109 down 10mins from my house

[Gman]

Have to give the pilot props for a well executed emergency landing in an airplane that has ZERO forgiveness in it for mistakes and surprises during these types of events.

You know, every time I see or think of this particular 109, I think about how many were lost in accidents and crashes during its service life, and how tricky it was to operate.  It's just one of those things in life that is quirky I guess.  I'm happy it looks very repairable, as there is so few of them left.

[Wmaker]

Truly a shame but as mentioned, it could have been much much worse.

video: http://youtu.be/sTs7G9teJ-M

As can be seen there isn't much time to figure out where to put it when power is lost at low altitude as the speed wasn't that high either. Very impressive bit of flying!

Yeh, Red 7 has had more than its share of mishaps for sure...

[Vulcan]

Were there any Spitfires at the airshow? Looks awfully suspicious to me.

[GScholz]

Have to give the pilot props for a well executed emergency landing in an airplane that has ZERO forgiveness in it for mistakes and surprises during these types of events.

You know, every time I see or think of this particular 109, I think about how many were lost in accidents and crashes during its service life, and how tricky it was to operate.

The 30% loss to landing accidents is a persistent myth that refuses to die. The 109 was easy to operate and very forgiving in the air. It was on the ground it was tricky because of the landing gear, but not more so than other aircraft with narrow landing gear. The Germans lost about 5% in landing accidents which is the same percentage as for the Fw190. In this case the landing gear wasn't even a factor.

[Karnak]

I recall reading that the Germans found the Spitfire more forgiving on the ground than the Bf109.

As far as landing goes, yeah, that makes sense.  30% is unsustainable.

[TwinBoom]

Truly a shame but as mentioned, it could have been much much worse.

video: http://youtu.be/sTs7G9teJ-M

As can be seen there isn't much time to figure out where to put it when power is lost at low altitude as the speed wasn't that high either. Very impressive bit of flying!

Yeh, Red 7 has had more than its share of mishaps for sure...

Sounds like a Merlin from a Hispano Aviación HA-1112

[Gman]

I've never believed that 30 percent nonsense either, no air force could even have an air force with that rate of accidents just regarding landing quirkyness.

Still, they did lose a fair number, and it was known to be a trickier than average plane with the narrow undercarriage set up.  I'll never argue how well it performed in the air, and how it was scalable right to the end of the war, and was never absolutely outclassed.  I remember when Galland spoke in Canada at an RCAF thing, and he said that he would take the 109 still even if he could choose any prop aircraft he wanted during the war, mainly due to the acceleration and other factors.

Great video, yes that pilot didn't have much altitude in order to find some place safe.  Luckily there were a lot of fields around for him to pick from.

[skorpx1]

Good that the pilot survived. Bad that the plane did too.

[SIK1]

Bad that the plane did too.

That's just messed up. You must be some a silly young punk that doesn't realize that something like that 109 is a piece of living history. Now go choke your chicken and stfu.

[skorpx1]

That's just messed up. You must be some a silly young punk that doesn't realize that something like that 109 is a piece of living history. Now go joke your chicken and stfu.

Sounds like your undies are in a twist.


With that 109 being a flying death trap and having 3 previous crashes, it'd be safer for it to be stuck in the dirt than in the sky.

[Slash27]

Sounds like your undies are in a twist.


With that 109 being a flying death trap and having 3 previous crashes, it'd be safer for it to be stuck in the dirt than in the sky.

An expert has given an opinion. Case closed, scrap her!




Plane looks like it will back in the air in no time. Pilot ok, plane made a nice ditch, good ending to bad situation.

[GScholz]

It all depends on the damage to the single most important part on that plane: The original DB 605 engine. Parts for that motor are very rare and difficult to make due to the tight tolerances. When the RAF museum guys took the engine of "Black 6" to Rolls Royce to get refurbished, the RR guys sad "and for Christ's sake don't damage the crankshaft. We couldn't make a new one..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=y8TOi0GUz1o&t=1157

[Wmaker]

It all depends on the damage to the single most important part on that plane: The original DB 605 engine.

Yep, that's why they use wooden props on many warbirds today (Black 6 had one too) so that in the case of a prop strike there would be as little strain to the engine as possible. Also the prop hitting soft ground instead of tarmac should help too. There's no info yet on what caused the engine to lose power, the engine could be very badly damaged even without any prop strike damage...

I'm quite confident that they have the means to put the plane back to the air but would totally understand if they decide to ground it.

Another pic:

http://ekstrabladet.dk/112/article2069885.ece

[GScholz]

From that picture it almost looks like they only need to jack it up to get the gear out and give it a fresh coat of paint on the underside. Ground looks very soft.

[GScholz]

Here she is on one of her better days. Also in formation with two of her adversaries:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCRnQTsAPw4

Love that all blue-gray paint job.