This Bf 109 fought in the Battle of Britain, crash landed in 1940, and ended up on display. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was matched only by the Supermarine Spitfire. It was the Luftwaffe’s only single seat fighter for the first few years of the Second World War and the RAF’s nemesis during the Battle of Britain. Duxford’s Bf 109 is an E-3/E-4 variant. It was attacked by Spitfires in late 1940 and crash-landed in a field in relatively good condition. Because of this smooth crash landing, the aircraft ended up touring North America before going on display at IWM – the tourists’ graffiti from these tours can still be seen on its wings. In this video, Curator Adrian Kerrison shows us how much we can learn from looking closely this Battle of Britain icon. Take a look into the cockpit, watch it take off, and hear from those who flew the Bf 109 during World War Two.

Plan your visit to IWM Duxford: https://bit.ly/visit-duxford

See the full list of archive films used in this video, available for licensing and downloading: https://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/c/...

War in the Air book: https://shop.iwm.org.uk/p/26905/War-I...

00:00 Intro
01:01 Introduction to the E series
02:06 RAF pilot oral history
02:38 Comparison to Spitfire
03:44 German pilot oral history
04:34 This Bf 109's early history
05:44 Markings of the aircraft
06:49 This Bf 109 is upgraded and gets a new pilot
07:25 It crash lands
08:36 Look inside the cockpit
10:50 Later life of the Bf 109


CREDITS

Ebbighausen photo: Image courtesy of James Crow via Donald L Caldwell

Perez photo: Image courtesy of Josef Buerschgens via Donald L Caldwell

Royal Canadian Air Force Personnel and captured of aircraft BF-109. Credit: Library and Archives Canada/PA-148364

BF 109 in flight photograph © blueviking63, Flickr

Call to Adventure by Kevin MacLeod are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: http://incompetech.com/