheers

Tom

[George Hopp]

Here is a table from Radinger & Schick's "Bf 109 A-E." It is stated as having been extracted from "a partially incomplete table titled 'Delivered Bf 109 As and B-1s' dated 25 August 1937 ... most of which went to the Legion Condor in Spain. According to delivery program No. 8 of 15 August 1938 (Nr. 138/38 g.Kdos.) twenty-two aircraft had been requested and delivered. According to another delivery plan only twenty aircraft were delivered." (the table and quote are both from page 34 of the above book)

[olefebvre]

I own Vajda book and i know it's rather innacurate when it comes to 109 block yet my info is not coming from this book but from Mtt Documents.
So far i have no better than what George posted, crosschecked against other sources.
It's possible that 998 and 999 were originally delivered as Anton serving as test-beds for the Berta production and aquiring Berta status in the process. There were not that much differences between the two types and early Bertas and Anton were very similar. It would explain the missing Two, especially since 998 and 999 are lost within an Anton block, i believe it's most probable they were built as such before being transformed into Bertas.

Originally Posted by Tom1UK

Hi Olivier

I now see where youre coming from. I have the 803 to 807 as being BfW Production W/nrs. My Source is the German Production Book by Vajda.

But he has many, many mistakes in his lists.

Does your info come via German Production docs. I only have a few of these and only relating to Foreign types being built by the Germans. Hence my reliance on Vajda.

Okay, taking out the 5 W/nrs that I had attributed as Antons. Which W/Nrs do you know as true Antons? Can you please list them. As my data now only shows at least 19 a/c.

Cheers

Tom

[Hohentwiel]

And do you know the codes of these As in Spanish civil war?

[ArtieBob]

Just a guess, but consider this fact: there were RLM W.Nrs and manufacturer's W.Nrs. IIRC, it appears that V- and null series aircraft did tend to carry factory W.Nrs., not RLM assigned blocks. Is it possible that the early Bf 109s did not have RLM W.Nr. blocks assigned and that both W.Nr. sequences are correct, but they are not apples and apples, but rather apples and oranges.
Best regards,

Artie Bob