pointless bf-109 curiosity question

[mrfish]

trivial question but it's naggin me.

almost every picture i have of the bf-109 sitting on the ground is with their flaps at full deflection.

at first i thought maybe they left them that way after landing, but when i was learning to fly my instructor drilled it into my head to get the flaps up the second you land so the wind doesn't play with you on taxi.

my guess is the wing radiators.....at full deflection the radiator flaps are also open allowing for cooling??? anybody really know   ?

[flakbait]

Several pilots of current flying 109's have commented that the engine temp increases dramatically on the ground. If you look at a cut-away of a 109's wing you'll see a boundry-layer radiator half-burried in it. It looks like a Spit's radiator, only the upper half is crammed inside the wing. The flaps on the inboard section of the wing are split into two halves. The gap between them is where the hot radiator air is expelled. Hence the reason for 109 flaps being down while on the ground.

Just an added tid-bit: taxiing a 109 is a real effort. Mark Hanna said this about taxiing: "to turn, stick forward against the instrument panel to lighten the tail. A blast of throttle and a jab of brakes. Do this in a Spitfire and you are on your nose ! The '109 however is very tail heavy and is reluctant to turn - you can very easily lock up a wheel. If you do not use the above technique you will charge off across the airfield in a straight line !" Sounds like fun to me!

 www.bf109.com  is where I got that quote. The article itself is under the Historical Docs section.

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Flakbait [Delta6]
Delta Six's Flight School
Put the P-61B in Aces High
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