MESSERSCHMITT Bf 109 AD SERIES ROBERT JACKSON © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com AIR VANGUARD 18 MESSERSCHMITT Bf 109 A‒D SERIES ROBERT JACKSON © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 (cid:423)(cid:1) The Rise of the Luftwaffe DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT 6 (cid:423)(cid:1) The Path to the Bf 109: Messerschmitt’s Early Designs (cid:423)(cid:1) The Messerschmitt Bf 108: Technical Description (cid:423)(cid:1) The Bf 109’s Rival Designs (cid:423)(cid:1) Testing the Bf 109 (cid:423)(cid:1) The Early Marks (cid:423)(cid:1) The Bf 109 into Service (cid:423)(cid:1) The 109 That Never Was: The Me 209 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS 30 (cid:423)(cid:1) The Choice of Engine (cid:423)(cid:1) Selecting the Armament (cid:423)(cid:1) The Airframe (cid:423)(cid:1) The Cockpit (cid:423)(cid:1) Technical Data OPERATIONAL HISTORY 38 (cid:423)(cid:1) Combat Evaluation in Spain, 1936–39 (cid:423)(cid:1) The Campaign in Poland, September 1939 (cid:423)(cid:1) Conclusions CAMOUFLAGE AND MARKINGS 62 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FURTHER READING 63 INDEX 64 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com MESSERSCHMITT Bf 109 A‒D SERIES INTRODUCTION Of all the fighter types that battled in the skies during World War II, four stand out above all the rest. They are the Supermarine Spitfire, the North American P-51 Mustang, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, and the Messerschmitt Bf 109. The name of designer Willy Messerschmitt is synonymous with the latter, a small, angular yet aesthetically appealing monoplane the combat record of which in World War II made it one of the true immortals of aviation history. It possessed its quota of shortcomings, which were widely publicized and often exaggerated by the Allies for propaganda purposes, but in 1939 it was superior to any other fighter then in service, with the possible exception of the Spitfire. Like the Spitfire, it remained in front-line service from the first day of the war until the last, forming the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. In terms of production, it accounted for more than 60 per cent of all German single-seat Hermann Göring, pictured fighters built between 1936 and the final collapse of the Third Reich in 1945. here wearing the Ordre pour In the hands of a novice it could be a dangerous aircraft, especially during le Mérite, Germany’s highest the approach to landing, and some pilots never lost their fear of flying it; five per decoration for gallantry, had cent of all 109s built, some 1,750 aircraft, were destroyed in landing accidents. been a fighter ace in World War I, with 22 victories. But in the hands of an experienced pilot it was a formidable fighting machine, Appointed to command the even when later developments made it much heavier and even more tricky to fly. new Luftwaffe, he had little The Bf 109 saw service in larger numbers than any of the others, about technical knowledge and was 35,000 being produced in total. In fact, only one other World War II combat far from being a sound tactician. (Martin Goodman) type was built in greater quantity, and that was Russia’s Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik ground-attack aircraft. Evaluated under combat conditions in the Spanish Civil War, the Bf 109 quickly proved itself superior to any other fighter type engaged in that conflict, and it was in Spain that the fighter tactics were developed that allowed the Luftwaffe to wreak havoc among its opponents in the early months of World War II. The Rise of the Luftwaffe When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany in January 1933 and embarked on an open programme of rearmament, the first problem they had to consider – insofar as the creation of a modern air arm was concerned – was that Germany was still disarmed and vulnerable and therefore faced with the real prospect of a preventive war waged by her neighbours to stop her resurrection as a military power. It was this consideration, more than 4 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com any other, which dictated the structure of the future Luftwaffe. France was Hitler’s greatest fear, and France had a large army. The Germans, therefore, had no real choice in deciding whether their air force was to be built around a nucleus of strategic bomber aircraft, as was Britain’s, or a nucleus of tactical ground support aircraft, as was France’s. Attractive though the strategic option might seem in terms of political advantage, what the Germans needed, if they were to resist any possible military action by the French, was a strong tactical air force that could be assembled quickly and equipped with the most modern combat aircraft Germany’s industry could produce. The whole machinery of the new air arm had to be built from scratch. Given the facts that no German air force survived from the 1914–18 war, except as a secret planning staff within the army, and that the aviation industry was geared entirely towards civil aircraft production, the development of the Luftwaffe was an enormously complex task. That it succeeded was not due to Professor Willy Hermann Göring, the Reich Air Minister who became Commander-in-Chief Messerschmitt, whose name was to become synonymous of the Luftwaffe in March 1935. A fine pilot and an ace with 22 victories on with one of the most famous the Western Front, who had commanded the Richthofen Geschwader in its fighter aircraft in aviation latter days, Göring nevertheless remained almost entirely ignorant of the history. Messerschmitt leading principles of air power application throughout his career. The real became fascinated with driving force was Erhard Milch, State Secretary in the new Air Ministry, who aviation at an early age, having witnessed the flights possessed a thorough knowledge of the capabilities of the German aircraft of Count Ferdinand von industry and who had excellent political connections within the Reich. Milch Zeppelin’s early airships. had left the military after the war and become the head of Luft Hansa, the (Martin Goodman) German airline company. This fact, together with his arrogance, later brought him into conflict with Luftwaffe officers who had remained professional soldiers during the difficult years of the post-war Weimar Republic. One of the leading priorities of the new regime was airfield construction. Messerschmitt’s keenest rival for lucrative Luftwaffe New airfields sprang up all over Germany, often with scant regard for the nature contracts was Ernst Heinkel, of the foundations on which they were built or for the surrounding terrain. whose excellent He 51 biplane, Many were little more than grass strips that turned to mud during periods of pictured here, was the heavy rain. Those that did have concrete runways later proved inadequate to mainstay of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force until the arrival accommodate future generations of advanced combat aircraft, and it was often of the Bf 109. Many of impossible to extend the runways because of the local topography. Germany’s future fighter aces As far as military aircraft construction was concerned, the designer gained their first victories Ernst Heinkel rapidly moved into a leading position, thanks to his willingness while flying the He 51 in Spain. The aircraft seen here to design and build every type of aircraft required by the crash re-equipment belonged to JG 2 ‘Richthofen’ programme. In the early 1930s Heinkel produced the He 45 light bomber, the and had distinctive red noses. He 46 tactical reconnaissance aircraft and the He 51 fighter, all of which (Martin Goodman) formed the backbone of the new Luftwaffe’s tactical units. He also built the He 50, which served in the dive-bombing role until the introduction of the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka, the He 59 and He 60 floatplanes, and the He 72 Kadett, which became one of the Luftwaffe’s most important primary trainers. He was also responsible for the He 70 fast commercial airliner, which, although a failure when adapted for military purposes, nevertheless contributed much to the development of Heinkel’s most famous design, the He 111 bomber. By the end of 1933 the Luftwaffe’s requirements for the next generation of combat 5 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com aircraft were clearly defined, and within the next two years prototypes of aircraft such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Junkers Ju 88 and Dornier Do 17 were making their appearance. By 1939 these aircraft would make the Luftwaffe technically the best-equipped air arm in the world, and yet in its command and control system there were severe limitations. The overemphasis on tactics and operations was at the expense of other spheres such as logistics, intelligence, signals, training and air transport. Moreover, some senior Luftwaffe operational commanders were former army officers who had never piloted an aircraft, let alone led a squadron or wing; in the RAF (Royal Air Force) or USAAC (United States Army Air Corps) this would have been unthinkable. In the early, critical years of World War II, the appointment of the wrong commanders to key positions was to cost the Luftwaffe dear. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT By 1933, the year in which the Nazis came to power in Germany, the Bf 109’s designer, Wilhelm Emil ‘Willy’ Messerschmitt, was already a leading light in German aeronautical circles. Today, his name is legendary throughout the world of aviation, thanks to his creation of one of history’s most famous fighter aircraft, but few people will recognize the name of Friedrich Harth, an early business partner who had a key role in helping Messerschmitt on the road to success. Willy Messerschmitt was born in Frankfurt am Main on 26 June 1898, the son of a wine merchant who died when Willy was young. In 1906, when Willy was eight, the family moved to Bamberg, where the boy attended Realschule, a secondary school for those studying science and technology. His mother, Elsie Fellerer Messerschmitt, remarried in 1916, her new husband being the American painter and Munich Academy Professor, Carl von Marr. The  marriage ended with Elsie’s death in 1919. Willy Messerschmitt, meanwhile, had become fascinated with aviation at an early age, having witnessed Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin’s early airships. His fascination led him to build model gliders and, at the age of 13, while still a schoolboy, he met Friedrich Harth, who lived in the area. Harth was an architect and pioneer glider designer. Messerschmitt became Harth’s assistant in his spare time, helping him to design, build and test the gliders, and continued the work when Harth was called up for military service in 1914. The current project was a glider designated S5, the ‘S’ denoting Segelflugzeug, or sailplane. In 1917, his studies completed, Messerschmitt was also called up for military service and was assigned to a flight training school near Munich, where Harth was also stationed. On returning to civilian life the pair quickly Messerschmitt’s first venture into commercial aircraft design was the M17 (a flying replica is seen here), a lightweight all-wood sports aircraft powered by a reliable British Bristol Cherub 29hp air-cooled engine. In September 1926 it made a 14 hour flight across the Alps, with three refuelling stops. Messerschmitt was badly injured when the M17 he was flying crashed. (Martin Goodman) 6 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com resumed their glider design activities, Messerschmitt meanwhile receiving further engineering instruction at the Munich Technical College. Gliding was now a fast- growing sport in post-war Germany, and Harth and Messerschmitt took the opportunity to enter their designs in the competitions that were being held all over the country. It was in 1921 that Willy Messerschmitt designed the first of his own gliders, the tailless S9. On 31 August 1921, Harth set up a new glider endurance record of 21 minutes at Rhön in his latest design, the S8, but later that day he crash-landed and broke his pelvis. Other pilots were engaged to The Messerschmitt M18 was fly the gliders, and brought in enough prize money to enable Harth and developed at the request of Theodore Croneiss, who Messerschmitt to set up their own flight training school in 1922. The venture wanted the type to equip was short lived. Harth began to criticize Messerschmitt’s design work, claiming his new feeder airline, the that the junior partner’s design input resulted in the gliders being unstable in Nordbayerische Verkehrsflug. flight. In the end the partnership was dissolved in 1923 and the two men went The prototype was built of wood, but production aircraft their separate ways. featured an all-metal Willy founded his own aircraft company, the Flugzeugbau Messerschmitt, structure. Production forced and soon set about designing powered aircraft. The first was the M17, a a merger between lightweight all-wood sports aircraft powered by a reliable British Bristol Cherub Messerschmitt and BFW. 29hp air-cooled engine. The aircraft was regularly flown by Theodor Croneiss, (Lufthansa) a World War I ace who had gained five victories on the Ottoman Front, and who on one occasion reached a speed of 149km/h (93mph) in it. In September 1926, pilot Eberhard von Conta and a passenger, the writer Werner von Langsdorff, flew the little aircraft from Bamberg to Rome, marking the first time the central Alps were crossed by a light aircraft. The flight lasted 14 hours, with three refuelling stops on route, and the M17 reached an altitude of 4,500m (14,760ft). Willy Messerschmitt, meanwhile, had learned to fly in 1925, but his career as a pilot was short lived. The M17 which he was piloting crashed, putting him in hospital for some time. Despite this setback, both the M17 and its successor, the M18, boosted the reputation of Messerschmitt's fledgling company immensely, and he and Croneiss went into business together. They saw an immediate opportunity for expansion when the state-owned airline Deutsche Luft Hansa was formed in 1926, and they set up a feeder service, the Nordbayerische Verkehrsflug, to fly to the airports that Luft Hansa served, using four-seater Messerschmitt M18s. What Messerschmitt now needed was funds. He had many orders for new aircraft, but no credit to obtain the necessary materials to build them. He petitioned the Bavarian government, which set up a deal involving the merger of his company with the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraft Works, or BFW) of Augsburg, which was in financial trouble. The deal was that BFW would limit itself to the production of Messerschmitt’s designs, relinquishing independent design work, while Messerschmitt agreed to give BFW first priority in the development of his new types. The two companies were consequently to retain their individuality, while pooling their economic resources. In practice, the deal gave Messerschmitt access to a large manufacturing facility and added a number of highly skilled workers to his workforce. A formal agreement was reached on 8 September 1927, 7 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com and  Messerschmitt moved his operations from Bamberg to Augsburg. He himself assumed the role of chief designer in the new enterprise. Willy Messerschmitt, not yet 30 years old, was now one of Germany’s youngest aircraft manufacturers. His company adopted a stylized eagle, soaring upward, as its logo, and he began taking more orders. It seemed that the future was bright; in fact, unforeseen troubles lay just over the horizon. In 1928, while Heinkel, Junkers and other German manufacturers were developing military designs and testing them in secret, Willy Messerschmitt continued to design civil types, in the hope of capturing a slice General Erhard Milch, seen of the civil aviation market in Germany and beyond. He pinned great hopes with Willy Messerschmitt on on his next commercial design, the M20, which was intended to carry ten his left. The two did not get on passengers. The prototype took to the air for the first time on 26 February and Milch did his best to 1928, piloted by Hans Hackman, but the flight ended in disaster when the throw obstacles in the aircraft designer’s path. On Milch’s fabric covering the wing trailing edges became loose. Hackman might have right is Albert Speer, the succeeded in making an emergency landing, but instead he bailed out at only future German Armaments 250 feet (76m) and was killed when his parachute failed to open in time. For Minister. (Martin Goodman) Messerschmitt, the consequences of this accident were made worse by the fact that Erhard Milch was a close friend of Hackman and convinced himself that Messerschmitt showed little or no remorse over the pilot’s death. The upshot was that he cancelled a Luft Hansa order for the M20. Undeterred, Messerschmitt went ahead with the construction of a second M20 prototype, which had a trouble-free maiden flight with Theo Croneiss at the controls. The Luft Hansa order was reinstated and deliveries to the airline began, but soon afterwards two M20s were involved in serious crashes, one of which killed eight senior officers of the Reichswehr (the post-war German army), and the airline cancelled further orders. Messerschmitt persevered with his civil designs, including the M21 two- seat trainer, the M22 twin-engine mail-plane, the M23 two-seat touring monoplane, and the M24 eight-passenger transport. They did not attract enough interest to be built in quantity, and by the end of 1929 BFW found itself in financial difficulty, despite receiving development subsidies. In June 1931 it went into receivership. This did not affect Messerschmitt, which had retained its status as an independent company, and it continued to trade with the help of funds raised from the sale of Messerschmitt’s car and the purchase by Romania of a licence to build the M23b. In 1932, with the co-operation of the administrator, Messerschmitt attempted to reinstate BFW, and accommodations were reached with most of the creditors. While these negotiations were in progress, the Ernst Heinkel AG approached Augsburg Town Council, one of the principal creditors, and asked permission to rent the BFW premises, but this request was turned down and BFW began trading again in May 1933 under Messerschmitt’s direction. It was at this juncture that Erhard Milch, who had been appointed Secretary of State for Air in the new Nazi government, made his dislike of Willy Messerschmitt clear by stating that he would not support the rejuvenated BFW company, insisting that it should concern itself solely with the licence manufacture of aircraft developed by other firms. As BFW could survive only by yielding to Milch’s demands, the management accepted an order for the construction of ten Heinkel He 45c army observation aircraft. 8 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com As BFW was clearly not going to receive any government orders for the development of new aircraft types, Rakan Kokothaki, who was joint manager of BFW with Willy Messerschmitt, travelled to Bucharest in June 1933 and succeeded in obtaining an order from a Romanian company for the development of a new transport aircraft, the eight-seat M36. The order provided Messerschmitt with sufficient funds to retain the last few members of his design team, but it also provided an excuse for Oberstleutnant (later General) Wilhelm Wimmer, an influential official in the Air Ministry’s Technical Office, to lodge a serious complaint about the fact that BFW had obtained a foreign development contract. Messerschmitt did not mince his words, telling Wimmer that the dispute between him and Erhard Milch had excluded BFW and him from all contact with the German government. BFW needed production orders to survive, and without such orders from Germany the company had no choice but to go elsewhere. A relaxation of the Air Ministry’s attitude towards BFW and Messerschmitt became apparent when, in the summer of 1933, the RLM (Reichsluftminsterium, Air Ministry) decided to participate in the Challenge de Tourisme Internationale, a contest for sports aircraft. In view of Messerschmitt’s track record in designing such types, he was instructed to design and build an aircraft to compete in the event. The aircraft, a four-seat cabin low-wing monoplane, was the first of its size to feature all-metal stressed-skin construction. It also had a retractable undercarriage. The aircraft carried the company designation M37. It would become better known to the world as the Messerschmitt Bf 108, and it was to prove a crucial stepping stone in the development of the Bf 109. The Path to the Bf 109: Messerschmitt’s Early Designs Type Year Powerplant  Role S.3 1914 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider, built by Friedrich Harth and Willy Messerschmitt S.4 1914 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider, built by Friedrich Harth and Willy Messerschmitt S.5 1914 None Glider Original design by Friedrich Harth; work completed by Willy Messerschmitt S.6 1916 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider, built by Friedrich Harth and Willy Messerschmitt S.7 1918 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider, built by Friedrich Harth and Willy Messerschmitt S.8 1921 None Glider Designed by Harth and Messerschmitt. Glider endurance record (21min) on 31 August 1921 S.9 1921 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider. First glider designed entirely by Messerschmitt S.10 1922 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider. Designed as a training glider S.11 1922 None Glider High-wing single-seat wing-warping glider. Designed as a training glider S.12 1922 None Glider Experimental parasol-monoplane glider, designed for training S.13 1923 None Glider First Messerschmitt glider design with enclosed fuselage S.14 1923 None Glider Development of S.13 with cantilever wing S.15 1924 14hp Douglas Sprite Powered glider 9 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com Motorized glider originally powered by a 10hp Victoria engine. Fitted with wheels S.16 1924 24hp Douglas Sprite Light aircraft Two-seat tandem light aircraft, reclassified from powered glider M.17 1925 29hp Bristol Cherub Light aircraft Two-seat tandem light aircraft. Eight built, alternative powerplants were Douglas Sprite or ABC Scorpion M.18 1926 80hp Siemens Sh.11 Airliner High-wing cantilever monoplane cabin airliner. Pilot in open cockpit; three passengers. 26 built M.18a 1926 80hpSiemens Sh.11 Airliner M.18 variant with metal construction. Two built M.18b 1927 110hp Siemens Sh.12 Transport Could also carry four passengers M.18c 1927 220hp AS Lynx Survey Designed for use as photographic survey aircraft. Three built M.18d 1927 325hp Wright Whirlwind Transport Also converted to floatplane configuration M.19 1927 24 hp ABC Scorpion Light aircraft Low-wing ultralight single-seat monoplane. Two built M.20 1928 500hp BMW VI Airliner Monoplane cabin airliner, ten passengers plus pilot. Fifteen built M.21 1928 84hp Siemens Sh.11 Trainer Two-seat trainer. The first of only two biplane designs by Messerschmitt. Not accepted for production Two 500hp Siemens M.22 1928 Bomber Jupiter Three-seat reconnaissance bomber, originally conceived as a night fighter. One prototype built M.23 1929 38hp ABC Scorpion Light aircraft Two-seat low-wing sports aircraft, derived from  M.19. Over 100 built. M.23b was floatplane version, M.23c had enclosed cockpit with perspex canopy. Over 100 built. Won the Circuit of Europe in 1929‒30. Multiple engine choices. The ICAR Universal Biloc (14 built) was a Romanian sports and aerobatic derivative. M.24 1928 320hp BMW IV Airliner High-wing cabin monoplane airliner, eight passengers. Four built M.25 1929 – Light aircraft Light aircraft designed for Ernst Udet. Projected only M.26 1930 100hp Siemens Sh.11 Light aircraft High-wing cabin monoplane, 3-4 passengers. One built M.27 1932 120hp Argus As.8 Light aircraft Low-wing two-seat sports aircraft, built in small numbers only 525hp Pratt & Whitney M.28  1932 Mailplane Hornet Low-wing all-metal mailplane. Two built M.29 1932 150hp Argus As.8R Racing aircraft Two-seat low-wing aircraft designed specifically for the 1932 Circuit of Europe air races. Did not take part following two fatal crashes. Four aircraft (possibly six) built. M.30 1932 175hp Wright Whirlwind Light aircraft All-metal version of M.26 cabin monoplane. Project only. M.31 1933 60hp BMW X Light aircraft Light low-wing two-seat sports monoplane. One built M.32 1932 Trainer   Projected two-seat military training biplane. Five partly-completed airframes completed as Heinkel He 72 M.33 1933 - Light aircraft Ultra-light single-seat parasol-wing monoplane, underslung fuselage pod with engine, intended as a cheap ‘people’s aeroplane’. Project only Prototype long-distance  M.34 1934 – aircraft Designed as a long-distance record-breaking aircraft with 12,400-mile (20,000km) range. Known as the “Antipodenflugzeug” (Antipodean Aircraft). Project only 10 © Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com