“the build standard of German aircraft was little short of appalling.”
There was an interesting program on TV where Reg Hallam talked about the restoration of Black 6.
I seem to recall other British pilots, and people restoring them also talking about the Spitfire and 109.
Consensus of opinion was that both aircraft were comparable and had their faults. What I found interesting was comparison
of restoring these old aircraft.
The 109 was easier to restore because it was designed to be a production line aircraft where as the Spitfire was not.
This is evident in the construction of the two. Want to change the engine of the 109, just remove the front and swap it with another.
Want to check the engine just lower or raise the cowl.
The wings could be swapped with any other aircraft from the production. Try that with the Spitfire and they just wouldn’t fit.
The skins on the 109, although having some undesirable features had some very nice filleting and flush fitting seams.
While the Spitfire could be made on a production line the 109 was made to be a production line aircraft. This is something entirely different.
Hence the 109 was a lot quicker to produce than the Spitfire. The 109 also had a jettison-able hood. This feature was added later to the Spitfire.
While I’m not trying to say the Spit was inferior to the 109 the more I read about German manufacturing and engineering makes me think they were way ahead of us.
Perhaps some warbird restorers could comment.
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