Good 109E article

[Die Hard]

I know they'ra bout the same, but the 109 only gets that far by splaying it's legs
Quiz: What did the pilot in the first article say about it:
Hint:
"Both of the tires are mounted “crooked”, rolling with a camber angle of about 25°...

They're not "crooked" when the plane is in a three-point configuration, only when the tail is high. The wheels are designed to be straight when the plane rests on all three wheels. That's why a 109 should always be three-pointed on landing, and as Major Williams says the tail should not be raised on take off either. The 109 should be allowed to take off on its own. Many of the greenhorns were afraid to fly slow enough to get the slats out on landing, thus landing on two wheels in a tail-high configuration; that's dangerous in a 109.

Here's a pretty much perfect take off and landing of a 109:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzgYkfq9OVw&feature=related

You can see by the deflection of the elevators that he keeps the controls neutral and doesn't push the tail up at take off, but lets the plane fly off by itself thus unloading the main wheels before rotating. The landing is also as good as makes no difference: Perfect.

[Die Hard]

This is mind-boggling from a serviceability perspective.  Get an oil leak from a few bullets, land, go take a leak/dump, come back, and you've got not only a new load-out of ammo, but a new engine to boot in just 12 minutes.

I wonder what the service times were like for other WWII aircraft?

Longer... However, the DB 605 (109G onwards) was only a 150 hour engine because it was made from crap (Germans lacked many important strategic resources at that point in the war). They needed to pull the engines on their planes a lot more often that what the Allies did, tough not as often as the Russians.

[Angus]

I recall Rall's comment on this. He flew a captured Mustang, that had quite a lot of hours on the clock and noted the propeller being practically unmoveable by hand. In the 109, he said, you could rotate with one hand after only about 10 hours of flying time.
So, the ease of the 109's installing-uninstalling was a marvel, and a necessary one.

[MiloMorai]

This 12 minute engine change leaves a lot out of what was involved in the change. For example, was the prop on the new engine or was the prop from the old engine removed and installed on the new engine. Was all the coolant and oil lines and engine and prop controls connected?

[Angus]

I'd put a wild guess on the raw move, - i.e. the time to remove the "egg" and put another one in it's place, thereby work being done before and after.
AFAIK, the 109 would have been the fastest aircraft of WW2 to have that kind of operation. Wasn't the 190 pretty fast as well?

[Chalenge]

but not a new engine ...

gerrrrmannssssszzzz is kewel ...

For the purposes of AH it doesnt matter. In reality your fantasies about this 109 are oversexed. The plane truly sucked at high altitude which is why the K-14 was never developed further. In TRW the controls must move further in order to have the same influence/effect and the control forces increase with speed (and the airplanes speed will increase with altitude by necessity). While the 109 is fast and can still be flown at altitude the primary reason it was outmatched by the P-51 (for instance) was its handling in the higher altitudes. All the luftwhining in the world wont change that.

[Anaxogoras]

I dunno Challenge.  I'd take a 109K-4 to a 30k dogfight any day over a P-51D.  Are you sure you're not biased by a dislike of the 109 and a fondness for the P-51?

Or is what you're saying an argument that the aircraft are modeled incorrectly in AH?  Because the 109K-4 certainly outperforms the P-51D at high altitude.

[Die Hard]

He sounds like a troll.

[thorsim]

luftwhining ?????

[Angus]

Not being a luftwhiner, the late models of 109's were the best high alt fighters the Germans had in considerable numbers late in the war.
They lost their performance superiority to the RAF in 1942 (Spit IX) and restored it on to the par with the Allies in 1944.
Bear in mind, that when Rall was jostling with Zemke's pack in 1944, the P-47's were bounced by the 109's. The 109's were quite a bit higher.
Just my 5 cents.

[Die Hard]

Wouldn't mind having a G-14/AS in the game.

[Charge]

"Wasn't the 190 pretty fast as well?"

I'd think so. At least for bomber use the BMW 801 was, AFAIK, delivered as a complete power egg which could be plugged in as a complete package which contained even the cowlings.

-C+

[Angus]

So, in both cases, the main issue would be landing the entire "egg" where it gets bolted, and meanwhile the fuel, gauges, electrics and (in the case of the 109 but not the 190) - coolant lines.
Did they have hook mountings for the procedure?

[Die Hard]

The engine was bolted to the famous Messerschmitt A-frame at four points (two on each side).



All the wires and coolant lines were fitted with quick connections. The 109's tail was raised and supported on a stand to bring the nose level, and the engine was lifted with a tripod hoist and positioned before being bolted into place. I suppose replacing the engine itself could be done in 12 minutes, but the whole procedure including testing usually took about an hour. This was usually not done in the field btw, but at the Geschwader shops. This was Nachtarbeit - night work, when the pilots were sleeping. However in less civilized parts of the war like Africa and the Russian front the Geschwader shops were usually not more than a bunch of tents and the mechanics were working under an open sky.

[Angus]

One thing baffles me, since the procedure was so fast.
In Russia, the frost gave a heck of a problem, since the aircraft were not inside anything warmed up. So, in short, the lubrication (oil) would go overly thick. The mechanics tried to cope with this, either by tapping off the oil which means filling up before start (oil kept warm elsewhere, or warmed up), or running a fire under the engine, which did cause some trouble.
With such a quick installing and uninstalling, one wonders if it wouldn't have been smart to remove the engine over night and keeping it inside a warmed up space. Perhaps that was even done?
Anyway, the problem was solved, and now I will be evil and wait for somebody to say how