Wing folding on Bf109T

[BarryFoxwell]

I have read in Augusburg Eagle that the wings of the 109T folded “immediately outboard of the gun bays, but this was complicated by the need to detach the flaps prior to folding”.
In the Air Enthusiast article March/April 2001 it says “by 1940… no less than 70 T-1 had come off the assembly line… with no fixed date for the Graft Zeppelin’s commission, the Luftwaffe ordered the T-1s to be stripped of their naval equipment. Under the designation T-2…...”.
There are pictures of Ju87T & Fi167 with wings folded. There is a picture of a 109T (TK+HM) being catapulted. But I can not find a picture of a 109T with wings folded.
What I need to now is:
1 Did the wing fold up like on the Sea Fury, or backwards like on the Firefly?
2 Was the wing folding equipment ever fitted?

[Ollie]

The wings folded backwards, like on the Firefly and it was manually done. The wings were to be folded to increase the amount of planes in the hangars of the carrier.

[BarryFoxwell]

Thanks Ollie. But i am now even more confused than before I started. I was shown a drawing for T at the weekend and it had the wings folded up like a Sea Fury!

[RareBear]

I have seen several pictures of the "T", but none with the wings folded. In some of the photos, you can see what appear to be hinges or fairings over hinges that would seem to support the folding upward theory.

Virtually all the planes I've seen with backward folding wings have the joint at or near the wing root. Conversely, all of the ones with the fold point well out on the wing, as the 109 does, have the wing folding upward, as in the Bearcat.

Walt

[turbo_NZ]

The bf-109T would have been a lot of "fun" landing on a pitching carrier deck with it's narrow-track undercart...

TNZ

[airnutz]

Good observation TNZ...pitching, rolling,& bouncing groundloops!

[bdk]

The bf-109T would have been a lot of "fun" landing on a pitching carrier deck with it's narrow-track undercart...

Should be quite easy- you can't groundloop with the tailhook fastened to the deck. The Wildcat didn't exactly have a wide undercarriage either.

[Ollie]

The wings on the 109T could be folded, but the ailerons had to be removed, thus it was a tidy job.

Here's a link about the 109T, but they are quiet about the wings...

http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/aviation/carrierbased/me109/index.html

[airnutz]

Yes, BDK..the Wildcat was narrow-tracked..but it was an extremely
robust and well-sprung design. As for the 109T..the landing gear would
have to withstand the intial slam-contact of a pitching, rolling deck.

[turbo_NZ]

Wouldn't it have been narrower in the Undercart track than a Seafire also ?
I have read that the Seafire was no picnic either.

TNZ