Yeah, the Flypast forum has some proper gems coming out every now and then :-)

the pics are of a Buchon though, there are some structural differences, other than fwd of the firewall obviously, mainly in the dual spar structure, which makes for a slightly heavier but more robust wing.

I spent some fun times paint stripping the wings of a T-6, man what a PIA! The surface coat normally comes out easily, but the primers used are SO hard to remove sometimes!

As for the 109 size, it's an advantage also in terms of strategic production, since you need less material to produce one aircraft.

I still regard the 109 as the most overall efficient and cost effective fighter aircraft of WW2.

+1

And another reason for the size of the 109 (from the book "Spitfire vs Bf 109 - Battle of Britain" by Tony Holmes):

That Bouchon is a real oddity. I'd like to know why they chose to mate the RR with the 109. Was cost the mane reason (maybe surplus engines/airframes)or was there some performance gain? I remember seeing a doco on the making of the film Battle Of Britten and they used AC from the Spanish AF in allot of their footage. I thought at the time the noses of the 109's were a bit odd.

How many D-B engines made since April 1945?

it's another classic example of when business gets in the way of aviation. I frankly find the nose section revolting to say the least.. nothing beats the sleek design of the DB engined 109s :-)

Interesting, i find it ungodly that anyone can strap something so beastly to a beautiful merlin.

lol fair enough :mrgreen:

Re. the DB601/605/603 it really shows though how every detail was engineered for aeronautical performance and with quality in mind. The inverted V layout meant that mechanics could work on the cylinder heads without trestles: all the delicate parts of the engine (rockers, injectors) were below (which in dogfights is a clear advantage) and even if hit on the top it would mean that the oil bleeding from the engine would be considerably less than its counterpart, allowing it to survive a bit longer even if damaged. The exhaust stacks weren't in the way of the cockpit and were easily shielded by the top plates, and last but not least you could make good use of the space between the cylinder banks and put a nice big cannon in it.

Agh, the Hispano_Suiza was an upright V12 and had a cannon mounted in the V. The Russians put a 37mm in their version of this engine.

the DB605 was still produced in Sweden after 1945. but they were very expensive to purchase. Switzerland as example decided to buy cheap used P-51 instead of swedish engines forvthei dozen Bf109G-6.........

and the first version of the spanish 109s had Hispano engines btw. I guess the Merlin gave a better performance :)