Kit Carson's article is based on Eric Browns "Enemy flight detachment" reports. Lets go to the source.
From Eric Browns "Wings of the Luftwaffe". The plane actually being flown is a Bf-109G6/U2 with the underwing gondolas. The test flight had a "steady diet" of 109's throughout the war begining with a 109E3 and ended flying a 109G14/AS. Postwar even more types were flown and evaluated.
"A see-saw battle for supremacy developed until 1942 when the Spitfire Mk IX widened the performance gap and the Bf-109 dropped off the chart to be replaced by the FW-190A"
"......if not a great fighter from the pilots viewpoint the Bf-109G was of vital importance to the Luftwaffe on every front the service was committed and a warplane worthy of respect"
"Another shortcoming was the lack of any rudder trimming device. This meant it was neccessary to apply moderate right rudder during the climb and considerable left rudder during a dive. "
"At its rather disappointing low level cruising speed of 240 mph the Gustav was certainly a delightful to fly, but the situation changed as speed increased; in a dive at 400 mph the controls felt as if they siezed!"
"However, if kept in its element, above 25,000 feet, the 109G performed efficiently as both a dogfighter and a bomber interceptor"
Eric Brown was hardly advancing an agenda other than figuring out the best tactic to shoot down Luftwaffe planes. The man lived in Germany almost half his life. His liking and respect for all things German oozes through his evaluations. Are they the end all word on Luftwaffe Iron?? Of course not, the RAF didn't have access to Daimler mechanics or factory trained techs to maintain the planes. So with that being said lets check out an official RLM document from the folks who did have the techs to maintain the planes.
Hauptman Gollob's and Test pilot Heinrich Beauvais comments from the earlier mentioned 109 vs 190 test. The aircraft being flown are a Bf-109F-4 and an FW-190A2.
The test is reprinted in "Focke-Wulf FW 190A: An illustrated History of the Luftwaffe's Legendary Aircraft" by Deitmar Hermann, Ulrich Leverenz, and Eberhart Weber.
"The FW 190's control Forces were rated as low. Even at 700 km/h the aircraft can be flown with acceptable control forces, unlike the Bf-109F4. Manuverabiliity is good and noticabley superior to the Bf-109F4, especially in reversals at higher speeds. The FW-190's rolling ability represents a significant advance which will have positive effects in aerial combat. It has yet to be determined whether the FW-190 turns tighter than the Bf-109."
According to Beauvis there was tendency to disbelieve the turning radius of the 190 amoung the engineers. He states that although turn radius was not actually measured during the test, based on turn times, the 109F was clearly superior to the 190A2. He also states that Hauptmann's Gollobs attitude was typified by his choice of callsigns. "Adler" for himself, and "Otto" for Beauvais!
Kit Carson is not wrong in his generalizations on the 109G. It is simply third hand information for the most part. However they still hold true especially when you factor in the altitude variable.
Crumpp
