Warbird Information Exchange

Underwater Me-108 available on Ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1944-Mes ... 2a251ed92e

-AEH

In its original scheme no less

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Well, that explains it! This was sitting outside at Chino for a couple of months and then disappeared as quickly as it had shown up. Seemed odd that there was no registration number painted on it. It wasn't obvious it had been in a flood.

Glad that the mystery is solved!

Having been a flood victim, does that make this ME-108 a can of worms and should be overlooked?

I see the bid is at $5100.00, and the reserve has not been met. I wonder what the reserve is.

It would be quite a neat little project if it didn't have so many unknowns.

Peace,

David

Assuming fresh water, the engine, wiring and interior is probably shot. No telling how good the airframe was before the submersion though. I understand the Renault engines weren't that good when new compared to the Argus.

Double post...

Depends on the details of the flooding - fresh water, maybe clean, for a short period? Could be fine, with a check, though I defer to bdk's opinion there. After that, it gets worse by time immersed, water quality, all the way to salt water (don't touch the 'plane). The shots of the interior don't look like it'd be the best end of the scale.

We are working on a book on the Bf 108 at the moment, and while I (personally) am just not interested in dollar values on warbirds, it seems that Nord-built examples are very under-valued for the quality / type of aeroplane they are. Genuine BFW built Bf 108s are rare - this isn't that though. The French production started in W.W.II, but they don't have the status or value of the German-built Argus-engined examples. However even those I suspect cost more to restore (if you could find one) than they'd be worth on the open market.

Regards,

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

So what you're saying, is that ME-108 aside, a Spitfire buried in Burma would require a lot of work to restore? And that their engines are probably shot too?

Beyond my little joke, I appreciate your input. I've always thought the ME/BF-108 was a pretty cool looking airplane with a practical payload. A good little weekend warrior/warbird.

James, I look forward to getting my hands on your book when it's published! Seeing as how I know so little about the 108, I'm sure I will learn A LOT!

Peace,

David M

Definitely in my 'virtual hangar' of fun aircraft too, Dave. Pre-war civil German colours for mine.

The book's looking pretty good too, I think. I'm though most of the checking, it's now at the proof-reading stage.

Details: http://mmpbooks.biz/mmp/books.php?book_id=188 (Apparently it's No.1 on the Amazon 'Messerschmitts of W.W.II' bestseller list, on pre-orders alone. Best get it done!)

Regards,

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

AFAIK the108´s produced by Nord during W.W.II did have the Argus engine (produced by Walter / CZ) as well. Using the Renault engine (s? I believe they used 2 different types) instead after 1945 was due to lack or unavailability of Argus engines (I do not know if Walter produced them post ´45). Interesting is, Nord tried to get into their hands every parts, fuselage and wings of earlier produced 108´s, damaged or not, and re-used (early recycling, lol) them for (new) Nord´s. (Same procedure with Fieseler Storchs, though another engine (Jacobs radial) was used to substitute the Argus. Only when no pre ´45 parts were available, new planes were produced. (So it still might be one or another part of an "original" Nord was in fact produced by BFW, or as a licence Bf 108 by Nord. And yes, the Bf 108´s or Nord´s are superb planes. They can easily compete with many products made 30 or 40 years later.

I am aware you do know the history of the 108 much better than I do, but this is my present knowledge. (Will definitely improve when I get your book.)

Michael

For some reason there are a fair amount of these around as projects but few flying. A guy across the hangar row from me had a real nice one he was customizing with a high end interior and I think an IO-540. He moved the plane when it didn't look too far from being done and I never heard about it again.

Knock everyone for a loop, paint one up as an RAF liason aircraft in green/brown over screaming trainer yellow. most, if not all 108's in Britian at the start of the war (and there were a lot of them) were taken over and used as liason/courier aircraft as well as staff hacks.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Messerschmidt Aldon

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

"Only a hand full of these birds floating around". No pun intended?

Hmmm. The correct spelling would be 'Messerschmitt Aldon'. At the outbreak of war there were three in the UK, including one at Croydon (London) airport that was for the German Embassy, but was unable to leave the UK due to a flat tyre... Hm. More were captured and / or impressed as the war went on, but the Aldon name pretty much fell into abeyance.

Aldon was not some obscure British town, but derived from the UK importer of the type Mr. H J Aldington, owner of AFN Ltd. AFN would be familiar for both Frazer Nash chain-driven cars and Frazer Nash aircraft turrets (FN type).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_108

Personally, I still prefer the pre-war schemes - blue or silver.

Michael's post is pretty much on the money; just to be clear, regarding one of my point's Michael's fairly picked up on, there were indeed French built examples with the Argus engine, but my comment earlier was that the prime version in collectability is the German built examples with the original German engine; every other later version is a step away from that in status and value, and, like the example that started the thread is often oversold in a try-hard manner as a result. Certainly French production of both the Storch and 108 had German original material incorporated; but in survivors that potential element is emphasised beyond all likelihood in many cases, given the greater value and cachet of the German stuff.

bdk's right that there are fewer Bf 108s / Nords either active or under restoration that you'd think considering the history of the type and the aircraft's performance. Most are, of course Nords of various flavours, and the issue remains that the engine options seem to remain a deterrent. Personally I'm no fan of shoving modern American engines in them, but they're not my aircraft.

French built Storche had a number of engines fitted after the Argus availability ran out; 233 hp Renault 6Q, 230 hp Salmson 9ab, the mentioned 304 hp Jacobs R-755-A and a 235 hp Lycoming.

More Storch gen available on the interweb and in: http://mmpbooks.biz/mmp/books.php?book_id=166 It was fun to edit, and add a few cherries, such as some of the allied examples to this.

Regards,

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com