Monday, April 28, 2014

Bf109G-14 of Jakob Vogel at the Battle of Britain pub, Gravesend.

http://www.cptfarrels.com/blog/Bf109G-14_Vogel_JG1 1200.jpg

Browsing through the LEMB section "Luftarchaeology & surviving parts" I discovered photos taken by member and moderator Clint Mitchell depicting a fin and rudder from a Bf109G, that is on display at the Battle of Britain pub in Gravesend outside London. The history of this relic was not completely clear as the W.Nr wasn't decipherable. Seeing that the detail in the photos proved this relic to be from a Bf109G-6 or G-14 in either the 412-413 or 460-462 range built by Erla, it was at least possible to narrow down the search somewhat. On a hunch I did some searching in Marc-André Haldimann photo archive and soon realized that there was an aircraft within that W.Nr range that had been brought to Farnborough, namely Black 7, W.Nr 413601, that Jakob Vogel of 8./JG1 bellylanded behind British lines in Normandy on July 22, 1944. 

Examining photos of this aircraft, both from the bellylanding and recovery as well as one photo taken in a hangar at Farnborugh it quickly became apparent that the mottle is identical with that on the fin and rudder displayed at the Battle of Britain pub. So, somehow, Jakob Vogels Bf109G-14 that came down in Normandy almost 70 years ago, ended up on a wall in Gravesend and is still there today. A wonderful relic.  

Picture courtesy of Clint Mitchell 


EDIT: I've changed the outline to the numeral from white to yellow as yellow outlines seems to have been standard in 8./JG1. One picture of Black 7 is overexposed, the other is slightly out of focus so it's hard to determine the actual outline color. Photos of both earlier and later 109's from the unit does clearly show a yellow outline though.

Info about the pub where the rudder is located can be found here: http://www.battle-of-britain.eu/




at

3 comments:

  1. YasuAugust 14, 2016 at 12:33 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. YasuMarch 26, 2017 at 12:25 AM

    This relic was sold for GBP 10600 in an auction titled ”THE COLLECTORS SALE HISTORIC AVIATION & TRANSPORT MODELS, MEMORABILIA & EPHEMERA" by Dominic Winter Auctioneers in May of 2014, about two weeks after this post. The auction catalogue used to be archived in their website however any record prior to 2015 was deleted this year, so you should contact them directly if you want to find out more about it.

    http://www.dominic-winter.co.uk

    No clue where it is and who owns it now...

    Note: this was originally posted in 08/2016, and updated and edited for spelling in 03/2017.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AndersMarch 27, 2017 at 1:04 PM

    Hi! I was involved in that, I contacted Dominic Winter and provided the research that was even quoted in a local Newspaper when the rudder was auctioned off. I thought I had mentioned it in my post here but obviously I hadn't so thanks for mentioning it.

    ReplyDelete