Does anybody know of anybody who (preferably still alive) could answer my questions on the 109?
I don't mean sum bowl cut silulator pilot who has never entered a realy aeroplane but a living veteran.
Any ideas? (I've found 5 Gunther Ralls in the Telefonbuch....5 letters..4 "get out of my house" international phone calls....)


A.

Try this website, mate.
http://www.luftwaffe-experten.com/

A great site with a short war bio on a number of the German Aces (virtually all of whom flew the 109). Select the "Experten" link.

I read one of the bios recently and the author (the website owner) credited the actual 'Experten' with being very nice and obliging in allowing him to ask him questions etc.

I just don't recall which 'Experten' it was, You'll have to have a look. But you could email the website owner and ask him for an email contact or ask him to do it for you. he seems like a really obliging bloke.

I'd hurry. He's pretty old...........

I had a little lookie-pooh.

Erich Rudorffer (222 Victories) is alive but doesn't discuss his Luftwaffe career.

Walter Schuck (206) is still alive but no mention of his helping with the website info.

Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert (174) still alive but ill, as of 2001. Again no mention of assiting with info.

Gunther Schack (174) alive and well but refuses to talk about his career. Sent an autographed picture to the author but declined to answer questions.

Thats the ones from the 'Day' Fighters. Maybe it's one from the 'Night' Fighters I recall???? 

I found that reading "I Flew for the Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoke gives a pretty good idea of what flying the Bf 109 was like. He flew all the basic variants in combat.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to phone or write to these veterans without going through a 3rd party. Some are happy to talk about their experiences while others would prefer to forget them.

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If I'm reading Andrew's topic correctly he's been going through the phone book trying to contact them. I'm not convinced this is a good idea.

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I don't think anyone who hasn't seen one realises quite how small the Bf 109 is. The tiny cockpit has one advantage - the pilot becomes part of the aeroplane. Most Spitfire pilots will tell you that it fitted like a glove. Control was more a question of thinking about it & the aircraft would do it. This must have been very handy in combat.

I'm not sure there are any winners in war. They were all brave young men doing their duty.

There's plenty of literature around these days where you can find almost anything you wish. If I had some idea of the information you want I could probably recommend something. The alternative is to contact a museum or warbird restorer who actually flies these aircraft. If you ask nicely it's possible they could answer your questions but they tend to be busy people. Unfortunately some of the most experienced & respected ones like Mark Hanna are no longer with us. He was sadly killed in a landing accident with a Buchon, the Spanish-built version of the Bf 109G, like many Luftwaffe pilots. I believe I'm correct in saying that more Bf 109 pilots were killed in take-off & landing accidents than in combat. These old warbirds can still bite.

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I think it's pretty safe to say that there are more Allied flyers around than German (or Japanese for that matter), simply because of the odds against their survival towards the end of the war (Although both would be extrememly old now,  if alive at all).

In both theatres, they were so outnumbered towards the end and in most instances (except for the Me262), they were up against superior machinery and seasoned pilots who had the luxury of leave and 'creature comforts' that just weren't available to the 'enemy' at that time. Not to mention the 'demoralising' effects of having the crud kicked out of you.

In a number of the Bio's on the page I referred to before, it is amazing how long these men (German Experten - I'm not sure about the Japanese situation) went, fighting day after day, flying 5, 6, or 8 missions a day, without any time off or even a day of rest. Some are said to have done it for literally 'years' - non-stop.

It's also mentioned, in a number of cases, that this could well be a contributing factor to their eventual demises (as discussed more recently in our 'Richtofen' thread).

The Americans (and the English to a degree - not quite sure) in the latter stages, had the luxury of days off, R & R, proper rations, fuel, spares etc. There were shortages or complete absence) of all these things in Germany during the last couple of years of the war (say......mid '43 onwards) and even in the earlier stages in the East. They had to defend every single day, and night.

Some did spend time at training facilities (but that can sometimes be more harrowing than fighting the enemy......lol ).

Added to this, the survival rate of Germans taken by the Soviets was not all that great either, so I imagine many were lost this way also. I know Hartmann spent 10 years and survived but he also admits 'being of assistance' to them and joining some 'Anti-Nazi' association that I don't quite understand much about, so he possibly survived, with better treatment, where some.... more ardent Nazi types may have perished.

It's no surprise to me that there is (or has always been) a shortage of German Fighter pilots to give account of their escapades. 

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It always puzzled me why they retained the side-hinged canopy on later models of the Bf 109. This made it impossible for the pilot to escape if the aircraft overturned on the ground.  If I remember correctly this was the most common cause of the casualties I mentioned. The Bf 109 (especially the later variants) was prone to overturn on take-off due to the amount of prop torque & narrow-tracked stalky undercarriage. (This was also a problem with the Spitfire but I believe to a lesser extent.) 2-seater trainer versions of operational fighters were a luxury in those days & the first experience rookie pilots had of powerful fighters was when they flew them solo after a quick ground briefing. You could compare it with a newly qualified learner driver being strapped into a Formula 1 car & being sent straight out on the race track.