Tag Archives: Messerschmitt Bf 109

27 June 1940

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Hawker Hurricane Mk.I at NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. (NASA)

27 June 1940: Acting Flight Lieutenant James William Elias Davies, Royal Air Force, a fighter pilot assigned to No. 79 Squadron at Biggin Hill, was scheduled to be presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross on this date. Instead, he was assigned to lead a flight of three Hawker Hurricanes as escort to reconnaissance aircraft on a mission to Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, just across the English Channel. Flight Lieutenant Davies was flying Hurricane Mk.I P3591.

While still over the Channel, the three Hurricanes were attacked by three enemy Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. Two Hurricanes were shot down and the third escaped. One RAF pilot safely bailed out, but Jimmy Davies went down with his Hurricane.

Flight Lieutenant Davies was an American citizen, born in New Jersey 26 years earlier. He was the first American airman to be killed in combat during World War II.

James William Elias Davies and his twin sister Isabella Elias Davies were born 29 October 1913 at Bernardsville, New Jersey, United States of America. They were the children of David Ashley Davis, a Welsh immigrant, and Catherine Isabella Elias Davies. In the early 1900s, Mrs. and Mrs. Davies (who was an American citizen of Welsh descent) lived in Wales, but came to the United States in 1912.

In 1936, Jimmy Davies joined the Royal Air Force and was trained as a fighter pilot. On 19 May 1936, Davies was granted a short service commission as an Acting Pilot Officer on probation, and then on 9 November 1938, he was promoted to the rank of Flying Officer.

Flying Officer Davies was Mentioned in Despatches, a notice of which was published in The London Gazette, 20 February 1940. (Supplement: 34795, Page 1056)

Below is the notice of Davies’ award of the Distinguished Flying Cross:

— The London Gazette, 28 June 1940, Issue: 34884, at Page 3945 and Page 3946

© 2021, Bryan R. Swopes

28 May 1935

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Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Bf 109 V1, D-IABI, Werk-Nr. 758, with engine running. (National Air and Space Museum)

28 May 1935: Bayerische Flugzeugwerke Aktiengesellschaft (BFW) test pilot Hans-Dietrich Knoetzsch took the prototype Bf 109 V1 fighter, civil registration D-IABI, on its first flight at Haunstetten, near Augsburg, Germany. The duration of the flight was twenty minutes.

The new fighter was designed by Wilhelm Emil Messerschmitt, Walter Rethel and Robert Lusser. It was a light weight, single-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane with retractable landing gear.

BKW Bf 109 V! D-IABI prototype, left profile. (National Air and Space Museum)
BFW Bf 109 V1 D-IABI prototype, left profile. (National Air and Space Museum)

The first prototype, Versuchsflugzeug 1, was 8.884 meters (29.147 feet) long with a wingspan of 9.890 meters (32.448 feet). The empty weight was 1,404 kilograms (3,095 pounds) and the maximum weight was 1,800 kilograms (3,968 pounds).

Because the Junkers Jumo 210 inverted V-12 engines planned for the new fighter were not yet available, a liquid-cooled, supercharged, 1,295.91-cubic-inch-displacement (21.24 liter) Rolls-Royce Kestrel VI single overhead cam (SOHC) 60° V-12 was installed. This British engine had four valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 6.00:1. It produced 695 horsepower at 2,500 r.p.m., and turned a two-bladed, fixed-pitch Propellerwerk Gustav Schwarz laminated composite propeller through a 0.553:1 gear reduction. The Kestrel was 6 feet, 0.35 inches (1.838 meters) long, 2 feet, 11.00 inches (0.889 meters) high and 2 feet, 0.40 inches (0.620 meters) wide. It weighed 955 pounds (433 kilograms).

This photograph shows teh two-bladed wooden Schwarz propeller installed on D-IAGI. The position of the exhaust ports high on teh engine cowling indicated the use of a Rolls-Royce Kestrel V-12 engine. (National Air and Space Museum)
This photograph shows the two-bladed laminated composite Schwarz propeller installed on D-IAGI. The position of the exhaust ports high on the engine cowling and the large radiator intake indicate the use of the Rolls-Royce Kestrel V-12 engine. (National Air and Space Museum)

V1’s maximum airspeed was 470 kilometers per hour (292 miles per hour) and its maximum altitude was 8,000 meters (26,247 feet).

No armament was installed on the prototype.

The Bf 109 V1 was tested for several months before being sent to the Luftwaffe test center at Rechlin for acceptance trials. The prototype’s landing gear collapsed while landing there.

Bf 109 V1 D-IABI after the landing gear collapsed at Rechlin. (National Air and Space Museum).
Bf 109 V1 D-IABI after the landing gear collapsed at Rechlin. (National Air and Space Museum).

The prototype Bf 109 was revealed to the public when D-IABI flew at the Games of the XI Olympiad (the 1936 Summer Olympics, held at Berlin, Germany).

The Bf 109 (also known as the Me 109, following Willy Messerschmitt’s acquisition of BFW) was produced from 1937 to 1945. Total production was 33,894 aircraft, which amounted to 57% of total fighter production for Germany. Seven plants produced the Bf 109 during World War II.

After the war ended, Czechoslovakia produced a variant until 1948. Another Spanish-built variant remained in production until 1958.

This recently-restored Messerschmitt Bf 109G-4 is a very fine example ofthe World War II German fighter. (© Photoz by Liza. Image courtesy of Liza Eckardt)
This Messerschmitt Bf 109G-4 was recently restored by the Fighter Factory, Virginia Beach, Virginia. It is a very fine example of the classic World War II German fighter. (Image courtesy of Liza Eckardt © Photoz by Liza)

© 2018, Bryan R. Swopes