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The Messerschmitt Me 110G-4, C9 + EN history
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¡ INTERNED IN SWITZERLAND ! The Messerschmitt Me 110G-4, C9 + EN history |
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Photos: Livio Mostini
The night of May 19 of 1944, the night fighter
Messerschmitt Me 110G-4 code C9+EN of the 5/NJG5 exploded in flames in an end of
the runway of the Dubendorf airport, Switzerland. It was not an accident. Either
a sabotage act. Authorities of the Luftwaffe, the SS and the Swiss government
were present contemplating, passively, the destruction of the machine. During
almost fifty years the events happened that morning were surrounded in
contradictions, denied and a certain quot of mystery. Until begins 1980, the
official version indicated that Me 110G-4, that had to carry out a forced
landing in Dubendorf after an air combat, had been destroyed by a secret
commando of the Gestapo, envoy with that mission to Switzerland by direct orders
of Hitler to avoid that the secrets of their radar SN-2b Lichtenstein fell in
enemy hands. This is, for example, the version that appears in the magazine
“Aviation World” Nr.9, page
173.
Night from 27 to 28 April of 1944. Formations of Lancaster
British bombers finishes attacking German territory, and the survivors flee
desperately to home. After knock down a Lancaster at the south of Bavaria and
damage seriously another one, lieutenant Wilhelm Johnen, at the controls of a
Messerschmitt Me 110G-4 code C9+EN of the 5/NJG5, goes in persecution of another
delayed Lancaster that flew near the border with Switzerland. Both airplanes
opened fire at the same time, and the Me 110 were reached about one burst of
firings in the oil tank of the port motor, which began to lose oil. Johnen left
the persecution and in an attempt to return to his base, penetrated the Swiss
airspace and was excited by the runway reflectors of the Dubendorf airport.
Johnen, now with a single motor, had to land knowing that, in agreement with the
Swiss government laws, it airplane would be “interned” (this is,
confiscated, in less elegant terms) in Switzerland definitively. During the
landing, Johnen recognized the silhouettes of several B-17 and B-24 parked at a
side of the runway that had suffered the same fate.
The airplane and its crew
The presence of this airplane in Switzerland was as a cold
water bucket in the cupola of the Luftwaffe because the machine as their crew
was very special. His pilot, W. Johnen, were already an Ace of the night
fighter, with more than 10 victories in his history. His artilleryman, Paul
Mahle, was nothing less than the inventor of the oblique firing system (Schräge
Musik), which had received a prize of 500 marks by its invention. His radio
operator (Joachim Kamprath) had violated the rules of security procedure taking
with him the secret codes of radio and radar, with the security that he would
return safe to his base.
But the worse thing of all is constituted by the same
airplane. This Me 110G-4 was one of the first in its type in taking the new FuG
220 Lichtenstein SN-2b radar on board. The SN-2b constituted a sophisticated
system of detection and early warning of night fighter and was, therefore, one
of the more closed secrets of the Luftwaffe. Twenty days after the landing, Me
110G-4 of Johnen exploded in an end of the runway of the Dubendorf airport. The
event was properly silenced and happened quickly to the forgetfulness, opaqued
in addition by more important events like the Europe invasion (D Day) and the
later chain of events that finished in the fall of the Third Reich. But one
demand that the Swiss government established to his German pair in 1951 revealed
until then stangers circumstances.
Today everyone knows that the neutrality of Switzerland in
World War II was not so. The German intelligence system came working in joint
form with the Swiss government to try to obtain data respect from a possible
invasion of Europe by the part of the allies. In exchange for this information,
Germany provided Switzerland with military equipment. Obviously, all this was
developed in the maximum secret not to harm the Swiss relations with the allies.
The Swiss deceit...
But the Germans ignored that meanwhile the Swiss
technicians already had disassembled the radar and deciphered their secret
codes, although this information never was passed to the allies. Day 19 of May
of 1944 in the morning, the Swiss technicians carefully relocated the radar in
the Johnen airplane. To 22 hs. of that day, and in front of witnesses of the
Luftwaffe and the SS, the airplane exploded in an end of the runway. Germany
fulfilled its word and gave to Switzerland the 12 fighters. On the following
day, Johnen and its crew returned to Germany, where they were put under an
intense interrogation by part of the Luftwaffe. Once everything was clarified,
they returned to its unit and were received like heros. Not only by the lived
odyssey, but because they brought of Swiss by contraband thousands of cigarettes
that was distributed between the personnel of their unit...
...And the German deceit
Johnen survived the war and it even lives in Germany. The
history of its airplane, nevertheless, finished just seven years later, in 1951,
when the Swiss government demanded the German government and the Daimler Benz
factory... because the twelve Me 109G had been given in a terrible operative
state!
The scale model
When I decided to make the kit of Revell 1:32, I’m was
only sure that my version would be of some unit of night fighter. During the
process of compilation of information, the history of the airplane of Johnen
arrived at my hands, which seemed fascinating to me. Although perhaps exist much
more attractive Germans schemes of night fighters, I finished deciding by this
version due to the particular odyssey that this one represents. The scale model
reproduces the Messerschmitt Me 110G-4, code C9+EN, piloted by lieutenant
Wilhelm Johnen of the 5/NJG5 in April of 1944. Is seen in the state in which was
when it had to land in Dubendorf, Switzerland, the night from 27 to 28 of April
of 1944.
Their characteristics are the following:
-
Brand: Revell
-
Scale: 1:32
-
Used Paints:
o
RLM 76 Model Master in dorsal surfaces, sides of the
fuselage and port inferior plane;
o
RLM 02 Tamiya in wheel wells and interiors;
o
RLM 70 Tamiya in propellers;
o
RLM 66 Model Master in cockpit interior
o
RLM 22 Tamiya in inferior plane of the starboard wing.
o
RLM 75 Model Master in speckled on all the dorsal and
lateral surfaces.
Decals:
- Swasticas, fuselage crosses and ventral crosses:
Phoenix.
-
Kill marks in the drifts: they were taken from a Heller
Messerschmitt Bf 109E scale 1:24
-
The dorsal and ventral crosses were airbrushed on the
surfaces.
-
The other stencils are from Phoenix brand.
-
The codes EN of both sides of the fuselage were
made from Phoenix black transfers strips.
Transformations
and modifications made
Although the box version (G4) is the same one that the one that I have represented, some differences exist that forced transformations to be able to faithfully represent the Johnen airplane. These differences are the following ones:
- Engine:
o Opening of the dorsal and ventral access panels of the starboard engine; detailed and electrical wiring of the engine Daimler Benz DB 605. Construction of the ventral radiator and addition of the internal fins of the four flame suppressors of the engines (Figure 1).
-
Armament:
o
Construction of both MG 151 cannons of the the ventral
gondola.
o
Construction of both tubes in Schräge Musik disposition
(firing oblique upwards) and added of the telescope sight corresponding to the
artilleryman back position. For it was modified the rear cockpit for the exit of
both cannons upwards and sealing the rear exit (Figure 2).
o
Modification of the nose: originally it consisted of the
exit of the 20 mm cannons. This was sealed (Figure 3).
-
Fuselage and wings:
o
All the scale model was sanded to eliminate the
sobrerelief panel lines. On these, soon they were done such raised panel lines
(Figure 4);
o
Construction of both wing fairings on the fuselages sides
(roots of the wings); in the original kit they are absent. These were done of
plasticard of approximately 1 mm.
o
Opening of the back elevators and the wing flaps.
Attention to modellers: if you decide to lower the wing flaps, this will force
you to also modify the position of the exit of both ventral wing radiators and
of the ventral fairing for lodging the wheels.
o
Opening of both wing slats (Figure 4);
o
Opening of one of the accesses to the wing fuel tanks
(port wing);
o
Aggregate of the ventral antennas FuG 16ZY and FuG 2IFF;
and the nose antennas of the FuG 200 radar (big antennas) and FuG 212 (small
antennas). Take care! The position of the 8 antennas FuG 212 was modified, since
they must be located outside of the greatest antennas. Originally, the
kit brings them located between the big antennas. For it, you will have
to properly extend the central mast that maintains them (Figure 5);
o
Aggregate of the three back navigation lights and the
access stairway, on port;
o
Main undercarriage lower fairings: opening of the ventral
panel of the lodging of the tires, electrical wiring and making of the lateral
frames (Figure 1).
o
Aggregate of the auxiliary wing fuel tanks of 300 liters.
These tanks come from a Me 262 U1 night fighter (1:32) of Revell. Take care with
the election of the tanks, since its outer aspect varied widely according to the
airplane: because in this version the tanks were smooth, was made the
cross-section lines to each one to accommodate them to the correct version of
the Me 110G4 (Figure 3);
o
Construction of the supports of both wing tanks with its
respective fuel conduits; wiring of the main undercarriage: electrical and
hydraulic.
· Cockpit interiors:
· Pilot cockpit:
o
Construction of a new frontal instrument panel and sides
console. The instruments of the main panel first were drawn in a graphic design
program, reduced to the final size and print in a laser printer;
o
Construction of the support (in form of an upside down U)
on which supports the armored endorsement of the pilot's seat (absent in this
kit);
o
Aggregate of the oxygen masks, electrical wiring and
windshield wipe conduit (on the armored glass front panel).
· b. Radar operator cockpit.
o
Was added the black leather curtains to all the cockpit
(Figure 2). These curtains prevented that the radar operator was excited by
outer lights and were present only in some versions of the Me 110G4 and Me
262U1A. Take care with this detail; only the photographic references of the time
show which machines took the curtains and which not.
o
Was made the sides instrument panels; also were
constructed those of the FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2b radar. This radar displays
three screens: the two main ones correspond to the FuG 220 radar (the big
antennas in the nose) and the smallest it corresponds to the FuG 212 radar, used
for shorter distances (the small antennas in the nose);
o
Construction of the seats of the radar operator and back
artilleryman, absents in the original scale model.
· c. Artilleryman cockpit.
o
Modification of the rear cockpit for the lodging of the
Shräge Musik obliques cannons.
o
Was not used photoetch pieces for the construction of kit.
Comments
about the airplane camouflage
According
to Swiss sources, this airplane was painted in RLM 76 in the dorsal wing areas
and fuselage. On this was aplied RLM 75 in irregular form, forming the
characteristic pattern of the night fighters of the time. The ventral surface of
the starboard wing was painted all in matt black; therefore, the corresponding
national markings (only of this wing) was painted in “negative”; that is, in
white.
The
interesting detail in the scheme of this airplane is that, dorsally, was applied
a new coat of RLM 76 over the RLM 75; that is, was made an “overpaint” of
RLM 76. With my scale model I decide to do exactly from the same form, in the
same sequence (76-75-76, in that order) obtaining an extreme realistic effect
when is compared with the real airplane photos (Figures 4 and 6). Nevertheless,
I believe necessary to warn the rookie modellers on the risk of the
“overpaint” process. If by some reason this last coat not is as we hoped
(too much RLM 76, blasting, etc.), then the disaster happens... and we will have
to begin all the paint work again.
As
far as the general state of the real airplane, is indicated that this one was
almost new, without the natural wearing of an intensive use. The exception was
the dense black wake on the port wing, product of the oil spilled through the
engine exhausts (Figure 6) and the exit of identification flares by the port
side (between the radar operator and the artilleryman cockpits; Figures 2 and
7). This zone in individual is densely stained (in fact, burned).
Another
important detail (observed by Livio, modeller friend and aeronautical technic
and therefore extremely lover of the details in its area) is that if the
airplane landed with a single motor, it would have to display the propeller in
the on guard position in the damaged motor. Nevertheless, the photos of the
airplane in the runway show that both propellers were in normal position. Of all
ways, it is totally valid (and until very interesting) that the modellers wish
to represent the C9+EN with the detail of the propeller in the On guard
position. Why not?
Finally, a common practice to most of the airplanes
equipped with radar antennas must be consider: the internal antennas (and only
the inferior ones) of the nose radar were painted in the red-white-red sequence,
surely like accident prevention measure for the ground crew (Figure 5).
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