How to start an Emil (large pics)

Being a newly-minted forum member (but longtime lurker), I thought it might be fun to start things off with a bang, so to speak. I run a site called The 109 Lair (which is sorely overdue for an update, I might add), and have been a fan of Willy’s fighter for as long as I can remember. This past Thursday, I spent the day with my good friend Denis Keegan up in Ontario. We first visited the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, where we met up with Tony Hayes and he gave us a grand tour of the facility, even allowing me to clamber inside their B-25J and snap a few pics. I’d recommend that museum to anyone planning a visit to Toronto or upstate New York… it’s not far across the border.

After we left there, Denis and I drove about 40 km south to Ed Russell’s facility to see if we could have a look at his aircraft collection. In this collection is a very special aircraft in the form of Messerschmitt Bf 109E-7 WNr 3579, an aircraft flown by Fähnrich Hans Joachim Marseille with I.(J)/LG2 during the Battle of Britain. Well, not only did they allow us to visit, we happened to arrive just as Andrej and Mike were about to wheel out the Emil to do a max static RPM test on the engine (they had just rehung the prop a couple days previous). Note: For those near the area, they plan to do the first test flight in mid-May, preparing for their airshow June 3-6, 2005.

Try as you might, I’m not sure anyone could possibly imagine how thrilled I was to be present for this. 😀

This series was taken from my camera (Denis has lots more), from Andrej climbing in to the completion of the engine run, which I’ve put in 1024×768 wallpaper size (three guesses what my new computer wallpaper is, and the first two don’t count!!!)

So, here’s Andrej climbing into the cockpit (more like pulling the aircraft on… it’s TIGHT!)

Once he’s in, Mike uses a shot of ether (yes, the same stuff you squirt down the carb to start your frozen 79 Camaro) while Andrej primes the injection pump, sets the mags to M1+M2, sets the pumps to P1+P2, adjusts the prop pitch, and cracks the throttle. Note that an electric starter has been retrofitted to this DB… the hole for the inertia starter crank is faired over on the starboard side.

After the ether shot, Mike walks away as Andrej energizes the starter. It coughed and popped a couple times, so a second shot was necessary…

…and that did it! She’s ALIVE! Andrej lets the engine idle here, while he checks RPM readings (they’re trying to establish a max static RPM level for the DB with this lighter composite prop- one of the things I’m trying to help them sort out using my manuals here)

Now, things start to REALLY get going. Andrej slowly advances the throttle…

…at this point, the engine was at about half power or so, and still climbing, with me standing in the propwash of that magnificent beast…

…and here’s a pic of Mike taken when the engine was at it’s highest pitch, the aircraft bucking and straining against the chocks. You’ve all seen pics of guys holding down the tail of a plane under power in shots from WWII? Well, this is what it looks like in real life- Mike was really being put thru the wringer here, the engine was up north of 2000 rpm (redline is just under 2400), and that plane wanted to FLY.

It was immediately after I shot this that I walked over to the wing and held the wingtip while the bird was under full power… oh, it was just amazing, feeling the raw power evident in that aircraft.

As the engine wound down, I went to the front of the aircraft, and got this shot the exact second that the prop stopped… Andrej is shutting off all the pumps and electrical bits at this point. The supercharger was still winding down, and the whole thing was ticking and popping.

We pushed her back in the hangar…

…where Andrej and I then unfastened the four cowling fasteners (I used a dime, he used a penny… pretty freakin’ simple) and lifted the cowling off to let it cool and check the vibration of the aft cowling under full throttle.

Here’s one of the pics taken by Denis as I exited the cockpit of 3579… sitting in an actual operational 109, still warm with the aroma of oil and exhaust faintly swirling about in the cockpit… words simply cannot convey just how amazing this experience was.

My heartfelt thanks go out to Tony, Andrej, Mike, and Denis. It’s a memory that’ll last a lifetime. 😀

Lynn