Hi everybody!
I saw this picture:

in the site http://109lair.hobbyvista.com
and I was wondering what is suppose to be this thing under her belly...
Any help?
Cheers

Probably one of the Secret Weapons of Luftwaffe(tm)...
Is there any chance in could be one of those things for exterminating insects on fields?
A second guess: a device for crash-landing on ice!

Hey wait....how about those tubes filled with pieces of aluminium foil...this plane flies ahead a bomber group, releases a cloud of foil in the air, messing up enemy´s radar before attack?
Toni

Hi Envar;
i tought about the fumigation thing, but it wasn´t confirmed...
also the ice device....
but I didn´t think about the anti radar stuff...........
#:-)

Heh! That´s something I read from an old ww2 comic book! Germans had a new uberweapon, Me110 with the christmastree-like radar device and the ever-brilliant Brits made up this kind of decoy device to mess up the radars. It was one of my favorite stories!
I don´t know what they are called abroad but the comic has the tagline "Strikes like a million volts!". It has been available in Finland since 1953.
Here´s a typical front cover:

I like the often-bad artwork and goofy (not politically correct) stories! Germans, for example, were often referred as "Those Nazi bastards"
Oh and the self-satisfied face in my personal propeller logo is from one of these books!
:-)
Toni

I do agree with you Envar, I´m also a comics fan #:-)
I used to read " Sgt Rock and the Easy Co.", very funny stuff!
Cheers

My guess is that it was some kind of antenna... but what for ?

The british used to drop these aluminium foils in great quantities during their night raids.
They were called windows. That old british version didn't cause any crash as far as I know,
compared to that much newer american version...
The pathfinder unit used this technique. it was headed by an australian pilot who later wrote
about his story. His book is called "pathfinder", and it is great !

Right now I will tell you it appears to be a DRAINPIPE. But for what? Unknown. Notice how it either starts at the firewall and/or at the front of the cockpit and then travels back to the tail. It appears to be engine related, but may be as simple as Pilot "relief". Researching...

Lucas Freeman
Brunswick, ME

Smoke Screen?????

Matt

yes !
I think the smokescreen is very possible... like the A20's used on DDay.

Still investigating. I like these "history's mysteries". When I first saw the picture on Saturday I instantly thought drainpipe . Yesterday I had a buddy over from work (single anchor avaitor type). I showed him the picture and didn't say anything. He took about 2 seconds to say drainpipe.

But for what? He thought maybe for fuel release (major guess). But that comes from driving P-3s around and the need for a fuel release to land if overweight. Did a 109 have to worry about that?

I like the smoke screen idea though too.

Lucas Freeman
Brunswick, ME

I'll go along with he smoke screen idea.... :-) :-)

Looking at the second photo at the site


see fullsize image

The contraption is attached between the main landing gear. Sooooo, I doubt it’s a drain.

My vote is to ask Mr. Me109 (Bill Koster) or some such. Seeing it’s a Dedicated Me-109 site and he is stumped makes it a toughie. I guess a antenna for a radar jamming device. Looks almost like a small propeller at the front, for a generator?

Ok, Ok, it’s really a Jedi mind control device. #:-)

Dave

Yes, it does very well seem to be attached between the gear. But comparing the forced perspective of the enlarged photo and the actual placement of the struts on the 109, it still places the attached piece between the gear but back towards the firewall of the engine.

What I do not understand is what the enlarged photo depicts as a non-aerodynamic addition to the aircraft. The front piece is wide open, like it needs the dynamic push of air to move whatever is inside the tube out. This could point to something smoke related, which could initially be started by the pilot reaching down, pulling some lever to activate a smoke pot (stored outside the cockpit for safety), and the smoke being pushed down the tube by the flow of air. (?) The end of the tube is near the vertical stabilizer and very close to the rudder, but movement of the rudder wouldn't truly affect a stream of smoke.

I hadn't even visited the web site when I first made my comments and it seems the author also is inlcined towards a drain of sorts. I am now tending to like the idea of smoke alot more. It's a nice theory... I wonder if we'll ever truly find out.

O.K......my Farthing's worth.

I did a very large home remodel for an old german gentlemen about a year ago. As I was traipsing through the house I noticed a wall of pictures and badges and such. Looking a little closer I realized that they were all of WWII. He had many things mounted up there, amoung them a picture of the aircraft he used to fly for the Luftwaffe. It was, I believe he told me, a BF-109? Anyway, the reason for this long-winded answer is, that he had a picture of his aircraft (from a different angle) and it had a extremely similar device underneath it. Being the inquisitive WWII buff that I was, I asked him what it was. He told me that, at the end of the War, Germany was trying to burn all kinds of alternate fuels to put more aircraft in the air. The aircraft he was standing beside in the picture burned, of all things, coal oil!
Might be the same type of aircraft......

Just a thought.

Tread.

Tread,
I have to agree with you, it does make a lot of sense!
I´ll stick with this option!

. . . The aircraft he was standing beside in the picture burned, of all things, coal oil!
Might be the same type of aircraft......

Just a thought.


This makes some sense as a test craft. The FW 190F that the Smithsonian restored had a few gallons of coal-based gasoline in its tanks when the NASM team started tearing it down.

Note also that the photo shows the rig attached right over where the normal droptank rack would be attached anyway. The fully-enclosed attachment between the fairing and the pipe is a few inches behind the small propeller, and there is a lack of a clear ram intake into the rig. If you were going to make smoke, would it make sense to drain from the aircraft's internal fuel or oil?


Given the location of the pipe along the fuselage, it would be pretty improbable that this is some kind of reactive thrust system, especially because of the rudder proximity.


Just trying to confuse the situation