Romanian Bf 109J-3

[comrade harps]

Messerschmitt Bf 109J-3
301 Fight, Royal Romanian Air Force
Pápa, Hungary, February 1945
Personal mount of Captain Octavian Popescu



In July 1941, the board of the Hungarian General Engine Works Company Limited (usually referred to by its Hungarian initials, MÁG) met to make a crucial decision. Once a major manufacturer of cars, MÁG had been in decline for many years due to the Great Depression. As the Board met, they had two options to consider: to wind up the company due to insolvency or accept a takeover offer by the German state-owned Junkers company and build Jumo 211 engines for the Luftwaffe. Under pressure from the Hungarian government to appease its new Axis partner, the board agreed to the Junkers' offer. By August 1944, when German production of the aircraft powered by the Jumo 211 ceased, MÁG was the Luftwaffe's main source for the engine.



During the summer of 1944 Allied bomber fleets turned their attention to Hungarian industrial targets. One victim of this campaign was the Škoda factory producing Daimler Benz DB 605 engines for Bf 109s manufactured by the Hungarian Railway Carriage Engineering Works, MAGAV and Manfred Weiss. As Škoda production dropped suddenly due to the July '44 bombing, Hungarian Bf 109s were soon coming off their production lines without engines. Fortunately for the Royal Hungarian Air Force, MÁG had a stock of over 100 completed Jumo 211Fs and enough components to deliver several hundred more. During August and September, two engineless Bf 109Ga-6s were modified to accept the Jumo 211F-2 powerplant and their associated VS 11 propellers (produced together as a "power egg"). Engineers and tradesmen worked day and night to adapt the Bf 109Ga-6 airframes, resulting in the first flight on 28 September.



Test flying demonstrated that the airframe and engine/propeller match was problematic. The Jumo 211F-2 had been developed for bomber applications and its performance profile was not suitable for a fighter. Compared to the DB605 powered Bf 109Ga-6s, the Jumo planes were heavier and less powerful. Worse still was the huge torque generated by the VS 11 paddle-bladed props, which made handling difficult and sidelined plans to use the aircraft as trainers. An arguably more dangerous feature was the gun synchronisation system, which was prone to failure and resulted in several pilots shooting off their own props. Although desperate for fighters, the Royal Hungarian Air Force rejected the Jumo 109s (now officially designated as the Bf 109J) as being more dangerous than the enemy. Yet, production continued, as a new, more desperate customer emerged.




Most Bf 109Js were built from MAGAV airframes. Being the most recent Hungarian Bf 109 assembly line, the MAGAV factory had the smallest inventory of DB605s on hand. A further consideration was that MAGAV's had the most experience with matching airframes with new engines, having produced several re-engined versions of its Heja series of fighters. Faced with a shortage of DB 605s at the start of their Bf 109 assembly run, the first 33 MAGAV completed airframes had been adapted to accept Hispano-Suiza YS-2 engines left surplus after the Heja III's cancellation. Unacknowledged by Messerschmitt and the RLM, these aircraft received the Hungarian designation of Bf 109Y.

There were five models of the Bf 109J produced:
- Bf 109J-0: two single-seat prototypes, both MAGAV airframes
- Bf 109J-1: 176 converted Bf 109Ga-6s, all MAGAV airframes
- Bf 109J-2: 14 two-seat trainers, all Hungarian Railway Carriage Engineering Works Bf 109Ga-12 airframes
- Bf 10J-3: 42 as J-1 but with detail changes including a reliable gun synchronisation system (retrofitted to other models), a frameless, slightly bulged canopy (an Hungarian invention, produced by the same company contracted to license manufacture canopies for the Me 262), all MAGAV airframes
- Bf 109J-4: 2 single-seat photo reconnaissance planes, both Hungarian Railway Carriage Engineering Works Bf 109Ga-8 airframes.



As the Bf 109J was being developed, neighbouring Romania was in a state of chaos. On 20 August 1944, the Red Army launched the Second Jassy-Kishinev Offensive into Romania. Three days later King Michael led a botched coup against the German-backed government of Prime Minister Ion Antonescu. With the Reds advancing and the nation divided against itself in a civil war, Romanian air power was crushed through a combination of combat action and internal revolt. Unable to replace lost DAR 11 fighters with new ones from Bulgaria (which had placed an embargo on exports), its own Bf 109Ga-6 assembly line occupied by Red revolutionaries and the Germans unable to supply equipment due to the upheavals following Hitler's assassination, Antonescu turned to Hungary for help. On 5 October, without an evaluation flight, the Royal Romania Air Force agreed to accept the delivery of upto 200 Bf 109Js.




With its understrength units and collapsing command structure, the Antonescu government undertook a radical reorganisation of its military in September. Among the many changes, the Air Force dropped its Royal prefix and was renamed the National Romanian Air Force. In the process, units were disbanded and new ones established, resulting in the formation of the 1st and 2nd National Fighter Groups (1NFG and 2NFG). It was 2NFG, made up of mostly former bomber crews, that was sent to Hungary to train on the Bf 109J.



While the idea of having former bomber pilots flying a fighter equipped with a bomber engine that many were familiar with had some merit, the former bomber pilots weren't impressed with their new mounts. Inferior in performance and handling to Red fighters and flown by pilots with minimal fighter training, the Bf 109J predictably had a poor combat record. While Romanian Bf 109J pilots claimed 27 aerial victories, postwar analysis credits them with just 6. That same analysis credits Red fighters with downing 57 Bf 109Js. A further 27 were written off in accidents. The Bf 109J was so bad as a fighter, that even on bomber interceptor duties, they needed other fighters as escorts. In a failed attempt to slow the losses, the Js were re-rolled to attack duties in early January 1945, but were limited to strafing. However, a few pilots, including Captain Octavian Popescu, perfected the party trick of strafing their own fuel-filled drop tanks to produce an incendiary effect. But losses continued to mount, from interception, ground fire and controlled impacts into the terrain. Rapidly running out of aircraft and pilots, the 2NFG re-equipped with Fw 190F-9s in February 45; the last Bf 109J combat sorties were flown on the 26th and the few surviving airframes were used as airfield decoys. According to Hungarian Defence Minister András Littay, the Bf 109J was "an act of desperation... it was a beast." There were reasons Romanian pilots called the Bf 109J the Catâr (Mule).




This Bf 109J-3 was the personal mount of Captain Octavian Popescu, as photographed in January 1945, during the successful Defence of Budapest. A legend in Romania's bomber community, his first combat sortie was on 16 August 1941 (flying a Fairey Battle), yet by July 1944 he had just 39 combat missions to his name (mostly in DAR 12s). Famous for his habit of returning crippled aircraft to friendly territory, Octavian Popescu's career was punctuated by a series of combat injuries. Grounded once again in July 1944 with broken ribs, concussion and a painkiller addiction, he was ordered to join 2NFG in early October. Flying with several mended broken bones, a mouth full of false teeth and minus one testicle, two fingers and seven toes (those of his left foot having been replaced by a wooden prosthetic from the knee down), Popescu went on to destroy a J-2 in a ground loop, shoot the props off a J-1 and get shot down twice in J-1s.




Captain Popescu flew this Bf 109J-3, marked yellow 4, from 16 January 1945 to 18 February. On the 19th he was grounded for good due to a combination of appendicitis and chronic back pain. Although Captain Popescu had failed to score any confirmed kills, he was valued for his leadership and continued serving as an intelligence officer. He survived the war, served briefly as a POW before repatriation to Red Romania, where he retrained and worked as a pharmacist until retirement.

[Wardukw]

Great stuff mate ..the book provided was a good read 😆 

[comrade harps]

Great stuff mate ..the book provided was a good read 😆 

Gotta have a backstory

[Wardukw]

Great stuff mate ..the book provided was a good read 😆 

Gotta have a backstory

Glen mate theres nothing like a good read   

[comrade harps]

Great stuff mate ..the book provided was a good read 😆 

Gotta have a backstory

Glen mate theres nothing like a good read   

As a public librarian who works with collections, l can only agree.

[Wardukw]

Oh the man with the  ultimate source of knowledge and power 
 Very cool 

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice, and good back story. 

[Vulcan7]

Great looking build & story       

[zenrat]

So Popescu destroyed more of his own aircraft than those of the enemy?
Good stuff comrade
 

[comrade harps]

So Popescu destroyed more of his own aircraft than those of the enemy?
Good stuff comrade
 

And, he's a chap with a painkiller addiction, chronic back pain and goes on to work as a pharmacist. What could go wrong?

[NARSES2]

Neat build and story   

[Sport21ing]

Excellent story for the Avia S-199 

[Hotte]

Nice 109 

Hotte

[SPINNERS]

Great stuff - story and model.