Bf-109E-1 Red 7 - CFS3
V2.85.09
Bf-109E-1 EMIL
This aircraft was built by Bill SPITFRND Wilson using version 2.85.09 of the AvHistory 1% Assembly Line process. It is based on the outstanding all original Gmax Bf-109E created by James "KorovaMB" Grimes.
Jens from jpsmodell & Bob "Adler2" Angel also made contributions to the completion of this really great plane.
Alex "ARTMAG" Mets painted this particular E-1 as Emil Bf 109E "Rote 7" from II/JG 52 Hopstöden Germany August 1940.
The original 109E1s were armed with 4 x 7.92 mm machine guns. Beginning with the Bf109E4, the two wing machine guns were replaced with 20mm FF cannons. Many E1s were retrofitted with the wing cannons during the Battle of Britain. The so modified "then E-1, now E-3/E-4" aircraft were recognizable by closed MG17 holes and a little bulge under the wing's MG FF location. That detail and the more characteristic larger wing barrels may be added as a payload in a future update.
James original readme has been included with the zip file and offers some interesting additional information, please read it when you have a chance.
The Emil spearheaded German air offensives against Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940, overwhelming such opponents as the Fokker D.XXI, Morane-Saulnier MS.406 and Hawker Hurricane.
The German Experten (aces with 10 or more victories) finally met their match over Dunkirk in May 1940, when they first encountered the Spitfire. The rivalry between those two classic fighters would continue throughout the Battle of Britain. The Messerschmitt had the advantage in high-altitude performance, as well as in the ability of its fuel-injected engine to function even while inverted, when a Spitfire's Rolls-Royce Merlin power plant would be starved for fuel.
The Spitfire's lower wing loading endowed it with superior maneuverability, but the Messerschmitt's principal disadvantage lay in its limited range. After 20 to 30 minutes over the average British target, a Messerschmitt pilot would have to break off his engagement or he would run out of fuel before he could return to base across the English Channel.
The RAF was fortunate to obtain and test a Bf109E early in the Battle of Britain when one mistakenly landed in England. On May 4, 1940, the captured Bf.109E (Wn: 1304) was flown to RAF Boscombe Down, where it was appraised by the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE); then later flown to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough for handling g trials. Some interesting observations from the RAE evaluation are provided below.
"...At low speeds the aileron control is very good, there being a definite resistance to stick movement, while response is brisk. As speed is increased, the ailerons become heavier, but response remains excellent. They are at their best between 150 mph and 200 mph… Above 200 mph they start becoming unpleasantly heavy, and between 300 mph and 400 mph are termed 'solid' by the test pilots.... [The elevator] [provides] ...exceptionally good control at low air speeds, being fairly heavy and not over-sensitive. Above 250 mph, however, it becomes too heavy, so that maneuverability is seriously restricted. When diving at 400 mph a pilot, pulling very hard, cannot put on enough 'g' to black himself out; stick force -'g' probably exceeds 20 lb/g in the dive. ...The rudder is light, but rather sluggish at low speeds. At 200 mph the sluggishness has disappeared. Between 200 mph and 300 mph the rudder is the lightest of the three controls for movement, but at 300 mph and above, absence of a rudder trimmer is severely felt, the force to prevent sideslip at 400 mph being excessive. ...
[Aerobatics] are not easy. Loops must be started from about 280 mph when the elevator is unduly heavy; there is a tendency for the slots to open at the top of the loop, resulting in aileron snatching and loss of direction. At speeds below 250 mph the airplane can be rolled quite quickly, but in the final stages of the roll there is a strong tendency for the nose to fall, and the stick must be moved well back to keep the nose up. Upward rolls are difficult. Owing to elevator heaviness only a gentle pull-out from the dive is possible and considerable speed is lost before the upward roll can be started.
A series of mock dogfights with our own fighters brought out forcibly the good and bad points of the airplane. These may be summarized as follows.
Good Points:
High top speed and excellent rate of climb
Engine does not cut immediately under negative 'g'
Good control at low speeds
Gentle stall, even under 'g'
Bad Points:
Ailerons and elevator far too heavy at high speeds
Owing to high wing loading the airplane stalls readily under 'g' and has a relatively poor turning circle
Absence of a rudder trimmer, curtailing ability to bank left in the dive
Cockpit too cramped for comfort
Further Comments
At full throttle at 12,000 feet the minimum radius of steady turn without height loss is about 890 feet in the case of the Bf.109E, with its wing loading of 32 lb/sq ft. The corresponding figure for a comparable fighter with a wing loading of 25 lb/sq ft, such as the Spitfire I or Hurricane I, is about 690 feet.
The extremely bad maneuverability of the Bf.109E at high speeds quickly became known to our pilots (RAF). On several occasions a Bf.109E was coaxed to self-destruction when on the tail of a Hurricane or Spitfire at moderate altitude. Our pilot would do a half-roll and quick pull-out from the subsequent steep dive. In the excitement of the moment the Bf.109E pilot would follow, only to find that he had insufficient height for recovery owing to his heavy elevator, and would go straight into the ground without a shot being fired.
Pilots [really liked]... the DB 601 engine ...response to throttle and insusceptibility to sudden negative 'g'; [and descibed the]... throttle arrangements ...as 'marvelously simple, there being just one lever with no gate or over-ride to worry about'. Surprisingly though, the manual operation of flaps and tail setting were also liked; 'they are easy to operate, and being manual are not likely to go wrong'; juxtaposition of the flap and tail actuating wheels is an excellent feature.
...When put into a full throttle climb at low air speeds, the airplane climbed at a very steep angle, and our fighters used to have difficulty in keeping their sights on the enemy even when at such a height that their rates of climb were comparable. This steep climb at low air speed was one of the standard evasion maneuvers used by the German pilots. Another was to push the stick forward abruptly and bunt into a dive with considerable negative 'g'."
Source: Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) evaluation discussed on March 9, 1944 at a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.
V2.85.09
Bf-109E-1 EMIL
This aircraft was built by Bill SPITFRND Wilson using version 2.85.09 of the AvHistory 1% Assembly Line process. It is based on the outstanding all original Gmax Bf-109E created by James "KorovaMB" Grimes.
Jens from jpsmodell & Bob "Adler2" Angel also made contributions to the completion of this really great plane.
Alex "ARTMAG" Mets painted this particular E-1 as Emil Bf 109E "Rote 7" from II/JG 52 Hopstöden Germany August 1940.
The original 109E1s were armed with 4 x 7.92 mm machine guns. Beginning with the Bf109E4, the two wing machine guns were replaced with 20mm FF cannons. Many E1s were retrofitted with the wing cannons during the Battle of Britain. The so modified "then E-1, now E-3/E-4" aircraft were recognizable by closed MG17 holes and a little bulge under the wing's MG FF location. That detail and the more characteristic larger wing barrels may be added as a payload in a future update.
James original readme has been included with the zip file and offers some interesting additional information, please read it when you have a chance.
The Emil spearheaded German air offensives against Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and France in 1940, overwhelming such opponents as the Fokker D.XXI, Morane-Saulnier MS.406 and Hawker Hurricane.
The German Experten (aces with 10 or more victories) finally met their match over Dunkirk in May 1940, when they first encountered the Spitfire. The rivalry between those two classic fighters would continue throughout the Battle of Britain. The Messerschmitt had the advantage in high-altitude performance, as well as in the ability of its fuel-injected engine to function even while inverted, when a Spitfire's Rolls-Royce Merlin power plant would be starved for fuel.
The Spitfire's lower wing loading endowed it with superior maneuverability, but the Messerschmitt's principal disadvantage lay in its limited range. After 20 to 30 minutes over the average British target, a Messerschmitt pilot would have to break off his engagement or he would run out of fuel before he could return to base across the English Channel.
The RAF was fortunate to obtain and test a Bf109E early in the Battle of Britain when one mistakenly landed in England. On May 4, 1940, the captured Bf.109E (Wn: 1304) was flown to RAF Boscombe Down, where it was appraised by the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE); then later flown to the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough for handling g trials. Some interesting observations from the RAE evaluation are provided below.
"...At low speeds the aileron control is very good, there being a definite resistance to stick movement, while response is brisk. As speed is increased, the ailerons become heavier, but response remains excellent. They are at their best between 150 mph and 200 mph… Above 200 mph they start becoming unpleasantly heavy, and between 300 mph and 400 mph are termed 'solid' by the test pilots.... [The elevator] [provides] ...exceptionally good control at low air speeds, being fairly heavy and not over-sensitive. Above 250 mph, however, it becomes too heavy, so that maneuverability is seriously restricted. When diving at 400 mph a pilot, pulling very hard, cannot put on enough 'g' to black himself out; stick force -'g' probably exceeds 20 lb/g in the dive. ...The rudder is light, but rather sluggish at low speeds. At 200 mph the sluggishness has disappeared. Between 200 mph and 300 mph the rudder is the lightest of the three controls for movement, but at 300 mph and above, absence of a rudder trimmer is severely felt, the force to prevent sideslip at 400 mph being excessive. ...
[Aerobatics] are not easy. Loops must be started from about 280 mph when the elevator is unduly heavy; there is a tendency for the slots to open at the top of the loop, resulting in aileron snatching and loss of direction. At speeds below 250 mph the airplane can be rolled quite quickly, but in the final stages of the roll there is a strong tendency for the nose to fall, and the stick must be moved well back to keep the nose up. Upward rolls are difficult. Owing to elevator heaviness only a gentle pull-out from the dive is possible and considerable speed is lost before the upward roll can be started.
A series of mock dogfights with our own fighters brought out forcibly the good and bad points of the airplane. These may be summarized as follows.
Good Points:
High top speed and excellent rate of climb
Engine does not cut immediately under negative 'g'
Good control at low speeds
Gentle stall, even under 'g'
Bad Points:
Ailerons and elevator far too heavy at high speeds
Owing to high wing loading the airplane stalls readily under 'g' and has a relatively poor turning circle
Absence of a rudder trimmer, curtailing ability to bank left in the dive
Cockpit too cramped for comfort
Further Comments
At full throttle at 12,000 feet the minimum radius of steady turn without height loss is about 890 feet in the case of the Bf.109E, with its wing loading of 32 lb/sq ft. The corresponding figure for a comparable fighter with a wing loading of 25 lb/sq ft, such as the Spitfire I or Hurricane I, is about 690 feet.
The extremely bad maneuverability of the Bf.109E at high speeds quickly became known to our pilots (RAF). On several occasions a Bf.109E was coaxed to self-destruction when on the tail of a Hurricane or Spitfire at moderate altitude. Our pilot would do a half-roll and quick pull-out from the subsequent steep dive. In the excitement of the moment the Bf.109E pilot would follow, only to find that he had insufficient height for recovery owing to his heavy elevator, and would go straight into the ground without a shot being fired.
Pilots [really liked]... the DB 601 engine ...response to throttle and insusceptibility to sudden negative 'g'; [and descibed the]... throttle arrangements ...as 'marvelously simple, there being just one lever with no gate or over-ride to worry about'. Surprisingly though, the manual operation of flaps and tail setting were also liked; 'they are easy to operate, and being manual are not likely to go wrong'; juxtaposition of the flap and tail actuating wheels is an excellent feature.
...When put into a full throttle climb at low air speeds, the airplane climbed at a very steep angle, and our fighters used to have difficulty in keeping their sights on the enemy even when at such a height that their rates of climb were comparable. This steep climb at low air speed was one of the standard evasion maneuvers used by the German pilots. Another was to push the stick forward abruptly and bunt into a dive with considerable negative 'g'."
Source: Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment (A & AEE) evaluation discussed on March 9, 1944 at a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.
