Does anyone have any photos of 109s in RAF colours? I have seen some but haven't any to hand. Many thanks for any help. Best wishes, David
: View attachment 1111 View attachment 1111 B) A picture of a Me 109 in RAF Colours - this was taken at Chelveston Airfield when it was on an evaluation flight. dakota
Hope these help. View attachment 1112 View attachment 1113 View attachment 1114 View attachment 1115 View attachment 1116 View attachment 1117 View attachment 1118 View attachment 1119 View attachment 1120
Dakota and Spidge, Very many thanks. These photos are just what I was looking for. Which book did you find them in? With best wishes, David
A few Me 109s landed in British hands the hard way -- crashes in Britain, and the planes in good enough shape for the erks to put them back together for flight, but most of those the RAF played with were captured abandoned due to lack of fuel on airbases or postwar.
Here are three more images for you, the last one, was given to me by a very close friend who's father took the picture during WW2 at RAF Duxford. There is a covering letter that was with the picture that states that the Bf 109 was shot down by a Hurricane a few days after it was taken. The last one I have copyrighted, I am sorry to do this, I put this image on the web last year and I saw all over the place with no reference to where it was from. I also have a number of other images from Duxford dated ww2 period, both of Allied and German aircraft I hope to be placing on my site very soon.
Matzos, Many thanks. So the national markings had no effect, aircraft recognition being the key. It raises the question of how much could be expected of national markings. David
Just by way of interest (and somewhat off topic) The Royal Yugoslavian airforce mated a Hurricane airframe with a Diamler-Benz DB 601 engine, the following information is from: http://www.unrealaircraft.com/hybrid/hurricane.php </div><div class='quotemain'> Engineers Ilic and Sivcev at the Ikarus plant, Zemun, outside Belgrade, made the conversion, by the fitting of new engine bearers, cowlings and cooling system manufactured at the Ikarus factory. The one Hurricane fitted with a DB601A engine for comparison with the Merlin-engined version was tested early in 1941. The conversion was extremely successful, and experimental aircraft displayed better take-off performance and climb rate than either the standard Hurricane or the Bf 109 E-3 and was only slightly slower than the latter. At the same time, a 1,030 h.p. Rolls-Royce Merlin III was installed in one of the IK-Z airframes, but this machine had only just been completed at the time of the German attack, and as enemy forces neared Belgrade it was destroyed by the factory workers, together with four other IK-3s undergoing overhaul or modification. JKRV pilots who flew the Hurricane conversion considered it to be superior to the standard model. [/b] Kiwimac
I've seen a number of photos over the last year, all taken at different airfields. Having talked to two lads who were based at RAF Cranage during the war, the aircraft were apparently taken from airfield to airfield to allow all pilots and crews to get to know the enemy and to enable quick recgnition. This was done with captured bombers as well as fighters. As to recognition, the only way to prevent the Ack ack crews from trying to shoot them down during the intermitting flights, each craft was escorted by two British fighters on either side. On top of this, fighters that were beyond repair were loaded onto flatback trucks and escorted around the country, being set up in towns to encourage donations during Wings For Victory weeks. I've seen a particularly good photo of an Me109 sat in a paddling pool at Congleton, Cheshire.
