Great read about the 109!
I once flew with an old 109 pilot that had gotten to old to fly (the doctors complained about his heart so his license was revoked) - so I flew with him in his own plane "for the record" (a Grob). He flew in the air - but he left the landings to me... He said that he was getting to old for it and anyway he still had bad memories landing since his early days as a pilot with the 109:s during the war.
He told me that he was trained late in the war with a lot of other 18 year old "kids". They never got hold of flying the 109 and where scared all the time - most about the landings! Half of his squadron where killed starting or landing and when I asked him if he shot down any allied plane he just laughed... No way he said, I fired at some but I don't think any bullets where near their intended targets.
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