An interesting post appeared on Facebook this afternoon…
“Focke-Wulf Fw190A3a. One of the rare images of export version of the butcher bird, which was sold to Turkey in 1943.
Hitler was trying to get Turks into Axis and at the height of the war these 72 planes mysteriously found their way into Turkish Air Force. In the meanwhile Axis sided nations such as Hungary and Finland were suffering shortages in material not to mention the failing German air umbrella over Russia. The sale served to create some unique sights such as Spitfires and Focke Wulfs were flying in the same wings -where everywhere else in the world they were the enemies.
This particular plane flew with 4x MG17s as all export A3a’s were sold without cannons.
After the war one of the outlined restrictions of Marshall Plan towards Turkey was to get rid of ALL exported German material so the country could receive American counterparts in the incoming Cold war. Turkish air force sided with US, disbanded all Focke-wulf and Heinkel squadrons in 1949, dismantled every plane one by one, wrapped all pieces in oil cloths and buried them somewhere around Izmir. Who knows if they could be unearthed one day and pieces are still enough to make some of the planes airworthy.”
“They didn’t want to get rid of the planes. From what grandpa was saying (the pilot in the pic) 190 was very popular plane with the pilots and outclassing everything else in the arsenal. But there were no longer a nazi germany to supply spare parts and America was offering cheap P47D’s fresh from WW2. The airforce was getting ready for the jet era too. So they were forced to abandon good working planes.
Why buried? Hard to say. Turkey was a country of dire shortages in 40’s. Every screw, every pin, every cap was irreplaceable. They were waiting for 4 months to replace simple oil pipes. So dumping whole squadrons of nice planes to the bin… The thought must have been horrific to the old guard commanders.”
By: Sealand Tower - 9th December 2014 at 16:45
More info on the Indian 109 at the 109 Lair website. Although not updated since 2008 some great pictures of the 109 as found. On the walkaround section it is listed as wnr 4034.
By: Runway06 - 8th December 2014 at 20:18
There certainly was!
Look out for a news feature in ‘Britain at War’ Jan 2015 edition (on sale 23 December) covering this very subject.
Will look forward to reading more about the how this ME 109 was found in India. Thanks for the heads up.
By: Sopwith - 6th December 2014 at 11:41
Might be best not to start that one Dave! Suffice to say, there were no Spitfires…..
Sorry to bring this up but what was the truth about this?, as it was mentioned and has got the curiosity stirred, it deserves elaborating on a bit further. Mike J states in his post he seemed to remember on of them being registered with the CAA.
By: SADSACK - 3rd December 2014 at 22:42
Be great to see one of the Flugwerk ones in these colours but i cant see it happening
By: Mike J - 3rd December 2014 at 21:48
I remember those ones Bruce. Didn’t one of them even aspire to the CAA register at one point?
By: Bruce - 3rd December 2014 at 20:55
Might be best not to start that one Dave! Suffice to say, there were no Spitfires…..
By: antoni - 3rd December 2014 at 20:53
What colours would the FW190s have worn? A spitfire in Turkish colours is probably the most boring scheme ever!
Luftwaffe.
By: DaveM2 - 3rd December 2014 at 20:40
There was a report some years back of a couple of Spits coming out of Turkey to the UK, can’t recall the guys name but I did chat to him once or twice. Seems to have come to nothing though….. Mark 12?
By: SADSACK - 3rd December 2014 at 17:16
What colours would the FW190s have worn? A spitfire in Turkish colours is probably the most boring scheme ever!
By: jeepman - 3rd December 2014 at 09:54
I’ve always been suprised that not much in the way of historic airframes has surfaced in Turkey – given the size of the country and the diversity of aircraft used. Surely though the Turkish Air Force Museum would have been following these rumours up some time ago – for their national collection.
By: Mike J - 3rd December 2014 at 09:36
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10152945389195452&set=gm.10152339386986572&type=1&theater
By: charliehunt - 3rd December 2014 at 09:17
The OP quotes the dreaded FB, but does not actually identify the source…..
By: trumper - 3rd December 2014 at 09:08
🙂 I look forward to seeing the fw 190’s fly in formation with all those Spitfires buried in crates.Actually it would be lovely to think it may happen in the future-here’s hoping.
By: redvanner - 3rd December 2014 at 08:10
If something sounds too good to be truth, it usually is.
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd December 2014 at 08:04
A Bf.109 surely? And no, I don’t think so. Now Spitfires yes. In crates, just ready to go fly!
There certainly was!
Look out for a news feature in ‘Britain at War’ Jan 2015 edition (on sale 23 December) covering this very subject.
By: Mark12 - 3rd December 2014 at 07:43
I thought Turkey sold all the butcher birds to Israel?
I would Czech that out…it may not be kosher. 🙂
By: Sideslip - 3rd December 2014 at 06:11
I thought the butchers sold all the turkeys to Israel.
By: minimans - 3rd December 2014 at 02:12
I thought Turkey sold all the butcher birds to Israel?
By: paul178 - 3rd December 2014 at 00:02
Last post from me
Voice on Radio ” there’s a Bf on Me tail.”
I will get my coat, Goodnight!
By: Moggy C - 2nd December 2014 at 23:36
I’d rather have that than a hundred Bf v Me posts.
Moggy
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December 2, 2014 at 1:22 pm