Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-G in Luftwaffe & Foreign Service

Although Professor Willy Messerschmitt's Bf 109E had spearheaded the Luftwaffe's triumphant drive over Europe during 1939 and 1940, and borne the brunt of the day­light air combats over Britain during that fateful summer of 1940, the excellent fighter was by the spring of 1941 unquestionably inferior in Northern Europe to the Spitfire V—which commenced delivery to No. 92 Squadron, RAF, in March that year. Nevertheless the "Emil" continued to give unrivalled service for many months in North Africa prior to the appearance of later Spitfires in that theatre. Such an eventual eclipse had been foreshadowed much earlier, and long before the Batde of Britain had reached its climax the next basic version of the Bf 109 made its first flight. On 10 Julv 1940 an "Emil" (Werke Nr. 5604) first flew with a 1,200 h.p. Daimler-Benz DB 601E-1 at Augsburg-Haunstetten. Still featuring the square-cut wing-tips of the Bf 109E, this prototype (coded VK + AB) nevertheless featured considerable "cleaning-up" of Uie nose and eliminated the strut-braced taUplane in favour of a cantilever unit. As such it foreshadowed the most attractive of all variants—the Bf 109F.