Taken at Dunsfold Wings &
Wheels Airshow 2017, my personal favourite part of the show
was the Spitfire and Hispano Buchon operated by the Aircraft
Restoration Company. Each took it’s turn to give chase to the
other in this re-enactment of a WW2 dogfight, but perhaps the
biggest delight was the new ‘temporary’ paint scheme sported
by this ME109 lookalike.
Painted in
the weather desert marking of “Black 8” which was piloted by
Leutnant Werner Shroer, a German fighter ace credited with 114
kills, with 6 of those claimed in one single day in September
1942. Rumour has it that the markings will be going back to
the previous paint scheme but I do hope this isn’t true – the
desert chamo is much prettier and better to photograph as
everyone in the press enclosure attested.
"The
Buchon is essentially a Rolls-Royce Merlin-engined
Messerschmitt Bf109. The Luftwaffe-manned Condor Legion left
around 40 Bf109B/E’s for the Spanish Air Force to use upon its
return to Germany in 1939. In 1943 the Spanish government
agreed a licence production with Messerschmitt to produce 200
Bf109G’s. A total of 25 dismantled airframes were sent to
Spain in 1943 as pattern aircraft for future production,
although engines, propellers, tailplanes and armament failed
to arrive. As the war worsened, Germany was unable to supply
the remaining components for the airframes, the technical
drawings or appropriate jigs. By late 1944, when neither
missing parts nor engines were available from Germany, Hispano
Aviacion modified the airframes and tried two different
engines, the second French built engine being the more
successful." [Read More at:
https://www.aircraftrestorationcompany.com/buchon]
Dunsfold
Wings & Wheels airshow falls on the August Bank Holiday
Weekend... https://www.wingsandwheels.net |
