Adolf "Dolfo" Galland's Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4/N W.Nr. 5819
As it was during November, 1940.
A Remy Lavin model, repainted by Rodion M. Herrera.
email: rherrera@msuiit.edu.ph
NOTE: A NICE HTML VERSION OF THIS FILE CAN BE FOUND IN THE "DOCUMENTS" FOLDER IN THE BF109E_GALLAND FOLDER, COMPLETE WITH IMAGES!
Retextured from a Helmut Wick Bf-109E originally created by Remy Lavin. I repainted this aircraft with full permission from Remy Lavin and TVI Sarl Software Company (France).
Introduction
Adolf Galland was born in Westerholt, Wesphalia, Germany. Galland began his aeronautical career at age 17, flying gliders on the Borkenberge, a heath near Westerholt. In 1932, he was secretly admitted into the then-unofficial Luftwaffe, and was trained in Italy in 1933. In 1937 he volunteered for service in the Condor Legion, fighting for Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War. He was recalled back to Germany in 1938, and as the Second World War erupted and progressed, Galland eventually became the General of the German Fighter Arm, and was credited with shooting down 104 allied aircraft before the war ended. He was also the leader of JV44 "Die Experten" Squadron, one of the last German fighter squadrons of the war, and in this unit, he and his men flew the first operational combat jet, the Me-262A1...but that's another story. ;)
His "Emil" (Wk.N.5819) is characterized by the yellow cowling (common for all the members of JG 26 "Schlageter" Squadron), the "Schlageter" shield, and his famous "Mickey Mouse" logo.
Installation
1. Using Winzip, simply unzip the contents of the zipfile into your FS2002 "aircraft" folder (use Folders option box must be checked).
2. Load FS2002, and select the Aircraft from the aircraft selection menu. NOTE: If you also have the Helmut Wick Bf-109E by R. Lavin installed, you can access the Galland Bf-109E by accessing the "Variation" drop-down menu.
Features
1. Detailed textures of Galland's Emil as it looked sometime November, 1940, with official RLM colors as it was documented,
2. Full moving parts (asymmetrically retracting gear, moving prop, rudder, ailerons, flaps, etc.)
3. Newly-installed smoke-system for airshows ;) Smokeswitch Toggle ("I" on keyboard) can be found on main panel.
A BRIEF TUTORIAL
Not only did I enjoy repainting this bird, I truly enjoy flying it as well. But unlike modern-day gen-av tri-wheels, this World War II fighter has the unique characteristics that can be hazardous to your sim-pilot's health if you are not careful! :) The following quick-tutorial is my own "home-brew" method of flying and landing this bird. ;)
Takeoff
1. When you first load the aircraft, your "front view" is pointed upwards due to the fact that the Emil is a tail-dragger and thus your viewpoint will only level off when the elevator is parallel to the ground. One solution to taxi whilst in cockpit is to press "W" to switch to "few gauges" mode, so that you can see the ground a bit on the bottom part of the window.
2. In order to taxi at a good speed, make sure that the throttle window is open, and set the throttle to about 50%. At this point the plane will not move forward yet. It will move forward if you tap on throttle and increase it to about 60-65%. But, once the plane starts moving, be sure to throttle back to about 30% because the initial "lurch" of the Emil can be quite fast. Make sure you DO NOT EXCEED 15 knots on the ground while taxiing because when you steer the tailwheel, you can get outbalanced and damage parts like the wingtips, etc. Worse, you can crash via a "cartwheeling" effect or groundloop.
3. Once you've aligned yourself with runway, set flaps to 1st notch (10 degrees). Then you can set throttle at max. At around 50 kts, you will notice a "STALL" warning but ignore it, it is simply a reminder that you have to raise your elevator and tailwheel off the ground, by pushing forward on your joystick (do not overdo this). Once V1 is 85-90 Kts, you can rotate and you'll be airborne. While climbing, retract landing gear, and make sure you do not retract flaps until you reach about 130 kts airspeed. Also do not put the aircraft in a steep climb attitude while still on its takeoff climb.
Landing
(Note: This tutorial assumes that wind is 00 at 000)
1. Reduce speed to about 120 kts, then slowly extend flaps to 10, then 20. If approach is too steep, extend flaps further to max. Throttle should be around 45-50%.
2. Ideal approach speed is around 100-90 kts (throttle at 40-45%). AOA should be around 0 to 5 degrees (for a tail-low landing--three-point landings are discouraged because you can seriously damage the delicate tailwheel) Flare at around 80-75 kts. NOTE: You will stall if your airspeed reaches 75 kts so be careful--left wing will drop first so counter it by gently rolling to right while increasing throttle back to 50% or more).
3. Upon touchdown, BRAKE HARD, and don't worry because the Emil was designed not to pitch down when you brake hard upon landing. However, if your nose starts to pitch down, pull on the stick a bit while continuing to brake. Make rudder corrections to compensate loss of torque when engine is cut. Drop tailwheel gently when speed decreases, and taxi to nearest exit. If rudder does not respond, go to spot view and inspect tailwheel--if there is no tailwheel and/or entire tail section is touching the ground, you've damaged your tailwheel and now you won't be able to steer left or right.
That's it. ;)
NOTES ON ACCURACY OF MY REPAINT
I am not an historian by profession, nor do I fancy myself as an "expert" on World War II flying machines, but I indeed exerted a significant amount of effort to do research for this repaint, and I do hope that my rendition of Galland's 109E during this time period is accurate enough.
Surprisingly, my primary source of information as to the specific layout of the camouflage scheme and the specific RLM colors used were not historical Bf-109E sites, but Plastic Scale Modeling web sites! ;) As an example, I would like you to go to www.google.com and enter the following string... galland "Bf-109E-4/N" and I bet that half of the sites you will find are scale-model-hobby-related. ;) Thus, I was also forced to examine these finished scale models and observe how these modelers (who are known to be historical-accuracy buffs sometimes) did the painting of their Galland 109E-4/N. And although a number of variations abound, I made sure that the elements which were common to all versions should be incorporated into my FS2002 Bf-109E repaint.
But there were very good references that cite what must've been the exact paint scheme of this Emil. One such reference is from an Eagle Editions Aviation Paintings website, which I quote here:
"The painting: Fighter General Adolf Galland, perhaps the most famous German fighter. ace and airman of his generation began WW II as Lieutenant and squadron commander flying biplanes. Promoted to Major General at age of 30, he was the youngest General in the Luftwaffe. He ended the war as a Lieutenant General, and was again, a squadron commander flying Me 262 jets in JV 44, GALLAND'S CIRCUS. Holder of the Luftwaffe's highest honor, the Knight Cross with Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds, General Galland passed away on 9 February 1996."
"Flying over Shakespeare Cliff near Dover, on the English shore, the scene depicts Oberstleutnant Adolf Galland and his wingman Feldwebel Hegenauer escorting a flight of Dornier 17Z-2's from KC 3 back to their bases in Northern France."
"Most of the photos of Galland's Bf 109E-4/N, W.Nr. 5819 were taken later November 1940, about the time the Mickey Mouse and the telescopic sight were added. At this ginger 5819 was painted in the RLM colors of 76 Light Blue, 75 Gray-Violet, 74 Gray-Green with some RLM Gray 02 mottling on the fuselage sides. The canopy frames were 66 Black- Gray."
"Temporary yellow was used on the rudders, cowling and freshly applied to the spinner front which may have been white earlier. The spinner backing plate was 70 Black-Green. Later the entire aircraft was repainted including a fresh coat of yellow over the cowling and spinner with a different JG 26 stylized "S", Schlagter shield being added. General Galland recalled the telescopic sight was only used for a few weeks and did not work out. It was intended as a long range spotting scope used in conjunction with the regular Revi gun sight. Nevertheless, the telescopic sight does appear in April l941 on his 109 F."
As you can see, such information is very useful to verify the authenticity of an attempt to replicate paint schemes of World War 2 fighter aircraft. Armed with these and more information from other sites, I set about to work and when I was finished, I was able to comfortably say that my repaint is a quite accurate representation of Galland's aircraft. Even though R. Lavin's model doesn't have the telescopic sight, Dolfo removed it later anyways, so the model is still accurate! :-)
REFERENCES
http://www.skalman.nu/third-reich/equipment-air-messerschmitt-109.htm - basic Bf-109 information
http://www.eagle-editions.com/britain.htm - info on Galland's paint scheme ca. Nov. 1940.
I personally consider this release as an on-going beta, because I will be posting updates every once and a while to improve on it. The following are things I hope to add in the near future:
1. A realistic startup sequence via a custom panel full of gauges specifically designed to follow the startup procedure of the real Bf-109E.
2. The first few chapters of the Me-109E Operation Manual (I have it, it's in PDF format and it's in German, so I need more time to translate it first), of course, to guide the user in going through the realistic start-up procedure.
3. Better and more accurate textures :)
4. A completely revised, full-GMAX version of the MDL file, with SCASM animated parts and various effects (as you may have noticed, this Emil has no lights and thus is strictly a day-only aircraft). But of course, I have to learn GMAX first hehe. I am a 3D Studio MAX user so I guess I've got a good head start.
CREDITS & THANK YOUs
Remy Lavin and TVI Sarl for allowing me to repaint the Helmut Wick Bf-109E (part of the complete Bf-109E collection from R. Lavin).
Herr Experten Jaime Unson and Mike Buenaventura and the rest of PFSG, for getting me interested once again in the Bf-109E ;)
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Original Helmut Wick Bf-109E copyright (c) 2000 by Remy Lavin. Paris, May-October 2000. Adolf Galland Bf-109E repaint copyright (c) 2002 by Rodion M. Herrera. This is a freeware product add-on--it cannot be made part of a commercial product without prior consultation from the authors.
