More4 Tonight – Nazi War Machines with James Holland

Thanks for that, Aeronaut. Fascinating stuff, straight from the horses mouth! 

This is the paragraph on workmanship (build quality) in the RAE report on the FW190 that landed at RAF Pembrey in June 1942. Maybe Mr Holland had a point.

James Holland’s remarks about the difference in time for manufacturing the ‘109 compared with the Spitfire were interesting. From a mass production perspective he stated the Messerschmitt was quicker to build. This maybe correct for the airframe, but wasn’t it the reverse for the engines? The Merlin was quicker to build and could be used for longer durations between surfacing too?

On balance, wouldn’t that have meant overall production was pretty equal between the types?

Surprised he didn’t go up in the Twochon/Bichon while covering the Me109.

Was the construction of the Fw190 so shoddy as the example he looked at? (Cosford’s?) – the bolts and washers and metal plates in the wing roots were hardly conducive to good aerodynamics or were they holding the aircraft together as a result of it being hacked about post war?

Thanks for the heads up Paul.