Are you looking for the best performer in high or low alts? First of all, Bf-109G-6/U3 being a recon plane is a widely spread snafu in aviation literature
. It comes from kill claiming reports of some close-range recon squadrons. In reality planes in those reports were most probably Bf-109G-4/U3s.
If you are looking for high-alt performance and aren't interested in how much got produced or how much of them were operationally used...I'd say the best performing 109 at high alt during whole year 1943 was Bf-109G-1/U2 allthough it was already introduced in late 1942. It had all its armor and auxiliary fuel tank mount removed. Its fuel tank wasn't protected in any way and was made out of alumium. Only 80 of them were produced though. Bf-109G-1/U2 used GM-1 injection which was 115 liter tank behind the pilot containing 36,4% of oxygen and 63,6% of nitrogen. 115 liter tank was enough for 45-50 minutes of use. GM-1 gave 100km/h gain in speed at 12000m which meant top speed of 660km/h at that alt.
But if we are looking for planes that were widely used...there is Bf-109G-6/U2 for high alt and Bf-109G-6/U3 for medium and lower alts. U2 was the designation for the GM-1 injection and U3 for the MW-50 methanol-water injection. As you said MW-50 raised the horsepower output from 1475hp to 1800hp. Plane equipped with GM-1 was fairly easy converted to MW-50 in the field conditions and it was done a lot. My best guess for the introduction dates of these systems in G-6 airframes is the first half of 1943. Armanent options were the same as in other G-6 and G-1 fighters. As for the performance, check wells' link.
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1Wmaker1
[ 07-17-2001: Message edited by: Wmaker ]
