Messerschmitt chose the Bf.109F as the basis for this new project and, on the drawing designs, they added a pair of floaters taken straight from the Arado Ar.196.
Apparently nothing came out from this idea and it was therefore abandoned as the war progressed on. According to some sources, the project was also drawn around the Bf.109T which was a sub-variant of the Bf.109E. If it went ahead, it would've been developed by Blohm & Voss, which apparently were going to add a third central floater and replace the lateral ones with two smaller floaters, kinda like the floater version of the Mitsubishi A6M and was going to have also a modified tail and larger wings.
Anyway, the initial Messerschmitt's version was also going to be able to operate from ships but, as we've said before, its development was halted as it was envisioned that a floater equipped Bf.109 would've been very heavy and cumbersome and would've been an easy prey for conventional fighters. Both Japanese and British had the same idea of fitting floats to their main fighters.
As this project is shady and the information available is short, the whole project should be taken with a grain of salt.
Sources:
1. http://me109.airwar1946.nl/family/109W.htm
2. https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=64377
3. http://home.catv.ne.jp/kk/galland/bf109w/bf109w1.html (translated)
No comments:
Post a Comment