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Bf 109 G-6/R2
Photographic equipment consisted of an Rb 75/30 or Rb 50/30 camera (1).
They carried full gun armament and were powered by a DB 605 AM engine
with the MW 50 boost system that injected a mixture of water and metha-
nol into the compressor intake. Between the second and third fuselage
bulkheads just offset from the top of the spine was the MW 50 system tank
filler cap (4). The battery was moved to the luggage compartment in the
cockpit, the luggage compartment door featured a recess covering the bat-
tery (5). The radio equipment consisted of a FuG 16Z radio and a FuG 25a IFF
system. AZVG 16 (Peilrufanlage) direction finder with its associated PR 16
(Peilrahmen) loop antenna on the top of the fuselage (Rüstsatz R7) could
also be installed. These machines likewise had grooves installed below the
wing center section for draining leaked oil coming from the oil cooler (2),
but they diverted the oil differently than the grooves on the Bf 109 G-6/R3.
In this case, they arced from the rear corners of the oil cooler to the leading
edge of the lugs covering the wing spar mounting stud, where they met the
lower surface of the wing. The rear-view mirror (6) mounted on the top
inner frame of the windscreen was also characteristic of the photo-recon-
naissance Bf 109 G. One hundred and ninety three Bf 109 G-6/R2s were pro-
duced at WNF in November and December, 1944 in production block 230 000,
together with the Bf 109 G-8/R5, and were likely structurally consistent
with respect to their manufacture. They had an additional bulge adjacent to
the fairing covering the right fuselage mounted machine gun (7). I believe
that it was not without function, that it accommodated an air compressor
to supply enough air to ventilate the cockpit. At least some Bf 109 G-6/R-2s
(probably all) had an Erlahaube canopy, and always had a short rudder.
On the right side of the mid fuselage between bulkheads 2 and 3 there was
apparently a large oval camera access cover (3). I don’t have photographic
evidence of this on the G-6/R2, but it appeared on both the G-2/R2 and the
G-4/R2, and it’s quite logical that it was carried over to the G-6/R2 as well.
It may have also been on G-6/R3, if only because the original access to the
camera in the rear sloping cockpit wall was not possible since this was
now the location of the battery (5).
Bf 109 G-6/R3
Bf 109 G-6/R2
HISTORY
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February 2024