Anatomy of an ‘Emil’

Preserved in Hendon’s RAF Museum collection is a Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3/B which was downed over Britain in 1940, the aircraft subsequently having been repaired and test flown by Rolls-royce and later by the RAF. Andy Saunders charts its somewhat chequer

If it were a second-hand car, then Messerschmitt 109 E-3/B, Werke Nummer 4101, would be what is known in the used car trade as a ‘cut-and-shut’ job. Or even a ‘Bitsa’ – as in: ‘bits of this and bits of that’. In effect, what one is looking at with this splendid aircraft in the RAF Museum is not entirely what it is presented to be. That is, it is not entirely W.NR 4101 - the aircraft which a Lufftwaffe pilot bellylanded onto an RAF airfield in November 1940. To be fair, though, the airframe could be regarded to substantially have a ‘continuing provenance’ as W.NR 4101.

All of that said, however, it is not the case that its current paint scheme accurately represents how 4101 appeared when it first fell into RAF hands. Equally, there are quite a few technical and cosmetic elements in respect of this airframe which do not portray 4101 as it existed when it was in Luftwaffe service.

For all of that, the story behind the airframe is a fascinating one and it is one which can be charted fairly accurately from its build, to delivery to the Luftwaffe, its arrival in Britain and the subsequent usage and guises it has appeared in across the decades since 1940. And, in common with many aircraft conserved in museum collections around the world, or even with airframes restored or rebuilt to flying condition, the story is a somewhat chequered one.

AN UNPOPULAR TASK

At the beginning of October 1940, the Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe decreed that one Staffel within each Gruppe of every fighter Geschwader on the Channel Coast were to be diverted to the Jabo role: that is, to act as fighterbombers. Naturally, it was an unpopular task among the fighter pilots. Not only that, but the success of operations the Jabo force undertook during the closing stages of the Battle of Britain, and then on into the autumn and early winter, was often questionable. Albeit that the other two Staffeln of the Gruppe would act as fighter escort for their Jabo comrades, it was more often than not the case that if RAF fighters intercepted the formation, then the Jabo aircraft would ditch their bombs in order to be able to better protect themselves. The pilots knew full-well, of course, that their pure fighter colleagues would be hard pressed to properly look after them once the enemy engaged.

However, and notwithstanding the often limited success of the Jabo attacks during 1940, it was considered valuable in helping keep London and areas of SE England under long periods of air raid warning alert; by night, the Luftwaffe ‘Blitz’ was underway, and by day the troublesome fighter-bombers helped keep up the wearisome pressure on public morale.

For the purposes of executing the attacks, the Messerschmitt 109s of the Staffel selected for these duties were converted to the bomb carrying role with the addition of an ETC 500/IXB bomb rack fitted under the centreline of

the fuselage. The rack was able to carry a single 250kg bomb, with its release controlled by an additional button fitted to the control column and the installation of a bomb selection panel on the bottom of the instrument panel. By early September 1940, RAF Intelligence had already noted several downed Messerschmitt 109s which had bombcarrying capabilities.

With the bomb attached, there was minimal clearance between the ground and the fins of the bombs during taxying and take-off. This was especially the case across the bumpy grass airstrips of northern France and Belgium, and particularly so when full fuel tanks also weighed the aircraft down yet further. Unsurprisingly, there were several taxying or take-off accidents involving bomb-carrying Messerschmitt 109s.

For Jagdgeschwader 51, it was the 2nd Staffel who had been relegated to the fighter-bomber role, the unit already having sustained several casualties since early October. Of these, the most notable was the Staffelkapitän of 2/JG51, Oberleutnant Viktor Mölders, who had been shot down and taken POW over England on 7 October. His brother, of course, was the Geschwader Kommodore and Luftwaffe ‘ace’, Major Werner Mölders.

Now, on 27 November 1940, the Staffel was further committed to another Jabo attack on London, with other aircraft of the Geschwader acting as fighter cover. This included, by this stage, Werner Mölders flying operationally in one of the new Messerschmitt 109-F aircraft. A fact lost on many who study the period is that this aircraft type had been used operationally during the Battle of Britain, albeit to a limited extent, and with one of the very earliest known and recorded uses of the 109-F by Mölders over Britain taking place on 25 October 1940.

On 27 November, though, the Staffel and its escorting fighters would take yet more casualties.

LANDED WHEELS-UP

At around 14.50 hours on 27 November 1940, Leutnant Wolfgang Teumer of 2/ JG51 got airborne from Wissant with other aircraft of his Staffel, the formation heading out for London with their underslung loads of high-explosive.

Originally serving with the 6th Staffel, Teumer had been transferred to the 2nd Staffel on 7 October, after the loss of Viktor Mölders that same day. He was already a veteran of some 170 war flights,

80 of them against England. However, he had not claimed any aerial victories during his time as a Messerschmitt 109 pilot. Later, he wryly remarked that he was even more unlikely to achieve any ‘kills’ after his 7 October transfer, saying:

“One isn’t likely to become a fighter ace when a big bomb is strapped to your arse!”

However, somewhere out over the Thames Estuary, Wolfgang’s Staffel had the misfortune to run into a formation of Spitfires and part of what happened next is taken up by the RAF Intelligence Report into the capture of Wolfgang Teumer:

“The pilot saw three Spitfires and, presuming they were going to attack him, he released his bomb but was attacked by another Spitfire which damaged his radiator. The aircraft made a good belly landing, the aircraft being little damaged. Twelve .303 strikes were counted in the fuselage and a few in each wing, all coming from port quarter astern.”

For Teumer, ditching his bomb and trying to out-run his adversary, did not put him in a good tactical position. Now down low, and with no advantage of surprise or altitude, he also knew that his fuel state didn’t allow him to hang around and fight it out. Not only that, but he was now up against a five or six victory ‘ace’: Flying Officer George Christie, a Canadian pilot with 66 Squadron. Teumer later recalled how it was: “We were first engaged over London, and I flew the aircraft right down low and tried to get away from the enemy aircraft. Over Kent, a British aircraft got right behind me and I was hit in the radiator. My radio also failed. I wasn’t going to get home.”

Meanwhile, the adjutant of 66 Squadron filed the following report of the episode in the squadron’s Operations Record Book:

“11 Spitfires left Biggin Hill to patrol base at 15,000 feet at 1515 hours with 74 Squadron, 66 Squadron leading. Flt Lt Christie DFC (Green Section) left squadron on sighting aircraft diving down over Chatham; he caught it up and found it to be an Me109 which flew away. He chased it, caught up, passing to the east of Margate. At about 600 feet he made 4 or 5 attacks. First, two from astern, deflection from port side, then three from the starboard side, and then another astern.

Aircraft then turned towards the shore, so he ceased fire and flew covering his enemy in a very open vic position, flying to Manston where enemy aircraft landed with wheels-up.

The ground defences fired at the enemy aircraft when he was obviously landing, and when Flt Lt Christie was circling, the aerodrome fired at him when he had his wheels down preparatory to landing, and put a bullet through his wing.

He landed at base at 1715, after landing at Manston alongside the Messerschmitt 109. Cloud 1/10 at 1,500 feet.”

Landing alongside Teumer’s Messerschmitt, Black 12, Christie ran to the German aircraft and helped to ensure

LUFTWAFFE RECORD OF SERVICE – WERKE NUMMER 4101

September 1940: Completed by Erla Maschinenwerk, Leipzig. Originally given factory radio call sign GH + DX

September 1940: Early ferry flights undertaken by Heinz Lohman of JG51 as under:4 September, ferried from LeipzigMockau to Jena-rötzen. Flight time 37 minutes, and from Jena-rötzen to Köln-ostheim (50 minutes flight). 5 September, flown from Köln-ostheim to Pihen (then the northern French base of JG51) on a 65-minute flight. 7 September, Lohman made three test flights in the aircraft, now described in his log book as + 12 - . Subsequently modified in the field to Jabo configuration and serving briefly with 6/JG52 as ‘Yellow 8’. Subsequently passed back to 2/JG51, based at Wissant, near Calais.

Soon after the contract with RollsRoyce was signed, W.NR 4101 was transported by road to the Rolls-royce airfield at Hucknall in Nottinghamshire. Delivered with it was its original engine (64760), and two other crated DB601-A engines: 65135 and 253038. However, apart from the engines, various other parts from crashed Messerschmitt 109s were sourced from the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and from the Faygate dump, to get 4101 airborne again. It was about to become almost a spare parts machine.

As an example, at least part of the fin and tail unit came from Messerschmitt 109, W.NR 6313 (`White G’,) of 4/LG2, which had made a forced landing near Corfe Castle, Dorset, 30 November 1940, with Unteroffizier Paul Wacker at the controls. This was after the engine seized when several of the front pistons broke through the cooling jacket.

The top cowling on 4101 came from a Messerschmitt 109 which carried the Werke Nummer 1653; by coincidence, from one of the other JG51 machines brought down on 27 November 1940, and being the aircraft of 3/JG51, flown by Feldwebel Willi Erdniss, which had been forced down at Monk’s Horton Park, Kent.

Although the rear top cowling (over the machine guns) was from 4101, the Nachbau BFW built starboard wing came from an aircraft which was numbered 1418. No Werke Nummer was found for the Fiesler built port wing, but it is likely that it also originated from an aircraft other than 4101. This is not least of all because no evidence of repaired bullet holes (which the intelligence report tells us were extant) exists in either wing of `4101’ today.

As to the aircraft’s armament, the wing mounted 20 mm FF cannon were both removed in 1940 and the apertures faired over, while only one of the engine mounted MG17 machine guns are still with the aircraft. The absence of just one of the pair of MG17S might be attributed to a souvenir hunter, or to the fact that we know several engine changes were made across subsequent years. However, it is also reported that one of the MG17 guns from this aircraft were removed for technical evaluation. The dates of official reports, and the dates of photographs of an example of a MG17, might well bear this out.

As an aside, it is also interesting to mention the date of 4101’s arrival at

Hucknall: 14 December 1940. This is worthy of note from a curiosity point of view because, on 21 December, escaped Luftwaffe POW, Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, made his way on to Hucknall aerodrome during his audacious escape

attempt – an attempt which saw him get so far as the cockpit of a Hurricane before being apprehended. This episode, of course, is covered in the book by Kendal Burt and James Leasor, ‘The One That Got Away’, as well as in the film of the same name. Under the circumstances, it is difficult not to wish that the story had panned-out differently, and that von Werra had instead discovered a familiar Messerschmitt 109-E, fuelled-up and ready to go!

LOST IDENTITY

On 25 February 1941, Werke Nummer 4101 made its first flight since rebuild at Hucknall, and during engine performance investigations with Rolls-royce the aircraft made 32 flights totalling some 23 hours 25 minutes. On its third from last flight from Hucknall, however, the aircraft was flown by Rolls-royce pilot Harvey Hayworth, who was over 6 feet tall. For his benefit, the hinged cockpit hood was removed, then mislaid or dumped, and it was never replaced. However, to all intents and purposes, W.NR 4101 had now lost its identity completely and had instead become DG200 in the Air Ministry’s inventory, having been repainted in RAF camouflage colours on the upper surfaces, complete with roundels and fin flashes, and with a bright yellow finish on the under-surfaces. Meanwhile, a small swastika was painted in a disc above the fin flash, complete with a rude ‘v’ gesturing pair of fingers painted over the symbol. A British oxygen system, electrical system and other pieces of RAF equipment were also installed in place of the Luftwaffe items and a complete propeller replacement was made instead of the crash-damaged original. By early 1942, its usefulness to Rolls-royce had been exhausted, and on 8 February it was sent to de Havilland at

DAMAGE INVESTIGATION

Hatfield for tests on the variable pitch propeller installation, but in March it was with the Aircraft & Armament Experimental Establishment, Boscombe Down, but still minus its canopy.

On 24 March 42, W.NR 4101/DG200, was collected from Boscombe Down by Flt Lt Douglas G M Gough of No.1426 Enemy Aircraft Flight, RAF, for delivery to his unit at RAF Duxford, but he had to return to Boscombe Down with hydraulic trouble after ten minutes. Eventually, on 28 April, it was taken by road to Duxford for use by No.1426 Flight, who flew it extensively after fixing the hydraulic problems despite the canopy still being missing. In this role, the aircraft was used to demonstrate enemy aircraft types to Allied units in the UK.

By 1942, the aircraft itself was becoming rather long in the tooth and the type was becoming virtually obsolete in Luftwaffe service. However, the aircraft soldiered on for some while longer before being ‘retired’ later in 1943, and then sent to No.16 Maintenance Unit, RAF Stafford, for long term storage as a potential museum item. Then, sometime around August 1944, it was sent to No.52 MU, Cardiff, with other historic airframes before ending up, in 1947, with the German Air Force Equipment centre at RAF Stanmore Park, Middlesex, to be stored and crated.

‘PASSABLE’ COLOUR SCHEME

By September 1954, the aircraft was displayed on Horse Guards Parade,

London, by which time it had been repainted and the numeral ‘Black 12’ reapplied along with German markings and with the cockpit sporting a newly fitted complete hood. However, this was the much later one-piece Erla Haube hinged canopy, which is sometimes erroneously referred to as a ‘Galland’ type cockpit hood. It is thought likely this originated from a Messerschmitt 109 G14/U4, captured by the RAF at Antwerp/duerne in 1945 and ultimately scrapped in Britain at some time after 1946.

In 1955, 4101 was again displayed on Horse Guards Parade for the annual Battle of Britain commemorations. By now, the rubber tyres of the mainwheels had perished and decayed, and so a pair of old car tyres were found and fitted in their place.

Additionally, the engine of 4101 had been changed at some point during or since its time with 1426 Flight, the currently installed engine being numbered 20374.

By the late 1950s, the aircraft was residing at Biggin Hill, but was transported from here by RAF C-130 Hercules transport to Chivenor in August 1969 for that station’s International Air Day. Then, in September of that same year, the aircraft was moved to RAF St Athan, South Wales, in time for their Battle of Britain display, but in 1970/71 it was being refurbished by the RAF’S No.4 School of Technical Training and repainted as `Black 12’, whilst being duly allotted an RAF maintenance serial: 8477M.

At last, the aircraft had a slightly more ‘passable’ Luftwaffe colour scheme for the 1940 period, albeit that this is now known to still be considerably inaccurate in presentation. However, it must be borne in mind that no photographic evidence was then known to exist of 4101 as she really appeared in 1940. That evidence only came to light in very recent years. However, the incorrect canopy was at last replaced with a ‘look-alike’ version, allegedly sourced from one of the ex-spanish Air Force Buchon 109s used in the film Battle of Britain.

CONTROVERSIAL DECISION

For a short while in 1976, the aircraft was displayed in the Dermot Boyle Wing at the Royal Air Force Museums’ `Wings of the Eagle’ exhibition, Hendon. During

this period, the author of this feature sourced and presented a pair of genuine Messerschmitt 109-E wheels and tyres to the museum in order that they could replace the makeshift car tyres the airframe had long been saddled with.

After this brief exhibition, the Messerschmitt 109 was returned to St Athan for storage and then, in May 1978, was exhibited briefly at the International Air Fair, Biggin Hill, before being returned to Hendon immediately after that event for display in the new Battle of Britain Museum. The aircraft remains on display at Hendon, albeit that a controversial decision in 2016 saw the dedicated Battle of Britain Museum dismantled.

Visitors to Hendon today are at least able to view a representative example of the Messerschmitt 109-E of 1940, although the airframe they are viewing has a rather chequered history and comprises significant parts from at least seven or eight different aircraft. Essentially, it is largely just the centre section, cockpit and fuselage which comprise the ‘original’ 4101, but it is to be hoped that any eventual restoration and conservation work on the aircraft will see it restored to its original 1940 configuration, including accurate markings, the re-fitting of wing cannon and the re-installation of an ETC 500/IXB bomb rack.

Sometimes, museum exhibits are not all they seem!

■ Hendon’s Messerschmitt 109 E-3/B.

■ Major Werner Mölders describes a combat after returning from a sortie over Britain in his Messerschmitt 109-F, autumn 1940.

■ Left: Flying the ‘Jabo’ Messerschmitt 109 during 1940 could be a hazardous business. This aircraft, W.NR 3734, of Stab I/LG2, took a hit on the 250 kg bomb which detonated and blew the aircraft apart over Elham, Kent. The engine and tail section were found two or three miles distant, with this section of the aircraft compressed to just 18 inches. The pilot, 28-year-old Leutnant Ludwig Lenz, stood no chance.

■ Above: A British soldier holds up an ETC500/IXB bomb rack from another ‘Jabo’ Messerschmitt 109-E, which was downed over Kent in November 1940.

■ Leutnant Wolfgang Teumer.

■ In order to get W.NR 4101 airborne again, parts of shot down and captured Messerschmitt 109s were scoured for across Britain. At least one wing – and possibly both – were replaced on the aircraft before it was test flown.

■ An engine from this Messerschmitt 110, captured in July 1940, was apparently one of the engines later supplied as a replacement powerplant for 4101.

■ Unteroffizier Paul Wacker’s Messerschmitt 109 E-1, W.NR 6313, after its engine mishap over Dorset on 30 November 1940. It was one of several machines that became sacrificial airframes, cannibalised for spare parts to utilise on 4101. In this instance, the tail and rudder were grafted onto Teumer’s aircraft.

■ The technical examination of an example of a MG17 by the Air Ministry is thought to have been based on one of the guns taken from 4101.

■ Below left: A battle damage repair patch under the starboard tailplane. ■ Below right: On the starboard side of the fuselage, a large repair patch runs along the length of several of the worst battle scars from 27 November 1940.

■ Left: Details of the battle damage survey on the fuselage undertaken in 1969. The recorded damage can be seen on both sides of the preserved aircraft in the two photograps below.

■ ‘Under New Management’: Messerschmitt 109, W.NR 4101, became DG200 in RAF markings. In this image, the missing centre section of the cockpit is notable.

■ Post-war guise. In this image, the spurious camouflage scheme and replacement cockpit canopy cover can be seen. The photograph was taken at Biggin Hill in 1960 at a practice for the Battle of Britain RAF ‘At Home’ Day as Chipmunks of the London University Air Squadron rehearse their routine overhead. The markings ‘Black 12’ are correct, but the ‘GH’ letters are part of the aircraft’s original Stammkenzeichen, or factory codes, which had been GH + DX.

■ It is likely that the replacement cockpit canopy came from this aircraft, Messerschmitt 109 G-14/U4, W.NR 541560. The aircraft was captured in Belgium in 1945. In this photograph, the fully hinged canopy can be seen in the open position.

■ With the cowling off, the current number of the engine fitted in 4101 can be seen. The starboard MG17 is also missing, with just the tubular blast tube in place.

■ Although the correct unit emblem for I/JG51 was applied during 4101’s last repaint, the Air Intelligence Report is quite specific that no such emblem was on the aircraft. This is also borne out by a contemporary photograph. ■ Below: The cockpit of 4101 showing the bomb selection panel in front of the control column, and the bomb release button attached to the top left of the control column. The usual Dräger oxygen regulator has been removed as the aircraft had been converted to a British oxygen system.

■ Much of the interior of 4101 is original from the time of its construction, including this inscription on the bottom of the fuel tank. Although difficult to photograph, it will be seen that this sub-assembly was completed in July 1940. A pencilled annotation seems to read: ‘Tested 5 Mar 41’ – presumably dating from its repair and inspection by the RAF.

■ In this colour photograph of 4101, the rather ghastly attempt at portraying the aircraft’s original colour scheme can be seen. Also in evidence are the car tyres.

■ Leutnant Wolfgang Teumer’s Messerschmitt 109-E, 4101, at RAF Manston after the aircraft had belly landed there on 27 November 1940. (Peter Cornwell Collection)