Marseilles' Bf 109s (1 Viewer)

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nice pics. but, the whitewall tire means the tailwheel was locked in the down position.
therefore it couldn't retract. :D
 
No it didn't. A whitewall tail wheel tyre was electrically conducting.This aircraft had a standard 650x150 tail wheel tyre on a standard 290x110 tail wheel.
The larger 660x160 tyre was introduced somewhere in ealy G series production. Prien and Rodeicke and Sengfelder reckon it came in,over a transitional period during which manufacturers fitted whatever the sub-contractors supplied,for the G-3. This means that the earlier Gs (1,2 and 4) are difficult to be sure about. It fitted a larger,350x135,tail wheel.
Cheers
Steve
 
stona, seriously, how is rubber electrically conducting? for what purpose? ? grounding the aircraft? and once it's in the airbourne, you run a long extension cord to the ground?


can't be for preserving the tire in the desert, I've seen plenty of photo's with tire covers protecting the tire. anyways, I can't say 100% whitewalls on the tailwheel was to indicate the tailwheel was locked down. but its for sure one of the purposes.
 
stona, seriously, how is rubber electrically conducting? for what purpose? ? grounding the aircraft? and once it's in the airbourne, you run a long extension cord to the ground?


can't be for preserving the tire in the desert, I've seen plenty of photo's with tire covers protecting the tire. anyways, I can't say 100% whitewalls on the tailwheel was to indicate the tailwheel was locked down. but its for sure one of the purposes.

Here check out this thread, it should help you out some.

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviation/luftwaffes-whitewall-tires-19255.html
 
Good to see that thread again and Guttorm's contribution. He's put a few cats amongst the pigeons with the discoveries made by him and his team on various Norwegian restoration projects.
The purpose of the electrically conducting tyre was to dischrge the aircraft to a safe voltage once it touches the ground. It is irrelevant whilst in flight,the aircraft can be charged to many thousands of volts. It is only the difference between that and,say, the nozzle of a fuel hose on the ground at zero volts which can have catastrophic consequences.
It's like someone with their hands on a Van Der Graf generator, insulated from the ground,charged up,hair standing on end. Nothing happens until someone who is earthed tries to touch them. Then you get a nice spark and a comedy moment. The comedy wouldn't be so great if the spark caused a fuel bowser to explode!
Cheers
Steve
 

thanks for that lead. I started to search, found this from Dunlop dated 1935:

" NON-INSULATING TYRES
One drawback to the increasing use of tail-wheels on aircraft
has been the fact that the machine thereby becomes
very completely insulated, electrically, from the ground. Thus
there is danger of static electricity causing fire during refuelling.
The Dunlop Rubber Company has found a way out of the
difficulty by discovering and perfecting a new type of rubber
compound which, when used in tyres, gives electrical conductivity
without, it is claimed, materially altering any of
the characteristics of the tyre such as wear, flexibility, appearance
or durability.
These tyres are now being marketed under the name of
" Ecta " ("Electrically Conducting Tyres for Aircraft").
The electrical resistance of these tyres is about one-tenmillionth
of the resistance of a similar tire of standard
•construction, and the time required to conduct the static
charge to earth in the case of the largest aeroplanes is of the
order of one-thousandth part of a second, whereas a normal
tvre would require over two hours.
As the tyres, hub and bearing now become part of a conducting
system, it is necessary that the hub shall be in
Electrical contact with the main earthing strip of the aeroplane,
and that the beads of the tyre shall be in contact with the
metal of the hub. This object can be attained satisfactorily
by spraying the inside of the rim with metal, after removing
the layer of protective dope.
The rubber may be used for man purposes where normal
non-conducting rubber is used if some degree of electrical conductivity
would be an advantage. "
 
Tail wheels did of course get locked down for one reason or another. There is some evidence that some Fs in the east had the wheels locked down as poor grass or snow and mud covered airfields caused an accumulation of debris on the mechanism causing it to fail. Worst case scenario is an unlocked wheel,neither up nor down.
The Bf109K had a retraction mechanism which essentially didn't work. You'll often see that the wheel is locked down and the bay plated over,sometimes fairly crudely. These things often don't get discovered until the aircraft enters the hurly burly of service life. Foe example the Ta152 tail wheel retraction mechanism had to be bodged with an extra spring,despite it being esentially the same system as on the Fw190A-8,as it entered service.
Cheers
Steve
 
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I was re-reading this thread and the one it links to about white wall tyres and there is some room for confusion!
The electrically conducting tyres,indicated by a white wall,are tail wheel tyres only. The white colour is built into the structure of the tyre which is probably why we still see it on relics.
Many tropicalised Luftwaffe aircraft also have white walls on their main gear tyres. This is entirely different. This was a reflective,white finish painted onto the sides of the tyres to protect them in a hot environment. It's application was stipulated in D.(Luft)T.2109 Part 9F. The actual application seems to have been somewhat haphazard and many tyres do not appear to have received the white walls.
I hope that this will clear up the Luftwaffe white wall tyre conundrum.
Cheers
Steve
 
Collected a few more over the past 2 years......

.
Marseille 109.jpg
Marseille 110.jpg
Marseille 111.jpg
Marseille 112.jpg
Marseille 113.jpg
Marseille 114.jpg
Marseille 115.jpg
Marseille 116.jpg
Marseille 118.jpg
Marseille 119.jpg
Marseille 120.jpg
Marseille 121.jpg
Marseille 122.jpg
 
Many moons ago Neil posted
can't beat the real thing
; I remember there used to be a Buchon flying in the UK in Marseilles's Yellow 14 markings; it was going to be shipped to New Zealand some time in the 90s, but the deal fell though and I believe its in the US somewhere - Canaugh Flight Museum rings a bell, but I could be wrong.

If I'm not mistaken, the 109E in the first pic is WNr 3579, now restored to flying condition with the Russell Group in Niagara Falls.

I believe that's why Neil was posting pictures of the very same aircraft earlier in this thread.
 
Exactly ...except Wiki is listing it as W.Nr. 4091 that he was flying when he was with LG 2 in the BoB. Also the plane in my siggy...........
 
That last one is his crashed Bf 109, burning in the desert.

Wayne, did you also notice the one Bf 109 with the small outlined '14' and apparently no demarcation of colors on the fuselage?
 
I have always wondered precisely how some pilots were able to survive so many missions. I finally saw a answer in the second photo in post #32. He was practicing safe flying (notice the condom on the air intake).
 

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