Messerschmitt/Mitsubishi 109E, May 1945

[nönöbär]

Messerschmitt/Mitsubishi 109E, May 1945

Background:

In May of 1941, five Me109E were send to Japan for evaluation. Without armament, those planes were used in comparison trials agains other Japanese Army Fighters like the Ki-43, Ki-44 and Ki-61, the last one, powerded by a licence build DB601 engine like the 109 itself.

Non of those five planes was used in combat, but the Allies assigned the code name "Mike" to it, in expectation to encounter them.


The Messerschmitt/Mitsubishi 109E:

Quite unknown is that the 109 was indeed build in Japan, about 350 of those planes were build by Mitsubishi between spring of 1942 and autumn of 1944. With their shorter range, compared to other Japaense fighters, the 109 was mainly used as a defence fighter on the Japanese mainland. Several imporvments were made to the plane during constuction time. While the first ones were very similar to the original Me109E, later models got improved engines giving the aircraft a better overall performance.
However, by the end of 1944, the 109 was not seen as a first line fighter anymore, therefore it was used to defend less important targets. Despite this, the 109 was still able to enforce severe damage to American aircraft if flown by the right pilot.
Most notable was the flight of the Japanese Fighter Ace Kitai Yamata destroying two B-29 bombers and three P51 Mustangs escort fighters during a raid on the Hasegawa Corporation factory in Shizuoka in May of 1945.

The model shows Yamatas 109 after the attack on Shizuoka.







Collelction of 109 fighters:
Marineflieger 109T, Japanese 109, BoB Me 109E


Collection of Japanese aircraft with German origin:


The Model:

The model is a 1/72 HobbyBoss kit, build OOB, just with a different colour scheme and decals. As ususal, it is painted with Revell Aqua Colour, the decals were taken form the spare part box.

[NARSES2]

I like that, works really well in that scheme 

[AXU]

Great 

[dumaniac]

nice - great concept - thanks for the pics

[strobez]

Now that looks cool. I love seeing recognizable airplane in different colours. I think that's what draws me to the mercenary/air pirate Whif projects. Nice work!

[TimJ]

Great looking 109. 

[zenrat]

I like that, works really well in that scheme 

Second that.