Reaching for the Stratosphere | Messerschmitt Bf 109G-1,3,5

[Music] prior to the second world war high altitude fighter development was a largely secondary issue for most Air Forces the premier fighters of the Battle of Britain the Spitfire Mark 1 and the bf109e both exemplified this but in the months to come higher flying reconnaissance aircraft and bombers needed high altitude interceptors to deal with them in this role the lift vafer would employ the bf109 e-7 Z which was similar to earlier variants but used a nitrous boost system which delivered oxygen to the engine once the aircraft Rose beyond the altitude its supercharger could maintain combat power this closely guarded system known as gm-1 or Goring mixture one would prove effective and became an essential piece of equipment for Germany's high altitude fighter and reconnaissance programs for much of the war it wasn't long until the bf109e became Obsolete and was replaced by the initially very troubled f- series however after a painful teething period the new nitrous boosted bf109 F4 Z's would serve on every front with considerable success though access to gm-1 could be problematic across the Mediterranean and on the Eastern front with its success many hopes were placed on its successor the new DB 605a engine on the new G or Gustaf series was extremely promising boasting a higher output and more powerful supercharger with it a new high altitude model and standard fighter were produced along with the new engine the Gustav series brought with it a series of improvements to its armor instrumentation and also a new series of standardized modular equipment kits which could could represent anything from bomb racks to photographic equipment however these initial models brought little Improvement as they were soon prohibited from running at their highest power settings brutal teething issues stemming from the mismanagement and the use of poor quality but widely available materials would plague the new DB 605a for years of the two new Fighters the bf109 g-1 was the specialized high out altitude model which would include both the ability to carry the gm-1 system and a pressurized cockpit the cockpit pressurization allowed for a pilot to remain at extremely high altitudes without encountering any of the discomfort one would otherwise experience without the aches pains and numbness the pilot was far less likely to become fatigued after long flights at extreme altitudes the cockpit pressurization system was rudimentary and was kept pressurized by a compressor which Drew from from a small scoop left and forward of the pilot the gm-1 system too was improved being made modular and paired with a set of fuselage racks which allowed for the fitting of a reconnaissance camera the first of these aircraft were built in May of 1942 at the era plant and were subsequently handed off for testing and familiarization with lvfa Cruz these planes were then used by the 11th staffle of jg2 noted as their high altitude unit and operations on July 17th the unit was first based in St Paul in the Netherlands and would be assigned to the area before later being redeployed to Germany and then to the Mediterranean in November before they were then transferred to jg53 before the end of the year jg5 also received a number of the planes some weeks after jg2 the unit being assigned to various bases in Western Europe until the end of the war in service the a aircraft performed well and the pressurized canopy was well regarded curiously enough the aircraft were not reserved exclusively for high altitude use and were instead used much like the standard version of The Fighter their use as high altitude interceptors was more typical of the Western European squadrons which had the benefit of better access to gm-1 In Spite of the debacle of getting the DB 605a into service improvements were slowly being made Chrome plated exhaust valves added much needed durability and corrosion resistance and a series of improvements to oil circulation would fix most of the engine's most serious problems the restrictions would finally be released by The Autumn of 1943 over a year after the aircraft first entered service at the beginning of the year the bf109 g-3 had superseded its predecessor on the production line the aircraft's largest difference apart from its engine improvements were its larger tires small bulges were added to the top of the wing to accommodate the enlarged landing gear and the larger tail wheel was now non retractable contributing a considerable amount of drag these changes were made to give the aircraft better ground handling and allow it to better operate out of rough airfields on the Eastern front and the Mediterranean unlike the previous model the g-3 saw increasing use against usaaf daylight bombing raids these had started small in late 1942 often against targets nearest England by the summer of 1943 the raids had escalated continuously and were increasingly focused on targets within Germany in addition to the typical daylight squadrons several bf109 g3s and later more heavily armed g5s were passed onto the single engine night fighter unit JG 300 and its sister squadrons 301 and 302 in n jg11 and the 10th night combat group originally formed as an experimental unit JG 300 was meant to test the suitability of single engine Fighters for night interception use the initial premise of the unit was to engage RAF bombers over their targets where the light of fires and search lights would make the planes more visible against the ground and cloud cover and thus enable interception without the use of ground control and onboard radar system systems the group was expanded upon with the 301st and 302nd squadrons being established while the hope of transitioning daytime fighter squadrons toight was deemed infeasible due to the amount of training required the combined unit would continue its task carrying out the interceptions over raided cities was an exceptionally dangerous one as they shared the space with flak units and a growing number of enemy KN Fighters as RAF KN Fighters be began to escalate their Intruder missions over Germany transitioning to and from interception areas became much more dangerous while the mosquito night Fighters were larger and less Nimble than the bf109 their radar systems allowed them to catch the otherwise blind daylight fighter in addition to the wild boore tactics the fighters were also employed in ground directed interception in order to deal with highflying mosquito Pathfinders and bombers though no Luft vafa aircraft could effectively catch them until the me 262b provisional night fighter was introduced in this role the single engine night fighter would be directed into a fixed intercept Zone which covered either the approach or departure of the detected enemy aircraft there the target would be tracked by the Zone's dedicated radar and search light units while the fighter would be guided in this was an exceptionally difficult task owing to the speed of the mosquito and without a good starting point of the intercept receptor the chases were often fruitless by the end of 1943 the newest and last iteration of the High Altitude series was in service the new bf109 g-5 now carried a pair of 13 mm mg 131s in place of its older 7.92 mm guns the heavier guns and the enlarged cowling meant that the aircraft was slower than the one it replaced these aircraft were distributed to units on all fronts and used much like their standard non-pressurized counterparts in addition to their high altitude roles however most were deployed in the Strategic Air Defense of Germany where they faced a new and very dangerous opponent the P51 Mustang appeared to be the solution to American bomber offensive ills being a fast maneuverable fighter with Incredible range and high altitude performance the danger of this new threat was quickly recognized by one General major Joseph Schmidt who began to advocate for the need for gm-1 equipped bf109s to act as top cover for Mass fighter formations it proved an adequate stop Gap with the nitrous boosted Fighters proving to be more capable of facing the Mustang and Thunderbolt Fighters at high altitude however as German airspace became contested boosted Fighters caught below 8 kilm fought at a significant disadvantage as the system added consider weight and provided little benefit below that height in its final evolution a number of the g5s used the db605 as engine which had a much larger supercharger designed to improve high altitude performance it was a serious improvement though only a few bf109 g5s would ever be equipped with the engine and most were used as Recon aircraft it also came at a loss as while Pilots enjoyed the comfort of the pressurized canopy it was an expense that meeser Schmidt and their directors at the Jer stab were no longer willing to accept the luta's fortunes too declined sharply as American fighter sweeps periodically attacked airfields once considered safe and attrition eroded the number of remaining experienced Pilots further attacks on Germany's synthetic fuel production introduced a final and catastrophic crisis which largely left the liaa crippled for the remaining of the war G5 production was phased out entirely in June of 1944 as measure Schmid moved to consolidate bf109 production with the g-14 this would include a high altitude model using the db605 as engine but without pressurization it regained some parody with its highflying Allied opponents though it wasn't until further refinements that the final K series could truly match them its history is suck di flying the High Altitude models of the bf109g was an experience similar to its standard counterparts but augmented with systems that boosted its high altitude performance and comfort though not a comprehensively better fighter than its lower altitude marks it provided lvfa Pilots with a Nimble high altitude fighter capable of chasing down Recon planes and holding its own against high altitude American fighters as with the standard bf109g models the High Altitude fighter was maneuverable but its increased weight and drag made it more cumbersome than the preceding Friedrich series its lowspeed maneuverability was made very impressive with the use of Leading Edge slats in the wings however Pilots noted that while Aeron and Rudder forces were light the elevator was fairly heavy an issue which was exacerbated at high speed its maximum speed level was decidedly mediocre though the aircraft boasted a high climb rate and good acceleration all told the gusov series were maneuverable good handling planes the cockpit was both cramped and provided poor visibility the Deep set seat with its heavy cockpit framing greatly restricted the Pilot's view especially towards the forward and rear aspects it saw some improvement as a few late production bf109g d5s were equipped with the improved Era Factory canopy as became standard on late war 109s and provided much better visibility to the sides and rear of the aircraft the cockpit was among the smallest of any fighter during the time period operation of the Gustav was extremely straightforward given the high level of automation the DB 605a possessed the engine was controlled through a series of linkages between components which adjusted one another the supercharger radiator propeller RPM and mixture were all managed automatically though manual control was also possible the core of these linkages was between the propellar RPM and manifold pressure which was managed through throttle inputs the rest of the engine adjusted itself around this linkage the gm-1 system consisted of glass wool insulated nitrous bottles compressed air bottles and the control system the gm-1 was kept in a chilled liquid state which was found to provide a higher boost effect the chilled nature of the nitrous did however bring a drawback in that it leaked as it was warmed and evaporated an aircraft would need to have its tanks filled immediately before takeoff in order to have the longest duration the Boost could be maintained up to 22 minutes if the tanks were filled immediately before flight falling to 19 minutes in the winter and 16 in the summer if the aircraft departed 12 hours later in the summertime all of the gm-1 could be expended if the aircraft was left parked for 2 days the weight of the entire system was considerable roughly 100 kg or more depending on the specific kit used at the initial activation height of 8 km the mixture could boost the top speed of an equipped bf109 by approximately 30 km per hour and recover as much as 300 PS at high altitude in conclusion the High Altitude series of the bf109g proved to Be an Effective means of getting a high altitude fighter into service without having to design a new aircraft or even redesigning meeser Schmid's fighter it did have drawbacks but it nevertheless gave fighter and reconnaissance units a plane with respectable high altitude performance what are your thoughts on this high altitude fighter feel 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Channel: Plane Encyclopedia

Views: 20,473

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Id: hnyBXJtrWmE

Length: 15min 17sec (917 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 27 2024