Messerschmitt Bf.109G - Royal Italian Users, part two

As we already posted before, four Italian Gruppi (Squadrons), plus some smaller units flew the Bf.109G operationally in the Mediterranean Theatre. Two of them with the Regia Aeronautica prior to the armistice of September 1943, and two with the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR). Those of the ANR will be analyzed inlater posts.
Those Gustavs taken straight from the Luftwaffe, beared a 'black 4' with all the previous markings overpainted in Italian grey. Those machines had applied a stenciled individual aircraft number, with the squadriglia (flight) identity on the white band, the gruppo badge on the cowling of the engine and a white shield-less Savoia cross on the tail. It should be noted that some other typical Regia Aeronautica symbols like the fasces on the fuselage side and wings are absent in some cases, as well as Savoia coat of arms in the centre of the cross on the tail. It was strange that the Regia Aeronautica allowed such customization level as they strongly discouraged individualism and preferred to credit victories as a whole, rather than to pilots.
One of the Italian top aces who flew the Gustav, Ugo Drago, beared a 'white 7' in his aircraft with the fuselage overpainted to completely remove German markings and with his squadron's badge the 'Gigi Tre Orsei' absent, which is odd. However, most of the pilots of that squadron, did add it like Capitano (Captain) Mario Bellagambi, who beared it on his Gustav, within a white square and just ahead of its squadriglia number. Bellagambi shared the destruction of a Consolidated B-24 Liberator on 30th June 1943 but his machine was discovered unuseable by the Allied forces at Sciacca.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_with_Italy
2. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 2 - Bf 109 Aces Of North Africa And The Mediterranean
3. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 34 - Italian Aces of World War II
4. La Bancarella Aeronautica - Ali Straniere in Italia 01 - Messerschmitt Bf 109 Italiani.

Fairey Seafox

The Fairey Seafox was built to comply with the specification S.11/32. The first two prototypes appeared in 1936 and they flew for the first time on 27th May being the first 64 exemplars delivered in 1937. Flights were organised as the 700 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm.
It was an all-metal monocoque fuselage with metal covered wings on the leading edge with the rest covered in fabric. It was powered by a 395hp (295Kw) 16-cylinder air-cooled Napier Rapier H engine and had a defensive Vickers K gun, although it seems that the original defensive armament was a 0.303in Lewis Mk.II and has provision for either 2x100lb bombs or 8x20lb bombs mounted in underwing racks. It had a cruise speed of 106mph (171km/h) with a range of 440 miles (710km).
Even if its performance was quite correct, it was criticized for being underpowered with bad engine cooling and higher than desired landing speeds.
A Seafox played a vital part in 1939 during the Battle of River Plate when it acted as a spotter for the naval gunners against the German pocket Battleship Admiral Graf Spee, which ended in the scutting and destruction of this late one.
They operated early in the war mainly from light-cruisers like HMS Emerald, HMS Neptune, HMS Orion, HMS Ajax, HMS Arethusa and HMS Penelope as well from armed merchant cruisers like HMS Pretoria Castle, HMS Asturias and HMS Alcantara until 1943 when they were replaced by more modern and capable airplanes.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Seafox
2. http://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/54423

Beechcraft XA-38 Grizzly

The Beechcraft XA-38 Grizzly was a ground-attack aircraft developed by Beechcraft that was never massively produced. It was going to be fitted with a forward-firing 75mm cannon to penetrate through armoured targets.
The United States Army Air Forces awarded Beechcraft a contract in December 1942 for two prototypes of their model 28 nicknamed "Destroyer", with the requeriment of it being a powerful ground-attack aircraft that could replace the Douglas A-20 Havoc, with the ability of destroying armoured targets like tanks and bunkers. It was achieved through a 75mm cannon with 20 rounds fixed on the nose, as well as two forward-firing 0.5in (12.7mm) caliber M2 Browning Machine guns. It was armed also with two remotelly controlled dorsal and ventral turrets, each of them armed with two 0.5in (12.7mm) machine guns. It was expected to have a crew of two, a pilot and an oberserver/gunner in the rear cabin, using periscope sights to aim the guns.
On 7th May 1944 it flew for the first time at the company's airfield in Wichita, at the hands of Vern Carstens, Beechcraft's test pilot. It proved to be satisfactory in all aspects and even better than expected in others, included the top speed delivered by its two Wright R-3350-43 air cooled radial engines which yielded 2300hp (1716Kw) each.
During testing it was also tested by USAAF's pilots and serviced by military personnel, proving to be reliable and establishing a high level of serviceability.
It was going to have a payload of two underwing bombs plus an undetermined number of rockets. This armament configuration showed good results and effectiveness and if wartimes priorities didn't shift in 1944, it would've probably been mass produced, although the B-29 had priority for the Wright R-3350 engines, therefore, as it lost interest for the USAAF, the prototype was scrapped and the other, expected for the USAAF museum, had an unknown fate.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_XA-38_Grizzly
2. https://www.plane-encyclopedia.com/ww2/us/beechcraft-xa-38-grizzly/

Bell YFM-1 Airacuda

Materializing many innovative features and designed by Robert J. Woods, the Airacuda was a five-seat long-range bomber destroyer. It was powered by two engines in a pusher configuration and it accommodated two gunners in forward extensions of the engine nacelles. Those crew members were provided with wing crawlways in order to reach the main fuselage in the event that it was needed to evacuate the nacelle gun positions.
The first prototype XFM-1 was powered by two 1150hp Allison V-1710-13 12-Cylinder liquid-cooled engines which drove three-blade propellers via 64-in (1.62m) extension shafts and flew for the first time on 1st September 1937.
Twelve further evaluation models were ordered, nine as YFM-1 and other three YFM-1As which was different just in having tricycle undercarriage. The engines kept being two 1150hp Allison V-1710-23s, but three of them were fitted with the V-1710-41 of 1090hp as YFM-1Bs. The 12 YFMs were delivered to the United States Army Air Corps between February and October 1940 and they were armed with one 37mm T-9 cannon in each gun nacelle with 110 rounds each, plus one 0.3in (7.62mm) M2 machine gun with 500 rounds in each of the retractable dorsal turret and ventral tunnel positions and one 0.5in (12.7mm) M2 gun firing from each of the port and starboard beam positions. Twenty 30lb (13.6Kg) bombs could be fitted internally.
During flight testing performed by Bell, many problems and flaw were encountered with two of them being lost to accidents and most of them being damaged. The most accident occurred to an YFM-1A on a flight between Chanute Field, Illinois and Keesler Field, Mississippi when a broken oil line sparked a fire due to some serious fuselage vibration encountered during the flight. As there wasn't any way of extinguishing the fire, both pilot and crew chief agreed to bail out. The pilot was killed as his parachute didn't open. That was the only fatality occurred during the testing of the Airacudas.
In spite of all those problems, a full operation Airacuda squadron was assembled and operated from 1938 to 1940. Funds were appropriatted but never released for the purchase of two further groups of Airacudas. However, as the continued problems persisted, the aircraft received the reputation of "hangar queens". Near the end of the aicraft's operational life they were flown mainly for photo oportunities and always accompanied by a chase plane for security purposes. It was decided eventually to disperse the aircraft through various airfields to give pilots the chance to add the unusual aircraft to their log books, so they were sent to Langley Field, Virginia, Maxwell Field, Alabama, Hamilton Field, California and Wright Field, in Dayton, Ohio. One of them was displayed at the 1940 New York World Fair finished with the colours of the 27th Pursuit Squadron but during this time the aicraft saw limited flight time as pilots weren't interested in flying the unusual aircraft.
Many plans were made to modify them to make them operational, including the modification of the airframe and adding more powerful engines but all of them were rejected. In early 1942 despite the danger of enemy attacks against American bombers, the Airacuda was rejected.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_YFM-1_Airacuda

Messerschmitt Bf.109G - Royal Italian Users, part one

As the Italian production lines produced only 160 new bombers and 758 new fighters from November 1942 to April 1943 and they had lost around 1600 aircraft in combat, due to accidents, war casualties and other causes, the Italian Regia Aeronautica decided to use German aircrafts.
German General Kesselring accepted to deliver a first batch of around 30 Bf.109G that were assigned to 150º Gruppo, 3º Gruppo and 9º Gruppo, 3º Stormo (150th Squadron, 3rd Squadron and 9th Squadron 3rd Wing respectively).
The first unit, was under the command of Maggiore Antonio Vizzotto and was ready to operate in April from Caltagirone, in Sicily and shortly later from Sciacca, in Sicily too. Before Operation Husky, the 150º Gruppo, which was comprised of 363ª, 364ª and 365ª Squadriglias (363rd, 364th and 365th flights) had 25 Bf.109Gs operative while the 3º Gruppo which comprised 153ª, 154ª and 155ª Squadriglias, had 17 of them based at Comiso airfield, in Sicily as well. Most of them were destroyed by Allied bombers and on the fourth day of the Operation both Gruppos had lost nearly all their aircraft. By mid-July the 150º Gruppo was rebased to Ciampino airfield, at the outskirts of Rome, with the last three surviving Bf.109Gs arriving from Sicily.
Meanwhile, 23º Gruppo, comprised of 70ª, 74ª and 75ª Squadriglias and belonging to the 3º Stormo received 11 Bf.109Gs while based at Cerveteri airfield,  in the region of Lazio (or, as the fascist Italy named it, Latium). By the time of the Armistice of Cassibile, on 8th September, only four Bf.109Gs were still active with the 150º Gruppo based at the Ciampino airfield.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_with_Italy
2. La Bancarella Aeronautica - Ali Straniere in Italia 1 - Messerschmitt Bf 109 Italiani.
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Messerschmitt Bf.109G - Russian Liberation Army users.

Back in December 1943 an aerial squadron was formed in the Luftwaffe, named Ostfliegerstaffel (Russische), but they were disbanded after some anti-partisan missions where this squadron took the night harassment role in July 1944.
They were regrouped into the Störkampfstaffel 8 (Night Harassment Squadron 8) which was formed very late in the war, in April 1945 and their last mission took place on 13th April, when they attacked a Soviet bridgehead at Erlenhof,on the Oder river.
The commander of the KONR Air Force (the self-proclaimed Russian Liberation Army's Air Force) was Maj.Gen. Viktor Maltsev and some former Soviet aces served in this unit. The most notorious one was Semyon T. Bychkov. Bychkov was a veteran of the Winter and continuation war, who, in 1942, was re-assigned to the Eastern Front. In July that same year, his aircraft crashed and he was sentenced to five years in a labour camp, however, as pilots were running short in the war, and they were badly needed, his sentence was lifted on 1st October. By August 1943, he had participated in 16 air combats with a score of 17 German aircrafts. He was awarded with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on 2nd September 1943. He was shot down later, in December 1943, by anti-air fire and was taken POW inconcious. After being recovered in a military hospital he was taken to a POW camp in Suwalki.
Later, in 1944 he agreed in becoming part of the Ostfliegerstaffel (Russische) squadron where he took part in various night-harassment missions around Dvinsk, in Latvia, and he was awarded the German Ostvolk Medal 2nd class. After such missions he became the squadron leader.
At the command of a Bf.109G-10 he took part in the squadron's last raid and, at the end of the war, he, together with other KONR members, surrendered to the 12th Corps of the American 3rd Army. In September 1945, he was transferred to Cherbourg, France, where he was handed over to the Soviets. On 26th August 1946 he was charged by the tribunal of the Moscow Military District and sentenced to death. The next day, he submitted an appeal for pardon, but it was rejected and the sentence was executed on 4th November. Later, on 21st March 1947 he was posthumously stripped of all honours that had been awarded to him by the Soviet Union.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Liberation_Army
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semyon_Trofimovich_Bychkov
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Messerschmitt Bf.109G, Various users, part two

The Messerschmitt Bf.109G was used by many countries. Among them the next ones:

• United Kingdom: Various Bf.109G-10 and G-14 were captured by the British at the Low Countries during 1944 and 1945. Some of them were handed to the Rafwaffe (No.1426 Enemy Aircraft Flight RAF) to test them, which, apparently, some were tested in the Netherlands, without being transported back to the United Kingdom. 
• Poland: When the Italian campaign was over in 1945, British forces captured some ex-Croatian Bf.109Gs which were handed over to the No.318 Polish Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron. One of them was used in the inmediate postwar when Polish squadrons weren't disbanded yet and was personal aircraft of Leszka Wielochowskiego (hence the "LW" letters in the aircraft depicted below) who was the Commander of the No.318 Squadron.
• France: When American forces advanced into Reims, apparently they captured some Bf.109G-14s. They were handed after the war to the newly reformed French Armée de l'Air. They were most probably used for aeronautical testing as the French Air Force of those years didn't need this fighter type, they were, most probably, used for testing.
• Sweden: During the war many Bf.109G were forced to land on neutral Sweden. Some of those aircrafts were interned and some others weren't. Some of those that were interned were pushed into service with the Royal Swedish Air Force which used them for testing purposes.

Sources:

1. http://www.forcedlandingcollection.se (translated)

2. http://www.polishairforce.pl/messerschmitt.html (translated)

3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

CAC CA-11 Woomera

After the first tests of the initial CA-4 Woomera on 19th September 1941, it was seen that the fuel tanks weren't reliable, and its wooden structure was seen as a vulnerability to anti-air fire (something not certainly completely true as proved by the Mosquito). Engines were considered too weak and it was decided to replace them with two 14-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C3-G manufactured locally under license by DAP (Department of Aircraft Production), the tail section was completely redesigned, and engine nacelles were more streamlined, keeping the characteristic nacelles guns, a lengthened canopy and a revised rear-gunner's station.
 It wasn't until June 1944 that this version went airborne, powered by Pratt & Whitney R-2000 Twin wasp engines rated each of them at 1300hp of power and a crew of three. Reported maximum speed was 282mph (454km/h) with a range of 2225 miles (3581 Km). Service ceiling was 23500ft (7163m) with a rate-of-climb of 2090ft (637m) per minute. Main armament was slighlty revised from the CA-4 and included two 0.303in calibre Browning machine guns and two 20mm Hispano Mk.II cannons in the nose. The four-gun remote controlled turret barbettes with two 0.303in were kept and it had provision for bomb and torpedo ordnance to be mounted under the wings or in the engine nacelles as they had bomb-bays.
The CA-11 prototype was delivered to the RAAF in November 1944, but, at that time, surplus aircraft both from the USA and the United Kingdom were largely available for the RAAF negating therefore the need for a locally built aircraft in that role. The original government contract of 105 aircrafts was reduced to 20 and eventually cancelled, finishing with the project. The roles that would've been fullfiled by the Woomera were undertaken by the North American P-51 Mustang which could fullfil many roles, the Bristol Beaufort (some of them locally built by DAP) or the Lockheed Ventura.
Some sources claim that it was the second prototype that crashed and not the first one, and they even claim that, in March 1945 the second prototype took part in a reconnaissance version together with some Australian Consolidated Liberator GR Mk.VIII at the northern shore of Australia and it was written off in September 1945 just after the surrender of Japan.
Apparently the only prototype was scrapped in late 1945.

Sources:
1. https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=848
2. http://www.avionslegendaires.net/avion-militaire/commonwealth-ca-4-ca-11-woomera/ (translated)
3. http://forum.worldofwarplanes.com/index.php?/topic/1291-ca-11-woomera-bomber-cac-ca-4ca-11/
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAC_Woomera
5. https://www.airforce.gov.au/sites/g/files/net3736/f/minisite/static/1469/RAAFmuseum/research/aircraft/series2/A23.htm

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-5IT

As it was originally planned, the second prototype of the MiG-5 was going to be powered by two M-40 diesel engines rated each of them at 1500hp because diesel engines would, theoretically, offer greater range than gasoline powered one due to the lower fuel consumption.
However, the second prototype, AKA MiG IT (as MiG design bureau named it) or MiG DIS-200 (as it was called by the military designation), encountered a number of problems that hindered its development. That's why the second prototype was, in the end, fitted with two ASh-82 fourteen cylinder two-row radial engines rated at 1676hp each.
The decission of adopting radial engines led to a redesign of the engine nacelles, so, compared to the original DIS, the main wheel cover doors were enlarged and bulged and it was equipped with Hucks-type starter lugs on the propeller spinners.
Development works started at Moscow-Khodinka, but, as the state factory had to be evacuated due to the German offensive, the unfinished DIS-200 was taken East to Kuibyshev delaying the project seriously.
It wasn't until 22nd January 1942 that the prototype flew for the first time, but, after being tested at the factory in Kazan, the program came to an end shortly after in 1942 as aerial combat experience in the Eastern Front showed that there was no need for a long-range escort fighter as most bombing run missions performed by the Petlyakov Pe-2 and Ilyushin DB-3 bombers were of short duration and could be perfectly escorted by the already existing Lavochkin and Yakovlev single-engined fighters.

Sources:
1. http://www.airpages.ru/eng/ru/mig5_2.shtml
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_DIS
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-5

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-5, AKA MiG-5T or MiG DIS-200, was a twin-engined escort fighter that was designed and developed to escort the Ilyushin DB-3 and the Petlyakov Pe-8 bombers of the Soviet Air Force with the possibility of performing secondary roles such as long-range reconnaissance, light-bombing or even torpedo-bombing. As the Soviet Air Force showed interest in the project and about some possible mass-manufacturing of the type, the official MiG-5 designation was allocated.
Design work started back in early 1940 and it was the first twin-engined aircraft designed by the MiG design bureau and it was going to be powered by two AM-37 engines rated at 1400hp each. It was also equipped with two AV-5I-Il-4 three-bladed propellers. It has also the honour of being the first Soviet aircraft to be equipped with pneumatically operated landing gear.
It was intended to be armed with two Berezin UB 12,7mm (0.5in) plus four ShKAS 7.62mm (0.3in) plus one VYA 23mm (0.9in) cannon in an under-fuselage pod, some very heavy weapon setting for a Soviet aircraft of the time. The VYA cannon was developed by A.A. Voronov and S.Y. Yartsev in 1940 and it was a formidable weapon able to penetrate 25mm (0.1in) thich armour at a distance of 400 meters (1312ft). The cannon pod could be replaced by either a payload of 1000Kg. (2205lb) of bombs or a Type 45-36 torpedo.
The unarmed DIS prototype was built at State Aircraft Factory Number 1 at Moscow-Khodinka and made its maiden flight on 19th May 1941 and state acceptance trials showed a top speed of 560km/h (348mph) which was 104Km/h (65mph) slower than expected. In an attempt to gain more speed, propellers were replaced by two four-bladed AV-9B-L-149 together with some minor aerodynamical improvements. Those modifications managed to increase the speed by 40km/h (25mph). The prototype had a rate of climb 15m/sec (2982ft/min) to 5000 meters (10404ft) with a range of 2280km (1417 miles).

Sources:
1. http://www.airpages.ru/eng/ru/mig5.shtml
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_DIS
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Messerschmitt Bf.109G, Hungarian Users, part three

The Bf.109G was the main aircraft of the Royal Hungarian Air Force. It was piloted by Sgt./Maj. István Fábián who was a veteran of almost 100 combat missions. During the last months of the war, he managed to cut a swathe through Soviet ranks, as he claimed 8 victoried between November 1944 and April 1945. Two of those came on 19th February 1945 when he shot down two La-5s whilst at the controls of the machine depicted below. He's considered as one of the best wingmen of the war and he was also one of the first Hungarians to receive the Iron Cross First Class.
Fábián was promoted to the rank of Ensign on 12th March 1945 and the following day he shot down a Soviet Il-2 south-west of Pázmánd, in Hungary while flying his aircraft. Shortly later, on 16th April, his aircraft, marked with a yellow eleven number, was destroyed in an strafing attack made by the USAAF.
József Málik was one of the youngest pilots of the 101st squadron and, with the aircraft depicted, he shot down a Soviet Douglas Boston making it his 9.5 kill on 9th March 1945 at the south-east of the besieged Hungarian airfield at Várpalota. He claimed his last victory, a Yak-9, before losing his life during a low-level strafing attack by USAAF's P-51s on Raffleding airfield, the last base of the 101st Squadron, on 16th April 1945.
Corporal/Major Ernö Kiss was a veteran of the Eastern front who scored five kills while with 101/2 fighter squadron durign 1943-1944 receiving the Iron Cross Second Class for his actions. On 17th April 1945, he scored the last Hungarian aerial kill of the World War 2 with his Bf.109G-10/U4 that had survived the strafing attack. He had to burn his machine later to prevent it to be captured.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_with_Hungary
2. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 50 - Hungarian Aces of World War II

Messerschmitt Bf.109G, Hungarian Users, part two

The Messerschmitt Bf.106G was the aircraft manned by many of the Hungarian aces of the war.
For instance, it was the aircraft of Lászlo Daniel, who, copying Luftwaffe's tradition, painted white kill marks on his fin. A practice that was really rare in the Royal Hungarian Air Force. He shared the destruction of two B-24 and one P-38 by himself alone plus another P-38 claimed by himself but unconfirmed, all of them during the combat missions during the course of June and July 1944. Later, in January 1945 when they were fighting almost exclusively the Soviet Air Force, he enjoyed some success against them despite being outnumbered every time he took-off. He claimed five kills in March 1945 and, by the end of the war, he had completed 65 missions with 8.5 kills scored.
It was also the first aircraft that flew Lt. Kálman Nánási, who on 27th June 1944 flew his first combat mission. He didn't score any victory against the USAAF, but he managed to destroy nine Soviet Aircraft between December 1944 and March 1945.
During January 1945 he enjoyed considerable succes as he destroyed four Il-2s and one Yak-9 during the course of the month. His 39th mission came to an end on 4th April 1945 as we was shot down by Soviet flak during a ground-attack sortie.
The most famous Hungarian squadron that was equipped with the Bf.109G was the 101st, the Red Pumas, however, there were another two fighter squadrons fighting in the Eastern Front, the 102/2 which had among its files Lt. Lászlo Pottyondy, who was the commander officer of 102/2 "Ricsi" Squadron. They were active in the Eastern Front during autumn 1944 with 13 kills. In spite of being constantly outnumbered and having to struggle with a serious shortage of aircraft he managed to claim half a dozen kills during the final months of 1944. His aircraft wore the emblen of a dog, which was the unit's symbol, in the cowling.
Later, in late October 1944, Pottyondy was promoted to Captain when he regularly commanded his squadron on combined missions with the III/JG.52 which they shared the base with at Budaörs. As the 102/2 was severely lacking aircraft they were disbanded and integrated into the 101st in December 1944.
Like Nánási, Ens. Dezsö Szentgyörgyi had to face the Soviet onslaught in January 1945 and he managed to shot down three La-5, two Yak-9s and one Il-2. His aircraft was written-off during late January 1945 when he crashed trying to take-off with windy weather. Note that after Romania switched sides, on 28th September 1944 a yellow "V" was painted in the underside of the wings of every aircrafts assigned to Jafü Ost in order to help flak crews to distinguish between friendly Bf.109 from Romanian ones. The white part of the Hungarian roundel was either left off or overpainted in grey. The symbol of the Puma was also left off as groundcrew were busier keeping the Bf.109Gs airworthy.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109
2. Osprey - Aircraft of the Aces 50 - Hungarian Aces of World War II
3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Messerschmitt Bf.G - Hungarian users, part one

By 1943 the Royal Hungarian Air Force realized that the locally licensed-built Reggiane Re.2000 Héja fighters were obsolete and weren't up to the task and, therefore, began to equip their home defence squadrons with Bf.109s. During April and May 1944 the Bf.109Gs were concentrated in the 101. Honi Légvédelmi Vadaszrepülö Osztály (101st Home Air Defence Wing) and many were produced by the Hungarian Messerschmitt factory at Györ. This unit was commanded by the Eastern Front veteran Örnagy (Major) Heppes Aladár and was commonly known as the "Red Pumas" due to their insignia.
During the "American Season", the period between May and August 1944 when the USAAF bombed Hungary, the unit had claimed 15 P-51s, 33 P-38s and 56 four-engined bombers. However Hungarian losses were high too, 18 fighter pilots lost their lives with the heaviest losses taking place on 7th August 1944 whe 18 Bf.109 from the 101st Home Group, escorting another Luftwaffe's Bf.109Gs armed with underwing cannon gondolas, took-off to intercept 357 four-engined American bombers which were escorted by 117 fighters. The Messerschmitts were intercepted by the P-51 Mustangs that shot down eight Hungarian and at least nine German Bf.109s, losing just two of their members.
Among the killed Hungarian pilots was Lt. László Molnár Lukács who was the top scoring Hungarian ace to the date with 25 kills, with seven Americans among them. By November 1944  the 101st Home Defence Wing was reformed into a fighter regiment and received the latest Bf.109G-10 and Bf.109G-14 and, by the end of December they were handed to the pilots at Wiener-Neustadt and were later transferred to the Kenyeri airfield.
Early in February, the wing received brand new Bf.109G-10/U4 with instructions that their engines had to be changed after 30-40 operating hours. Anyway, as the USAAF's bombing campaing came to an end and now they had to face against the Soviet Air Force, where the Hungarian pilots were numerically far inferior but they attacked nevertheless. On 9 March 1945 a formation of 8 Bf.109G-10 from 101/3 fighter squadron intercepted a formation of 25 Soviet Douglas Boston bombers escorted by 16 Yak-9s and shot down three. Two weeks later, close to the end of the war, eight Hungarian fighters attacked 26 Soviet bombers south of Lake Balaton and shot down five of them without a single loss.
At the end of March 1945 the Royal Hungarian Air Force had to leave Hungary. The Red Pumas were rebased first to Petersdorf, Wiener-Neudstadt, Tulln and finally to Raffelding, in Austria. Operating from there, Hungarian fighters carried out many reconnaissance and attack missions on ground targets. They had to cope with high losses as in just two days they lost ten fighters and four pilots. On 17th April 1945 the last Royal Hungarian Air Force kill of the war was achieved when Lt. Kiss shot down a Soviet Yak-9. The unit set their remaining Bf.109Gs on fire on 4th May 1945 at Raffelding airfield to prevent them to be taken by the advancing American troops.
However, one of them, a Bf.109G-10/U4 was saved from the fire and it's exposed nowadays at the Planes of Fame museum in Chino, California.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109_operational_history#Combat_service_with_Hungary
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. Hikoki - Hungarian Eagles - The Hungarian Air Forces 1920-1945

SNCAC NC.900

The SNCAC NC.900 was a French fighter aircraft of the inmediate post-war. It was the French version of the excellent Focke-Wulf Fw.190 fighter which had been built in France during the war.
At the end of 1944, after the liberation of France, an underground aircraft repair workshop, that was safe from allied reconnaissance planes, was found in Cravant, at the French region of Yonne, with many abandoned Fw.190A-5 and A-8 that were under reparations. In order to equip the newly-reformed Armée de l'Air, the French government nationalized the workshop and integrated it into the Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Centre (SNCAC) under the name of Atélier Aéronautique de Cravant (AAC) (Aeronautical Workshop of Cravant) and decided to finish the construction and reparations of those hundred of aircraft under the name of NC.900.
The decision was taken on an economical basis as each aircraft's cost was of just 1.5 millions of French Francs of the time, instead of the 12 millions that buying an Spitfire cost. As repairing the aircrafts already in there (and finishing the fuselages that were also present) wasn't too difficult. However, the BMW 801 D2 engines had been sabotaged so perfectly that manufacturer Voisin, which was the company at charge of supplying and repairing them, had great problems providing functional copies.
The first example was completed and took off on 16th March 1945 with the war almost over. After completions, the first batch of aircrafts were sent to the Centre d'Essais en Vol (CEV), in Brétigny-sur-Orge, in Île-de-France, in order to receive their certificate of airworthiness.
The was put into service with the Normandie Niemen squadron on 1st February 1946, but the pilots of the "Neu-neu" (the nickname given to the aircraft) had to cope with many engine malfunctions and accidents, probably due to the sabotage of the engines by the French workers back when it was occupied by Germany. Furthermore, the pilots were reticent to use an aircraft they had been fighting during the last four years in the eastern front. It was considered a dangerous aircraft to fly, and shortly after, on 16th February 1946, it was forbidden to fly. That same day, production was provisionally halted, but it would never resume. Nine examples were rehabilitated later in June, but the performance wasn't any better as in the whole month of October only one example managed to fly for just 45 minutes.
On 1st November the aicraft was definitely decommissioned and removed from the inventories. All examples were scrapped except for one, which was donated to Museum of Air and Space in Bourget, where it's exposed nowadays in the hall nº5, repainted in German colours.

Sources:
1. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCAC_NC.900 (translated)
2. https://www.aviationsmilitaires.net/v2/base/view/Variant/6596.html (translated)

Mitsubishi F1M

The Mitsubishi F1M (Allied codename 'Pete') was a Japanese reconnaissance floatplane of World War II which has the honour of being the last biplane type to serve with the Imperial Japanese Navy. Almost 1200 of them were built in total, between 1936 and 1944.
The F1M1 was powered by a single Nakajima Hikari Mk.1 radial engine which yielded 820hp of power, a maximum speed of 368km/h (230mph) and an operative range of 1072km (670milles) when overloaded. It was armed with two fixed forward-firing 7.7mm (0.303in) Type 97 machine guns placed on the nose and a defensive 7.7mm Type 92 one placed in the observer's post. It could also carry two 60kg (132lb) bombs under the lower wings. It turned to be a very versatile aircraft which served as a mobile operations platform.
It was originally built as a catapult-launched reconnaissance floatplane specialized in gunnery spotting. The F1M1 took on a number of local roles as convoy escort, bomber, anti-submarine , maritime-patrol, rescue, transport and anti-shipping strike with some respectable success rate. For instance the American Motor Torpedo Boat PT-34 was sunk on 9th April 1942 by a F1M1. It was also used as an area-defence fighter and got involved in aerial combat in the Aleutians, the Solomons and many other theatres. In the New Guinea front it got involved in many aerial battles against both Allied bombers and fighters.
Since its production started in 1938, they were assigned to the 21st Naval Air Arsenal at Sasebo, in Japanese homeland before being transferred to their respective destinations. In due course, the F1M2 equipped all but one of the K-Maru and S-Maru classes of converted merchant seaplane tenders raiders and several Japanese Battleships and Cruisers of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
They were present at the Battle of Midway as two aircraft were launched from the Battleship Kirishima, but they were lost when the ship was scuttled at the end of the Battle of the Solomons. They were also aboard the Superheavy Battleships Musashi and Yamato as each of them carried several F1M1 and M2s to serve as spotters for their 460mm guns at the Battle of the Marianas.
Apparently, late in the war they were used for kamikaze attacks as they were blatantly outdated and its production ceased the year before, in 1944. After the war as the Japanese retreated from many territories like Indonesia or Thailand, they left behind many equipment, among them some F1M1 which were put into service by the newly created government of Indonesia and used them in their war of independence. Something similar happened with the Thai government which also used some leftover F1M1s  and used them in their navy during the inmediate postwar years. However, as we couldn't find graphical evidence of the F1M1 in service with Thailand, the drawing should be considered as speculative.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_F1M
2. http://www.aviastar.org/air/japan/mitsubishi_f1m.php
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_mitsubishi_F1M.html

Moskalev SAM-13

The Moskalev SAM-13 was a Soviet two-engined pusher-puller low-wing fighter. It was made by OKB-31 and designed by Aleksandr S. Moskalev. It was developed in the USSR in the very late 1930s and remained only in prototype stage.
Its characteristic two engine configuration, being each of them a Renault-Bengasi MV-6 yielding each of them 220hp of power. Each of them was placed aft and forward of the engine and were set in a puller-pusher configuration. It had a double vertical stabilizer and a single horizontal stabilizer connecting both vertical ones. It was flown only twice at the commands of Nikolay Filson at the end of 1940 where many flaws were encountered and its development was halted due to the beginning of the war in the east.
Aleksandr S. Moskalev started this project back in 1938 after having seen the mock-up of the Dutch Fokker D.XXIII which was presented to the public in the International Aeronautical Salon of Paris-Le Bourget in 1938.
The Moskalev was built entirely out of wood and its design was initially interesting considering how it could get the best from such low powered engines. It was one of the first Russian aircraft to have a retractable tricycle landing gear. Thanks to the position of the cockpit, the pilot enjoyed a nice field of view thanks also to its plexiglas canopy.
Thanks to the good aerodynamics and its lightweight of just 1183kg, the aircraft had an excellent ratio of weight/power of 5.9lb/hp (2.7kg/hp) which proved to yield a nice speed when tested at sea level of 292mph (470km/h) and 422mph (680km/h) at an altittude of 19000ft (5800m) in the year 1940.
However, the problems found at the tests, were because the vertical/horizontal stabilizers were too close to the back engine which caused serious drag problems. Furthermore, the cooling of the back engine wasn't optimal and during take-off and landing the debris caused by the landing gear could seriously damage the cooling system of the back engine. The pilot was also unprotected in the case of a harsh landing as the impact could launch the back engine towards the cockpit.
In spite of the better performance achieved when compared to the other single-engined fighters of the time, the project was abandoned due to the German invasion in June 1941 mainly because it was hard to find an adequate armament fitting configuration which was expect to be of two forward firing 7.62mm ShKAS machine guns.
As we like sometimes to imagine new colours for the airplanes, we decided to draw two what-if versions. One serving with the Soviet Air Force and another serving with the hypothetical Russian Air Force because what-ifs are always interesting. We decided to arm them with two 7,62mm ShKAS machine-gun pods placed under the wings.

Sources:
1. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moskalev_SAM-13 (translated)
2. Salamander Books - The Complete book of Fighters