75 year old Messerschmitt BF109 E4 flys again

[Richard Cranium]

[video=youtube;BzUUlO6ihwE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzUUlO6ihwE[/video]

 

[MoparMitch]

Thanks RC. I'm really into WWII Militaria, especially aircraft. The Nazi's had a lot of cool S##T .

 

[satman72]

Very nice! It's great to see those old birds in the air.

 

[super-bee_ski]

That is so damn awesome!
WOW...Nothing better than "VINTAGE WAR BIRDS"

Another cool one (or 2) is the Japanese Mitsubishi ZERO... and the British SPITFIRE....

Yes
Yes
Yes....

I know, the P-51

But the others are cool....

 

[Meep-Meep]

Ja, Ja! Das ist vundabar!

 

[satman72]

There's a fairly local guy near me who has a 109, a spitfire & a mustang, all in flying condition. That's actually his ME109. It's up for sale for 3.75 million.

 

[Cranky]

Y'all know about the P51 that crashed back in October, right? Killed the pilot and passenger. The museum isn't very far from me.....

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9298405

 

[Budnicks]

cool video Dick

 

[Photon440]

Superb! Although it was overtaken by other designs, still a remarkable airplane designed in the 1930s. Here's some more text on flying this exact aircraft:
http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageN...-Clouds--Flying-the-Messerschmitt-Bf-109.aspx

 

[WAYNES WORLD]

That's great to see. I love the old planes, not just the war birds. I would like to have a 7/8 scale bi-plane that uses the VW air cooled engines. Would be fun to fly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7UuERG42vk
Wayne

 

[Bruzilla]

I guy I flew with in the Navy had a BF-109 that was in crates back in the 1980s. It had been used in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and crated up to be retained as surplus in the 1950s, and his Dad got a hold of it in the 1980s for basically scrap value. The fuselage was in one crate, wings in another, and tail section in a third, just waiting to be put together, but as far as I know they never did. Might still be sitting in them crates somewhere.

My personal favorite is the P-40B/C. I would be a happy man if I had one of them to fly around in.

 

[Photon440]

Bruzilla, the Spanish loved that plane. They even continued to build it after the war, into the 1950s for their airforce. Renamed the Hispano HA 1112, a lot of them used Rolls Royce Merlin engines.

Spain kept them flying until the mid 60's...most retired by 1965 but the final one kept active until 1967. Over 30 years of life for that design.

Czechoslovakia built them under license as well (C-199 Mezec), and ironically, Israel used these Czech versions in their airforce against Egypt in the 1948 war.

The Spanish version:
http://www.airpowerworld.info/other-fighter-planes/hispano-ha-1112-m-1-l.htm

 

[Propwash]

Cool plane....German's always dressed them up pretty cool. Definitely don't promote their cause back in the day, but sure in the hell wasn't the planes fault. Either way, neat to see and old warbird back on the tarmac. Thanks for posting.

 

[Bruzilla]

Definitely nice in the air, but they had the same problems as the Spitfire when they were on the ground - the landing gear were too close together so they would wobble on uneven ground. The Brits fixed it with the Hurricane and the Germans with the FW-190.

I've always wondered why nobody remakes these planes today. They were very simple designs, and didn't require a whole lot of materials. I keep seeing the 3/4 scale versions that kinda-sorta look like the real thing, but if you're going to lay out that many bucks why not go fullsize? I did see a guy who was trying to make a 1:1 scale F-4U Corsair, but his design was so over-engineered I don't know if he ever got it in the air.

 

[Photon440]

Definitely nice in the air, but they had the same problems as the Spitfire when they were on the ground - the landing gear were too close together so they would wobble on uneven ground. The Brits fixed it with the Hurricane and the Germans with the FW-190.

I've always wondered why nobody remakes these planes today. They were very simple designs, and didn't require a whole lot of materials. I keep seeing the 3/4 scale versions that kinda-sorta look like the real thing, but if you're going to lay out that many bucks why not go fullsize? I did see a guy who was trying to make a 1:1 scale F-4U Corsair, but his design was so over-engineered I don't know if he ever got it in the air.

While it's true that the landing gear posed problems...a lot of crashes on takeoff...at least the Spitfire didn't have the wheels splayed out like the 109. As for the Brits 'fixing it with the Hurricane', remember the Hurricane was an older plane in the air for years before the Spitfire was developed.

However the problems were not entirely without reason. The BF109 with the landing gear in the main body was able to have a simpler and lighter wing as a result. Also, the wings could be removed for service without any extra jacking or bracing, since they didn't support any of the aircraft on the ground.

If you want to get your wallet out Bruzilla, instead of a reproduction 109, how about a brand new ME262 jet fighter?
http://stormbirds.com/project/general/updates.htm

 

[Bruzilla]

No thanks. If I'm gonna bust out my wallet, it'll be for a P-40B.

My Dad and I had our hot little hands on a B-25 back in the 1970s. It was used for inter-island cargo down in the Virgin Islands, and the owner offered it to us for $10,000!!! Neither one of us had a pilot's license, we didn't live close to an airport big enough to handle it, had no idea how to keep it maintained, but Dad was about to write a check for it anyway when Mom imposed an arms embargo on us. How often do you get a chance to buy a B-25! We told her we could quibble over little details like not knowing how to fly later. I saw that plane, fully restored, on the cover of Air Classics in 1985, and she looked awesome. And to think she could have been ours.

And I had a guy in Jacksonville offer to give me an F-9 Cougar for free if I would get it out of his yard back in the early 1980s. He had about a dozen warbirds sitting behind his house and he needed to get rid of them. I had to pass because I lived in an apartment complex and couldn't keep a jet fighter in the parking lot. The owner ended up giving it to the Marine Corps Air Museum.

 

[Moparsmitty]

You have to hand it to the Germans, when it comes to design, engineering, and manufacturing they're pretty hard to beat quality wise. I don't ever recall hearing anyone say "Typical German piece of crap".

 

[tallhair]

That's really cool RC