Bf-109 Red 7, Down again (apparently)

I’ll second that motion.

Hispano

Intereatingly a few years ago I was fortunate enough to have an original Hispano published manual for the type pass through my hands. Their own designation for the type they were using at the time (as it appeared in print on the front cover) – ME-109J

Who cares what they’re called, let’s just enjoy the bloody things while we’re fortunate enough to still have people willing to put money into keeping them in the air. Ultimately that’s all that matters.

G

And what’s wrong with this….? 😉

See signiature

Great news on them expecting Red7 up again in a few weeks.
Any more pics of the damage underneath?

repair is already under progress, perhaps she will fly again within some weeks! 😀

Great news! 🙂

We can only hope so. Hope all goes well for them with the repairs.

repair is already under progress, perhaps she will fly again within some weeks! 😀

Was it ever intended that she was coming to Legends this year? They often advertise Me 109 and it turns out to be a Buchon.

And what’s wrong with this….? 😉

Was it ever intended that she was coming to Legends this year? They often advertise Me 109 and it turns out to be a Buchon.

any news on how bad the damage is? will we see red 7 again in the air this year?

Lets hope so

Funny, on the replica discussion board, there was a lot of discussion recently about fitting retractable landing gear to the Isaacs Spitfire – inward, obviously, due to the very limited space in the scaled-down wing.

I seem to recall the Germans experimented with a ‘109 (possibly an F-model) using inward-retracting landing gear. This set-up, of course, allowing better ground handling, but it would have disrupted the production lines too much to be implemented on the aircraft. It was, however, incorporated on the Messerschmitt 209 and 309 aircraft later on…

I am sure i have read in a number of WW2 publications that more 109 airframes were lost in take off or landing accidents then in combat. Like most tail wheel aircraft, the ideal scenario is take off and land right into wind on a large open airfield with loads of space. When things start to go wrong, there is a much higher chance of recovery undamaged, not so when operating from a limited width grass or hard runway. Ground looping is highly likely, and add a cross wind component, with the small rudder,things can and do go wrong in a blink. These aircraft will bite at near walking pace, flying stops only when you come to a halt and switches off. Proctor 1 G-IAWA was lost in France in 82, victim of a crosswind, obstacles close to the relativley narrow landing strip, and probably inexperience on type.

The strange stance of the undercarriage of the 109/derivatives doesn’t help to prevent accidents.

Cees

Flawed Design

I am sure i have read in a number of WW2 publications that more 109 airframes were lost in take off or landing accidents then in combat. Like most tail wheel aircraft, the ideal scenario is take off and land right into wind on a large open airfield with loads of space. When things start to go wrong, there is a much higher chance of recovery undamaged, not so when operating from a limited width grass or hard runway. Ground looping is highly likely, and add a cross wind component, with the small rudder,things can and do go wrong in a blink. These aircraft will bite at near walking pace, flying stops only when you come to a halt and switches off. Proctor 1 G-IAWA was lost in France in 82, victim of a crosswind, obstacles close to the relativley narrow landing strip, and probably inexperience on type.

hopefully it will be back before the end of the airshow season, but who knows?

Indeed he is………mind you, he did have a particularily good ground instructor for his intial 109 training back in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s…..none other than Erich Hartmann 😀

Looks like a peach of a wheels up landing for her to remain as relatively unscathed as she appears.

Wow^^^^

Gutted for these guys, hope they get her up and at ’em real soon

All that work, and cost, must be really dispairing to those involved.
Bf109’s and Ha1112’s have a poor history as historic/preserved aircraft, were they that bad when they were in use with their first owners, and why didnt they do something about it.

Richard

The ground handling of the Bf109G variants was described as “malicious”, and it’s well-known that a number of inexperienced Luftwaffe pilots lost their lives during training on the beast.

There were various things tried to improve the ground handling, such as the taller fin and longer tailwheel leg.

However, this seems a null and void argument, since the aeroplane wasn’t damaged in this fashion.

Indeed he is………mind you, he did have a particularily good ground instructor for his intial 109 training back in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s…..none other than Erich Hartmann 😀

Quite true! I’m sure that he goes into a bit of detail about flying the Buchon for Piece of Cake, as well as his instruction from Hartmann, in “How They Made Piece of Cake”….

Eichorn is a real pro

Indeed he is………mind you, he did have a particularily good ground instructor for his intial 109 training back in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s…..none other than Erich Hartmann 😀

Looks like a peach of a wheels up landing for her to remain as relatively unscathed as she appears.

All that work, and cost, must be really dispairing to those involved.
Bf109’s and Ha1112’s have a poor history as historic/preserved aircraft, were they that bad when they were in use with their first owners, and why didnt they do something about it.

Richard

The airframe certainly seems to have used up a number of its cats nine lives.

Bf 109 G-4 “red 7” (Me Air Company/Germany)
Behind costly restoration projects, as the restoration of an Oldtimer to airworthy condition, mostly stands a big company, holding these planes as traditional planes. Not in case of this Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-4. The restoration works were financed and done totally private. This is much more astonishing, when you remember the huge costs of such an project.
Actually this plane is not a real “genuine original”, because the restoration is based on the Ha 1112 M-1L (WNr. 139), used for the movie “Battle of Britain”. It was produced in 1950 at Hispano in Spain. Nevertheless it took eight years, until it entered service with the Spanish airforce code C.4K-75. There is nothing known about its “life” at “Ejercito del Aire”, but maybe this “Buchon” was used during the Ifni-Conflict in North Africa. In 1965 the plane was withdrawn from service and parked at the airbase in Tablada, where it stood for three years, until it was purchased for the “Battle of Britain” movie and optically converted into a Bf 109 E-4. In the movie the plane carried the markings of “yellow 11” and “red 14”. Still during 1968 the plane was intended to play a role in another movie and so was reconverted into a P-51 “Mustang”. Therefore a fake belly-cooler was attached. But the plane crashed during a take-off and was severely damaged. Later, the “Buchon” went to England, before it was shipped to the USA, where it was reviewed and fixed until 1986. During the first test-flight, the plane again crashed and was again heavily damaged. Afterwards it was poorly fixed and converted into a Bf 109 near shape for static display. 1994/95 the plane was again shipped to France and later to Augsburg (Germany), where it was planned to make it airworthy again. The French owner gave up this plan, because of the costs and made the wreck up for sale.
In October 1997 the actual owners got knowledge about this plane and made the spontaneous decision to buy it. The initiator already got a functional DB 605 engine. During the further examinations, it became obvious, that the fuselage was not useable anymore and a new would have been to construct. Only the cockpit section, the spar bridge and some other small parts could be used. Of course the team needed help from specialists, to construct parts and components for the plane. Parts of the aft fuselage were produced in England and the tail fin was made by AERA in Italy, who already restored the Bf 109 G-4 “Nesthäkchen”. The wings got a new covering and the stabilizer of a bellylanded “Gustav” was attached. The engine hood was that of a G-4, although the team initially wanted to construct a G-6. The lack of the “Beulen” (bulbs) in the hood and the resulting better view, were in favour of the G-4. The cooler is not genuine too, because the bigger variant – used with G-10 – was attached, to improve flight security.
In January 2004, the DB 605 was attached to the plane and worked without any problems. During June the ground testing begun and ended with the preliminary traffic licence. The flight testing was done by Walter Eichhorn, who also flies the Bf 109 G-6 and G-10 of the Messerschmitt Foundation. He took off for the maiden flight at August 23´rd 2004.
Being done under top secret conditions, the officially presentation of this restoration project at October 8´th in Albstadt-Degerfeld was like a thunderbolt. Prideful the owners presented their Bf 109, marked as “red seven”, that took off to its presentation flight into the blue skies.
At 07/16/2005 Siggi Knoll came in to touch down after a short flight. It was flight number 105 of this Bf 109. This landing failed and the plane touched down with only one wheel, than touched the ground with the opposite wing. The undercarriage broke, the engine was torn out and came to rest some meters beside the crashed plane. The pilot was not injured. After some days of shock, the owners decided, to repair their plane and bring it back to the skies again.

Mein Gott.Lucky no one was hurt…oh well thats show buissiness.Hope the crew look on the bright side of things and get the repairs done quickly..