Hi Flyboyj,
>You could not fly the Bf-109 for seven hours; the cockpit was too tight, too narrow"
>>With regard to the visibility restrictions - well, I'm not aware of much in the way of negative comments from men who actually flew the Messerschmitt in combat.
Regards,
Henning (HoHun)
Ask your self why was the "Galland Hood" developed?
Here's more...
Spitfire vs Me 109 in general:
"Military Channel's program "Spitfire vs Me 109" with Bob Doe, B of B RAF vet and Ekkehard Bob LW JG54 B of B vet comparing the aircraft:"
"Ekkehard Bob was in a Spitfire Vb cockpit .
His comment was on how roomy it was and how wonderful the visibilty was. He then said he'd really like to fly the airplane."
- Bob Doe Ekkehard Bob. Source: Military Channel program.
"I got about 150 hours and over 30 aerial combats on the Messerschmitt 109. It was a fine "pilot's airplane" and there was no big complaints about the technical side, as long as you operated it within envelope, inside the performance parameters. It is hard to find any negative things about the plane from pilot's perspective when taking the development of technology into account.
But the heavy and visibility limiting hood of the G-2 should have been changed into the G-6 "Galland hood" earlier."
- Hemmo Leino, Finnish fighter ace. 11 victories. Source: Hannu Valtonen, "Me 109 ja Saksan sotatalous" (Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the German war economy), ISBN 951-95688-7-5.
"I noticed that people always kept warning about the swing at takeoff. I never let it do so, maybe I resisted it automatically.
Visibility forwards was minimal during landing approach."
- Kauko Risku, Finnish fighter pilot. Source: Hannu Valtonen, "Me 109 ja Saksan sotatalous" (Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the German war economy), ISBN 951-95688-7-5.
"You know the 109 is way tight and you have the cannon between your legs and there isn't very much left and
visibility to the back is poor. The cockpit, as such, was very narrow, VERY narrow. You have as I mentioned, the cannon between your two legs in rather like in a tunnel, you know? Later on they made a steel plate to protect the head, backwards. But they cut off the side through the back. You know? Because we had this steel plate, here."
- Major Gunther Rall. German fighter ace, NATO general, Commander of the German Air Force. 275 victories. Source: Lecture by general Rall.
"
The cockpit was cramped and the visibility wasn't good. This was evident when landing in bad conditions, especially with the G-2's cabin."
- Aulis Rosenlöf, Finnish fighter pilot. Source: Hannu Valtonen, "Me 109 ja Saksan sotatalous" (Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the German war economy), ISBN 951-95688-7-5.
I know a few other of our members quoted from this site.
virtualpilots.fi: 109myths
As stated - I got to sit in a -109 at Mojave Airport when the museum was still operating there. The aircraft was "White 14," which is now in Canada. When the canopy was closed I felt like I had a 24 gallon rectangular fish tank over my head.