Bf 109G-10 W.Nr.611943
101/3 Fighter Squadron (Hungarian Air Force) |
On display at Ed Maloney's Planes of Fame Museum, 611943 is one of the cornerstones of the PoF collection. Purchased surplus from the US gov't in the late 50s or early 60s, the aircraft is believed to be one of those captured from II./JG52 at Neubiberg and taken back to Wright Field for testing. The paint scheme is somewhat dubious, but the original scheme remains unknown to date.
UPDATE 31 March 2007: Thanks to the sharp eyes of Adam "Kurfürst" Millei spotting this serial number in the recent JaPo book on the G-10/U4 as well as George Punka's excellent book "Messer", we now know this aircraft was on strength with the famous "Pumas", the Hungarian 101st Fighter Wing as of 2 May 1945 with the 101/3 Fighter Squadron. A few days later, the aircraft was flown to Neubiberg along with several other aircraft from the unit to surrender en masse to US forces along with aircraft from II./JG 52. The code of 611943 was not noted in the strength reports, but a previous "yellow 13" was lost on 24 April, so it stands to reason that this aircraft may well have worn the code "13" at the time of the surrender. The Neubiberg surrender is well documented in photographs, and it may be worthwhile going back through all the known photos to see if this aircraft can be spotted; "yellow 12" was very well covered, for instance, especially after being unceremoniously deposited atop a surrendered Me 262A.
It should also be noted that this aircraft is far more original than the other two Bf 109G-10s currently on display in the US, both of which were "restored" by Evergreen Aviation with little thought given to authenticity or historical provenance... for instance, note the original wooden baggage compartment hatch with the "battery box" cover in the new photos from Erik Whipple, as well as the natural metal fuel piping on the starboard wall.
By all accounts, the Planes of Fame East staff at Valle, AZ are quite helpful and this organization and it's people deserve thanks for accommodating close-up photo requests. Perhaps they will see this and consider having the aircraft repainted in it's proper Hungarian colors at some point! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thanks go to Mikael Olrog of the Preserved Axis Aircraft site for submitting this first batch of photos, taken when it carried a far less authentic scheme than it does currently...
Erik Whipple has sent in this batch of photos, showing that there's been a recent repainting job done on the aircraft...
NEW ADDITIONS... Dr. Ken Patterson happened to catch 611943 under some very good lighting, and sent in the following outstanding series of photos. Thanks, Doc! :)
Erik Whipple was back out at Planes of Fame East in February 2007, where he shot the following excellent photos, taken with the gracious assistance of the Planes of Fame museum staff: