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Bf 109 G-10/U4 WNF/Diana
Production Blocks 610 xxx to 612 xxx and
Bf 109 G-10/R2 Production Block 770 xxx
Bf 109G-10/U4 coming out of the production
facility at Wiener Neustadter Flugzeugwerke
came about as a modification to the
Bf 109G-14/U4 made by WNF, powered by
a DB 605A and armed with fuselage mounted
MK 108 30mm cannon. For this modification,
experience gained by Messerschmitt in the
production of the Bf 109G-14/AS was used,
from which the G-10/U4 differed only in
some minor details: standard installation
of the MK 108s and their associated access
to the compressed air bottles in the fifth
fuselage segment on the right side and the
shorter tailwheel. The installation of the
fuselage mounted cannon allowed for the
alternate mounting of MG 151/20 weapons.
The Bf 109G-10/U4 received, likely due to
the higher weight of the aircraft, larger
wheels measuring 660 x 190mm and the long,
elongated (rectangular) upper wing fairings
over the wheel wells. The shorter tailwheel
was probably due to an effort to simplify the
supply chain from sub-contractors. Because
the production plant in Vienna was essentially
destroyed along with the city proper by
Allied bombings begun in the summer of 1943,
Bf 109G-10/U4 production was limited to
dispersed sub-contractor facilities and
isolated plants. One of the isolated plants was
Diana, constructed in three railroad tunnels
that were a part of the line between Brno and
Havlickub Brod in Moravia. Final assembly
and verification flights were made at Prague-
Letnany and in Olomouc. Production continued
from December, 1944 to March, 1945. This
variant also formed the basis of the postwar
Czechoslovak Avia S-99/C-10. In total, up to
the termination of production in March, 1945,
650 Bf 109 G-10/U4s were made. Besides
these, WNF also produced some three hundred
reconnaissance Bf 109 G-10/R2s equipped
with Rb 75/30 or Rb 50/30 cameras, located
behind the cockpit between bulheads 1 and
2. That was the space occupied by the tank for
the Mw 50 system in the standard Bf 109 G-10,
which in this version was moved to between
the 2nd and 3rd fuselage bulkheads. The
fuselage armament remained the same as in
the standard fighter, but it is not clear if this
was the MK 108 or the MG 151/20.
The general identification features
of this version are:
1. Wide engine cowl side panels with riveted
semielliptical aerodynamic fairings to
fuselage.
2. Lower cowling with bulges below oil tank.
3. Radiator below the nose was the larger
Fo 987 type.
4. Larger supercharger intake on the left side
of the cowling.
5. Oil filler cap cover on the left side of the
nose in higher position.
6. Access cover to supercharger clutch oil
pump on the right side of the engine cowl
was in a higher position. The original lower
position was patched over (on some aircraft).
A photo taken at the Neubiberg base in Bavaria after the end of the war in Europe, May 1945, shows a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-10 WNr. 610783,
"Black 21" from 7./JG 52, produced by WNF. (Photo: JaPo)
HISTORY
INFO Eduard18
September 2024