By Randy Malmstrom
Since his childhood, Randy Malmstrom has had a passion for aviation history and historic military aircraft in particular. He has a particular penchant for documenting specific airframes with a highly detailed series of walk-around images and an in-depth exploration of their history, which have proved to be popular with many of those who have seen them, and we thought our readers would be equally fascinated too. This installment of Randy’s Warbird Profiles takes a look at the Collings Foundation’s Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10/U4, now displayed at the American Heritage Museum.
Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10/U4, Wknr. 610937, N109EV. Like all other U4 variants, this particular aircraft was built by Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (Wiener Neustädter Flughafenbetriebs GmbH or WNF), this one at the Diana sub-plant located in three railway tunnels near Tišnov in what was then Czechoslovakia; and, based on its Wknr., would have been part of the production block of December 1944 — January 1945. It was assembled using a fuselage with a G-14 part number because WNF started making G-10/U4’s on the G-14/U4 fuselages they had manufactured up to that point (WNF converted new G-14/U4 to the G-10 standard by replacing the DB 605AM with the DB 605A V-12 engine).
To my knowledge, this aircraft’s World War II service record is little known, but it was abandoned at the Zeltweg airfield in Austria as the war in Europe came to a close; fuel shortages left aircraft grounded by that time (II./JG 52 had moved to Zeltweg in the closing months of the war). Between May and August of 1945, this and other aircraft were taken as “trophies” of the Bulgarian Air Force. It was ferried to Bulgaria and was one of ten 109s assigned to the 6th Fighter Polk (Regiment) based at Asen (northeast of Sofia, just south of Brestnica) and, after arrival, this and other 109s were assigned to Karlovo and Burshen Airfields, but the service records of the Bulgarian 109s are not clear as far as I can determine. The flightpath brought this aircraft over the British zone of occupation, and two Spitfires were sent to patrol the area and anti-aircraft units reportedly opened fire on the 109s with at least three being shot down. The British government protested to the Soviet government, admonishing them to stop flying German aircraft in their zone.
The Paris Peace Treaty of 1947 limited the size of the Bulgarian Air Force, and this was one of 59 Bf 109s ferried to Yugoslavia in an equipment exchange for some parts of Il-2 Shturmoviks. It was shipped by rail to Zagreb, refurbished and painted as “White 44” of the Yugoslavian Air Force, s/n 9644, based at Cerklje Airfield, where it likely patrolled the Trieste/Italy border during the days of “contested” ownership of the region during the years following World War II.
Its last recorded flight was October 17, 1950, with 35.25 hours of flight time. It went into storage until it was declared scrap in 1953 when it was then donated to the машина Објекат (“Machine Building”, a technical school) in Belgrade until 1979 (reportedly, factories were established by 1943 in Yugoslavia for airframe assembly and repairs). The aircraft was then put in storage at the Yugoslav Aviation Museum in Belgrade. With museum financial difficulties and by the fact that it already had a Gustav on display, the museum sold it to Doug Arnold’s Warbirds in 1984.
But in 1989, Evergreen Ventures bought it and in 1991, sent it to Vintage Aircraft Restorations Ltd. in Ft. Collins, Colorado for a 5-year restoration to airworthiness. All the skins were scrapped and replaced (without inspecting and documenting what was left of the markings) with the idea of making it structurally airworthy. At the time of these photos at least, it was thought to be fitted with wings from a Buchón provided by David Tallichet. Again at least at the time of these photos, it was painted in the markings of Erich Hartmann (1922-1993, nicknamed “Bubi” by his compatriots and “The Black Devil” by the Russians) of Jagdgeschwader 52. Hartmann is credited with 352 victories in over 800 sorties. He spent 10 years as a prisoner of the Soviet Union.
Most of my photos were taken at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon prior to its initial acquisition by the Collings Foundation for display at its American Heritage Museum in Stowe, Massachusetts along with the Littlefield collection. Its current FAA registry shows the current owner as Affordable Mid Coast Housing, LLC, organized in Maine in April 2010. The canopy was borrowed by Erickson Aircraft Collection (Madras, Oregon) for David there to make a template as part of the rebuild of its Hispano Aviación Buchón to resemble a Bf 109.
During its production run, the Bf 109 was also built by Erla, Arado, Focke-Wulf and Fieseler (the Erla factories built approximately one-third of the 109s produced between 1937-45). Powerplant: a Daimler-Benz DB 605D inverted V-12. Armed with two 13 mm machine guns atop the cowling and a 20 mm or 30 mm cannon that was mounted through a sealed tube between the engine’s cylinder banks – in this case, Mk. 108 30 mm. The movable slats on the leading edges of the wings on G variants of the 109 were operated by a roller-track mechanism (as opposed to the swing-arm parallelogram mechanism on the E and F variants) and extend at lower speeds for improved handling, and the ailerons drooped when the flaps were lowered, increasing flap area (versus fixed “slots” on the Fieseler Storch for example). They were referred to as “Messer” not only in short but for the German word for “knife.”
About the author
Randy Malmstrom grew up in a family steeped in aviation culture. His father, Bob, was still a cadet in training with the USAAF at the end of WWII, but did serve in Germany during the U.S. occupation in the immediate post-war period, where he had the opportunity to fly in a wide variety of types which flew in WWII. After returning to the States, Bob became a multi-engine aircraft sales manager and as such flew a wide variety of aircraft; Randy frequently accompanied him on these flights. Furthermore, Randy’s cousin, Einar Axel Malmstrom flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 356th FG from RAF Martlesham Heath. He was commanding this unit at the time he was shot down over France on April 24th, 1944, spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. Following his repatriation at war’s end, Einar continued his military service, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was serving as Deputy Wing Commander of the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing at Great Falls AFB, MT at the time of his death in a T-33 training accident on August 21, 1954. The base was renamed in his honor in October 1955 and continues to serve in the present USAF as home to the 341st Missile Wing. Randy’s innate interest in history in general, and aviation history in particular, plus his educational background and passion for WWII warbirds, led him down his current path of capturing detailed aircraft walk-around photos and in-depth airframe histories, recording a precise description of a particular aircraft in all aspects.
