Status of D-FDME?

[DoraNineFan]

Have repairs been completed since the ground loop in 2008?

[gregv]

IIRC it has been repaired and finished in a "generic" Me109 scheme; I believe there was a pic in either Flypast or Aeroplane (or both) recently.

greg v.

[DoraNineFan]

@DoraNineFan: Yes, D-FDME has been repaired and is reportedly airworthy again since October, the new painting chosen by EADS was very controversally discussed in a German forum, most found it .... well...... unfitting. Have a look here:

http://www.eads.com/eads/germany/de/uns ... meBox=true

Click on the Me 109 G-10 in the small box on the right, a new window will open. Sorry the text is in German only.

Michael

It is kinda plain, but OK. It would be nice to see a tulip nose one day, since that graphic is very pleasing on the 109.

[gregv]

thanks for the pic link!

I don't quite get the new paint job myself; if they wanted to focus on the aircraft itself and not its use as a weapon maybe just a polished silver finish might have been a better way to go. As it is it looks very generic, almost like one of those pseudo-Luftwaffe paint jobs that used to be so prevalent on Buchons. Not be too pointed about it, but there must be literally dozens of different & interesting late-war G-10 (or even K) schemes they could have picked; perhaps one of those with the multi-variations of RLM76 on the different parts and wings that are bare-metal underneath would have looked nice.

Glad to see someone taking care of it and flying it though!

greg v.

[warbird1]

thanks for the pic link!

I don't quite get the new paint job myself; if they wanted to focus on the aircraft itself and not its use as a weapon maybe just a polished silver finish might have been a better way to go. As it is it looks very generic, almost like one of those pseudo-Luftwaffe paint jobs that used to be so prevalent on Buchons. Not be too pointed about it, but there must be literally dozens of different & interesting late-war G-10 (or even K) schemes they could have picked; perhaps one of those with the multi-variations of RLM76 on the different parts and wings that are bare-metal underneath would have looked nice.

Glad to see someone taking care of it and flying it though!

greg v.

I will try to give you a small overview what was discussed and criticised regarding the paint job: The way they painted the yellow parts won´t fit a 109 G-10, it should be yellow parts on the underside only, not on top. The "Balkenkreuze" crosses are wrong, because G-10´s never had fully black ones, but only 4 black angles. I don´t know about the RLM colours used. Main reason to use such a generic type was to have a semi-genuine looking plane with no known original flown by a certain pilot, to avoid anybody would see it as a martial symbol. I believe they wanted to have a nice, "friendly" looking plane, airshow visitors will say: nice, good looking a/c. If you´d ask me, I´d say rubbish, but well.... This is what EADS says on the site clicking the link in my first post (I did the translation myself, so there is no guarantee for correctness, lol):
Bf (Me) 109 G-10 New paint scheme
During the last two years Bf (Me) 109 G-10 D-FDME underwent a main repair including a new paintscheme. First flight (after repair) is scheduled for October 2010, after necessary fine tuning and test runs. Regarding the paintscheme we choose not to use an original one. The scheme was choosen to closely follow the painting of "Rote Sieben" ("Red Seven", Me 109 G-4). Yellow cowling and yellow wingtips were choosen to increase visibility and due to flight safety reasons. Number "3" was choosen to symbolise the 3rd. airworthy plane of "Flugmuseum Messerschmitt" in Manching.

Even if not 100% correct at least you will get the idea.
Michael

For more pictures click here:

http://messerschmitt-bf109.de/web.php?l ... lugzeug=65

That plane does not even look real, IMO. The paint scheme does not do the plane justice.

By the way, is that tailwheel normal or has it been modified? It looks like it raises the tail pretty high off the ground.

[warbird1]

1. It looks like a cheap `60 ies or `70 ies plastic kit, doesn`t it?

Yes, it absolutely does! That was the first thing that came to my mind. It looks like a fake, fiberglass model - poorly done!

2. It is the high tailwheel of the late 109 G-10, G-14 and K series. It was introduced to improve taxiing, take off and landing performance. But -well there are always but´s- not every manufacturer changed the line to fit the high tailwheel, so you will find G-10 with low or high tailwheel, as well as G-14 with low and high tailwheels. At least AFAIK. But yes, it is original for a late G-10. The paint scheme definitely is not.

I wasn't aware of that, thanks for the info!