Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: German WW2 Fighters Message-ID: <10310@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 18 Oct 89 02:48:39 GMT Organization: BRS Information Technologies Lines: 48 Approved: military@att.att.com From: brspyr1.brs.com!miket (Mike Trout) In sci.military Digest Thursday, 12 October, 1989 Volume 3 : Issue 18 Adrian Hurt writes: > Minor correction; the early Me-109's had two MG's in the wings, two in the > nose above the engine, and sometimes a fifth inside the engine, firing through > the propellor hub. The Me-109E replaced the wing guns and propellor guns with > 20mm cannons. Minor minor correction: Armament history of early Bf 109s: Bf 109A (1935-36) two 7.9mm MG 17 machine guns in upper cowling Bf 109B (1936-37) same as Bf 109A, plus another MG 17 in propeller hub Bf 109C (1937) same as Bf 109A, plus two MG 17s in wings Bf 190D (1938) hub-mounted 20mm MG FF/M cannon, possibly other MG 17s? Bf 109E-1 (1938) same as Bf 109C; some replaced wing MG 17s with MG FF/Ms Bf 109E-3 (1939) same as Bf 109A, plus two MG FF/Ms in wings and one in hub Bf 109E-4 (1940) same as Bf 109E-3, but delete hub cannon Some Bf 109E-3s had their hub cannon deleted just as on the E-4, as that gun was constantly jamming and was very unreliable. The hub gun position on the Bf 109 was a problem point throughout its life. > But the bulge in the wings to accomodate the cannon there > impaired the handling of the aircraft, and no subsequent Me-109 had guns > mounted in the wings again. (This doesn't include various bolt-on kits, such > as gun pods and rocket launchers.) There was no substantial wing bulge on the Bf 109E; bulges did not become a problem until the Bf 109G. It's true that many Luftwaffe pilots considered the Bf 109E-3 to be rather sluggish due to its heavy armament, but much of that attitude may have been due to the near-useless hub cannon, which was indeed little more than dead weight. Other pilots considered the Bf 109E-4 to be the very best Bf 109 variant ever; arguments over Bf 109 armament raged for years. The controversy led to the Bf 109F, which was intentionally very lightly armed so as to get maximum flight performance. As could be expected, some pilots loved the Bf 109F, while others considered its light firepower useless. With the Bf 109G, the emphasis returned to heavy firepower again, where it was to stay; the Bf 109G was so sluggish as to be a death trap when late-war Allied fighters were about, but its tremendous firepower was useful against bombers. -- NSA food: Iran sells Nicaraguan drugs to White House through CIA, SOD & NRO. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Michael Trout (miket@brspyr1)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRS Information Technologies, 1200 Rt. 7, Latham, N.Y. 12110 (518) 783-1161 "Who watches the watchmen?" --Epigraph of the Tower Commission Report, 1987