- Yes
- No
[What is this Aircraft?]
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 T-1 is a carrier-based fighter for the Kriegsmarine. Different in other early 109 designs for its enlarged wingspan and arrestor gear at the tail. The reasons why I think this aircraft should be put in game is because in real life, Germany had almost nothing in terms of naval fighters. War Thunder is all about giving these vehicles second chances in life. To show their full potential for all generations of War Thunder players (both old and new). The naval aspect of this game can always use some uplifting as well, and these types of aircraft can help with that. The suffix ‘T’ denotes Träger (carrier) in German use.
[History of Design, Development, and Service]
As early as 1932, the Reichsmarine had planned to procure an aircraft carrier in its conversion plan of 15 November 1932, still during the Weimar Republic. For these projects, designated as Carrier A and Carrier B, the commissioning of Carrier A under the name “Graf Zeppelin” was planned for April 1939.
Among the aircraft types to be stationed on the new ship was a modified version of the Bf 109. After the development of the Arado Ar 197 biplane (which was initially intended for this purpose) was discontinued due to insufficient flight performance, the development of the carrier version of the Bf 109 was accelerated. After extensive testing, all of which had been carried out at the Travemünde E-station, the Technical Office of the RLM decided at the beginning of 1939 to further develop the final carrier version of the Bf 109 from the E-7/N series. In this version, the machine could be equipped with a 300-litre additional tank and had the more powerful DB 601 N engine.
In order to have more lift available both during take-off and landing, the wingspan was increased to 11.08 m, and the wing area increased to 17.50 m² as a result of this measure. In the course of the tests, it also became apparent that the wing structure had to be strengthened in order to be able to reach speeds of around 750 km/h without risk during a dive. The problem of landing on a carrier was solved by installing an arrestor “catch” hook, which was supposed to pick up brake cables stretched across the flight deck. In order to enable better control of the landing approach and precise control of the landing point, so-called “lift destroyers” were mounted on the upper side of the wing, small spoilers with the help of which the pilot could partially break off the flow on the wings at the appropriate moment. This made it possible to greatly increase the sink rate at the decisive moment.
Understandably, the further development of the Bf 109 T was closely linked to the construction progress of its potential carrier ship “Graf Zeppelin”. Launched on 8 December 1938, the expansion work was suspended on 29 April 1940. Resumed sometime later, all work came to an end by a decree of 2 February 1943 to discontinue the entire launch program. At the time of the greatest construction progress, the ship was 85% complete, it never reached a ready for use condition. After several transfers, the ship was finally grounded near Szczecin on 24 April 1945 and sunk in the Bay of Danzig in 1947 after being raised by units of the Red Army. There the wreck was rediscovered in July 2006.
Of the 70 Bf 109 T built by Fieseler in Kassel between 8 April and 29 June 1941, only the first seven aircraft (factory nos. 7728 to 7734, or original registration RB+OA to RB+OG) were equipped to the carrier-compatible T-1 standard. The remaining 63 aircraft were completed without carrier equipment for coast-based use as Bf 109 T-2. After work on the “Graf Zeppelin” was stopped, the seven T-1s were also retrofitted to the T-2 standard, again at Fieseler.
Although its carrier ship was never completed, the Bf 109 T certainly found its buyers. The aircraft were initially used in a typical naval aviation task to secure the coastal apron and as convoy protection on the south coast of Norway. The corresponding units were the I./JG 77, as well as the Jagdgruppe Drontheim and a little later the Jagdgruppe Stavanger (although this may have been a local designation of the I./JG 77). The machine was very well suited for the narrow and short runways of the Norwegian airfields.
At the end of 1941, the remaining Bf 109 T were ordered back to Germany and 45 aircraft were converted to the T-1 standard at Fieseler in Kassel. This measure was reversed after the decree of 2 February 1943 and the aircraft continued to serve for a few months in coastal protection with JG 11 (“Jasta Helgoland”) from the island of Helgoland-Düne. At the end of 1943, the Bf 109 T of this unit was transferred back to southern Norway, where they proved to be less and less able to cope with the increasingly modern aircraft of the Allies. The last task that the Bf 109 T finally performed almost until the end of the war was training, mainly in the night fighter squadron 101 and the blind flight school 10.
[Bf 109 T-1 Specifications]
General Characteristics-
Crew: 1
Length: 8.64 m
Wingspan: 11.08 m
Height: 2.60 m
Wing area: 17.5 m²
Propulsion: A Daimler-Benz 12-cylinder V-engine DB 601 N with 1020 hp Take-off power
Type : Inline
Cooling system: Water
Flight Performance-
Top speed: 560 km/h at 5000 m altitude
Range: 800 km
Service ceiling: 10,500 m
Empty weight: 2160 kg
Flying weight: 2800 kg
Armament-
Offensive: Two 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns above the engine (1000 rpg), two 20 mm MG FF/M autocannons in the wings, firing outside the propeller arch (60 rpg)
Defensive: None
Suspended: 300-Litre fuel pod
Bombs: Unknown
[After Thoughts]
I have looked into the possibility of this aircraft also performing as a Jabo fighter-bomber version and while it is based off of the Bf 109 E-7/N which had this capability, I could not find of any documentation indicating as such. If it did though it would likely have the same bomb types as its predecessors with either four 50 kg bombs or a single 250 kg bomb. It is also possible some T-1s were equipped with a GM-1 nitrous oxide injection system based off of the Bf 109 E-7/NZ to improve its high-altitude performance. Based off of the current Bf 109 E-7/N we have in game (Japanese Bf 109 E-7 with the DB 601 N engine) I would suspect this aircraft would have a turn time of around 20 seconds but could be closer to 18-19 seconds due to the enlarged wingspan. Due to these reasons, I think this aircraft would be best put at br brackets 3.0 for all types of battles in game. Possibly br 2.7 for ground realistic battles if no bomb ordnance is given. If any of you have more documentation on this, please share it with me and the source so I can look into added it to this long list of an aircraft already.
[Sources]
Messerschmitt Bf 109 variants - Wikipedia
Messerschmitt Bf 109 (klueser.de)
