Sunday, August 11, 2013

Emil

Messerschmitt Bf-109E4
For those who may not know, I love aviation. Particularly military aviation. The Messerschmitt Me-109 is one of my favorite aircraft.

Technically speaking she is the Bf-109, the "Bf" standing for Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, (Bavarian Aircraft Works). I have seen references indicating that after a certain date the plane became "officially" the Me-109, in official Luftwaffe terms the aircraft remained (officially) the Bf-109 throughout her lifetime.

One of the aircraft's designers, Willy Messerschmitt purchased the 
Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, hence the "Me-109" designation. It was not unknown to see both "Me-109" and "Bf-109" in the same official Luftwaffe document!

According to Wikipedia:
All extant airframes bear the official "Bf 109" designation on their identification plates, including the final K-4 models, with the notable exception of aircraft either initially built or re-fitted by the Erla Maschinenwerke at Leipzig, which sometimes bear the erroneous Me 109 stamping.
Bureaucrats, neh?

At any rate, here's some great footage of a "May-hundert-neun" (as my old Oberstleutnant used to call her). This particular Bf-109E4 (Emil) saw action in the Battle of Britain. This particular aircraft was forced down (belly landed) and has been restored to flying condition. She currently lives in Canada.

A few facts:
  • The Bf-109 was at one time the fastest aircraft in the world...
  • The Bf-109 was the most mass produced fighter in history...
  • The Bf-109 was flown by the top scoring 5% of fighter aces of all time...
  • The Bf-109 scored more aerial victories than any other aircraft in aerial combat history...

By the way, I think the music in this video goes nicely with the footage.

10 comments:

  1. The music wasn't bad, the vid was great in full-screen. Ain't the Tube o' You just GRAND?

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    Replies
    1. The Tube of You provides me with hours of entertainment. And blog-fodder, of course.

      Delete
  2. Great video, and one scary airplane... especially for the Americans that had to go one on one with it!

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    1. At certain angles it is shark-like in silhouette.

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  3. Would have hoped there was more to the starting sequence. At least some of them had an inertia starter. Ground crew would crank a flywheel port side at the rear of the engine. When there was enough rpm, they would use a clutch to turn the engine crankshaft. Bet that was special in Russian winters.

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    Replies
    1. I did notice a guy on the port side of the nose when they were starting the engine. Not sure what (if anything) he was doing.

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  4. Should have said starboard side.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sz5t-m9IOE

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    Replies
    1. I checked out the video (nice by the way) and yeah, cranking that starter handle must have been all sorts of fun on the Eastern Front during the winter!

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  5. That is just too damn nice. I so need one.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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