Clay_Allison
Staff Sergeant
- 1,154
- Dec 24, 2008
Galland: From our experience the Italians have always forgotten something in their fighter aircraft, either the armour or guns.
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Galland: From our experience the Italians have always forgotten something in their fighter aircraft, either the armour or guns.
Damn...took a while to type that lot out!
B.B, I reckon the Bf 109 WAS replaced where possible with something better - THE FW 190!!!
What should have been done for the 109 is, perhaps, an armament package which I have described in my thread 'could you have designed a better aircraft' thread.
Reverse the gun philosophy. Put one 20 mm in the cowl on top, and have another 20 mm in the bottom as a belly pack. Since there is only one gun on top, even if it is much bigger than the historical 13 mm, it will blend smoothly into the airframe and not cause vision impairing bulges on each sice.
To get around the problem of the lower 20 mm interfering with the oil cooler, have the engine come with a raidial cowl integrated at the engine factory similar to the FW 190 D. Hve both engine and oil cooling integrated in that cowl. Have the lower 20 mm blend smoothly into the lower engine hatch and cowl lower lip with a fairing. Have it swing together with the lower engine hatch sideways so that the lower gun will not interfere at all with access to the engine.
Now, for the engine mounted gun, put two MG 13 Zwilling mounted on top of each other so that four 13 mm barrels are firing through the propeller boss.
In the space in the wings vacated by the deletion of the wing radiators, put two 30 gal blister tanks, with a smooth and pointed rear end.
Result:
Minimal change to the cheap 109 airframe.
DOUBLE the firepower of the historical 109 G.
60 gallons more fuel.
Nonsense. By 1944 DB 603 production was taking over the DB 605. I have figures from the USSBS report to prove that the DB 603 production was widespread. Not in 1943 though.That won't work for the same reason the Me-209 II won't work. There weren't enough DB603 and Jumo213 engines. If the Me-109 is to be superceded with something else the replacement aircraft must be powered by the DB605 engine.
If the historical size wings are retained the Me-155 may be capable of turning inside a Spitfire Mk IX. That would be a nasty surprise for RAF pilots.need for a higher altitude interceptor only really emerged in 1943
A4, I suggest you take a look at the man-hours per plane and cost in RM per plane comparision between the 109 and the 190.
Then you will see why Speer, in spite of his inclination to the 190, kept the 109 in production until the end of the war...
you see, cancelling all 109 production in favour of the 190 would have meant something like six 190 produced for every 10 109 cancelled.
And as good as the 190 was, ten 109s were still a better deal than six 190s.
And this is an ADMIRER of the Wurger speaking!
I'm all in favor of a bubble canopy. However I assume there are sound engineering reasons why the F and later variants of the Me-109 did not get this feature. Since the Me-155A uses essentially the same fuselage as the Me-109G it won't have a bubble canopy either.
Exactly! It's something which people either forget or either don't realize. When it comes to wartime production, numbers matter, and often over quality.I believe Bandit's response aims at the crux of this question. It is the same reason that the P-40 was still being produced after becoming obsolete.
That does not explain why the Me-155A did not supercede the Me-109. It wa essentially the same fuselage with an improved wing.When it comes to wartime production, numbers matter
1. The Me-155 was powered by the widely available DB605 engine.Me 155 didn't offer any advantage over the Me 209
The Me-155 would not be a new fighter. Just an improved version of the Me-109G that would enter production during early 1943.All new fighters were designed with the DB 603 in mind.