Flight Replicas Messerschmitt Bf 109G6 (P3D v4)

Aircraft history

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and was still in service at the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War II in 1945. It was one of the most advanced fighters of the era, including such features as all-metal monocoque construction, a closed canopy, and retractable landing gear. It was powered by a liquid-cooled, inverted-V12 aero engine. It was commonly called the Me 109, most often by Allied aircrew and even among the German aces themselves, even though this was not the official German designation.

It was designed by Willy Messerschmitt and Robert Lusser (Lusser worked at Bayerische Flugzeugwerke during the early to mid-1930s}. Whilst the Bf 109 was conceived as an interceptor, later models were developed to fulfill multiple tasks, serving as bomber escort, fighter-bomber, day-, night-, all-weather fighter, ground-attack aircraft, and as reconnaissance aircraft. It was supplied to and operated by several states during World War II, and served with several countries for many years after the war. The Bf 109 is the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 up to April 1945.

The Bf 109 was flown by the three top-scoring German fighter aces of World War II, who claimed 928 victories among them while flying with Jagdgeschwader 52, mainly on the Eastern Front. The highest scoring fighter ace of all time, Erich Hartmann, flew the Bf 109 and was credited with 352 aerial victories. Hans-Joachim Marseille, the highest-scoring German ace in the North African Campaign, who achieved 158 aerial victories, also flew the aircraft. It was also flown by several other aces from Germany's allies, notably the Finn Ilmari Juutilainen, the highest scoring non-German ace on the type, and pilots from Italy, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary. Through constant development, the Bf 109 remained competitive with the latest Allied fighter aircraft until the end of the war.

The Bf 109 G-series ('Gustav') first appeared in February 1942, and was developed from the largely identical F-series airframe, although there were detail differences. Modifications included a reinforced wing structure, an internal bullet-proof windscreen, the use of a heavier, welded framing for the cockpit transparencies, and additional light-alloy armour for the fuel tank. It was originally intended that the wheel wells would incorporate small doors to cover the outer portion of the wheels when retracted and the outer wheel bays were squared off. Two small inlet scoops for additional cooling of the spark plugs were added on both sides of the forward engine cowlings

In February 1943, the Bf 109G6 variant was introduced with MG 131machine guns, replacing the smaller 7.92 mm MG 17. Externally this resulted in two sizeable 'Beule' blisters over the gun breeches, reducing speed by 9 km/h (6 mph).

Over 12,000 examples of the G6 were built.

(source: Wikipedia)