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ME-109 Wing Section


Gildwiller1918

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Here is a ME-109 Wing section recovered from an old airstrip outside Leningrad. The vendor said this part was found close to the airstrip, most likely in a parking area close to help conceal the planes. Most planes were dispersed to prevent high losses for air to ground attacks. I am still researching the history for all of this, and will post more as I get information. 

It is quite hard finding information on Luftwaffe airfields in Russia, as the front was constantly changing, airfields had to be moved accordingly, some closer, others farther away. Also the names of these airfields have been changed so the names they would have had in German no longer exist. I did get the airfield location however, it was what today is called Korkino Aerodrome, which is 104 km SE of Leningrad, which sounds a good distance, but if you look at the map below, it was actually in a pretty good spot tactically as it could reach a lot of hostile areas. The airfield was situated close to the rail line that went to Leningrad (a good way to find the city) by the town of Ljuban. See the map below.

If I had to guess, I would say its from a ME-109 F2 series. The reason for this, is that the F2 model was the most widely used during Operation Barbarossa, with over 1,230 F2 fighters constructed. Over seventy German fighter pilots achieved more than 100 victories, eight claimed over 200 and two reached 300 flying this model. Secondly, another part from this aircraft had a Arado factory stamp, which would coincide with this line of thought as Arado did in fact make this model as well as the D series (647 built). 

This particular piece was located on the underside of wing, close to the retractable wheel (see wing detail picture below, left side of wing, above wheel well). The section is roughly 73 cm x 103 cm, a good size. It would have been under the left side of the wing from the pilots point of view.

The piece itself does not appear to have any damage to it, such as holes from weapons. Currently it is hard to make a determination on what happened to this aircraft, such as was it damaged or destroyed on the ground, or was it shot down in aerial combat. However its close proximity to the airfield, makes me tend to think it may have been hit on the ground. It also may been used for spare parts as sometimes damaged planes were cannibalized to get others into the air. The seller also said no human remains were found, which is important, as I do not condone the digging up of any potential war graves. 

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Looking closer at the piece, I have noticed traces of paint, looks like a grey color. Not the usual blue grey (Hellblau RLM Reichsluftfahrt Ministerium 65) coloring of the underside of LW aircraft. I believe this is the Lichtblau (RLM 76) in use from 41-44. 

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Interesting to note that all rivets are missing, probably a sign that such pieces were cannibalised, as you mention, nothing was thrown away, if parts were not usable, then they landed in the "Altmetallsammlung" to be melted down and reprocessed. During any war, at least on the German side, there has always been a shortage of materials of all kinds. As we know, there are quite a few museums worldwide, which have preserved Me 109s of various models, and in the US there are also quite a few private collections with originals and re-builds which are still airworthy. Perhaps getting in touch with these sources would be of help? There is also the Messerschmitt Foundation - Stiftung Messerschmitt (?) near Munich  - which has a lot of documentation and they have rebuilt and sponsored several machines which are now flying, (airshows such as RAF Duxforde, etc.) they have even re-built the Me 262 - I would recommend somehow getting in touch with them, I'm sure they could help you further, and would also be interested the piece you have.

https://www.flugmuseum-messerschmitt.de/

An original Bf 109 was auctioned several years ago for 150.000 Euros - it was fully restored,  complete but no motor and was no longer airworthy, static display only.

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"Gelbe 1", Werksnummer 441059  was built in April 1944 at Wiener Neustadt and shot down in June 1944, crashing near Attersee, Austria. The pilot bailed out and survived.  It was recovered in the mid 1990s, restored and rebuilt by Sandy Air Corp. of Wolfgang Falch, but is not airworthy and the motor is incomplete.

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It is interesting to note the rivets, the other pieces the vendor has are the same, all or most rivets gone. That would take some time to disassemble the parts and remove the rivets, meticulous work.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here is an update to the piece above. I have acquired another part that complements the piece above, this is a landing gear cover that marries up to the part I already got. It has most of the original paint on the exterior still. Just visible is the Arado stamp on the interior, but it is hard to make out. As with the other piece, this one also looks salvaged as parts were removed carefully as to not damage the remaining structure. Overall very good condition. 

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  • 8 months later...

I have mounted the pieces on a wall in the order they would be in normally. 

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