Condor Legion 109E serials

[Dave Williams]

Does anyone have a good list of which Condor Legion Bf109Es were E-1s and which were E-3s?  Some of the decal options in the new Eduard kit are listed as E-1s, while previously they were listed as E-3s, even in Eduard’s 1/48 Kit.  TIA.

[Kagemusha]

I've seen the same in books previously, I guess the facts are lost in the sands of time,  I've seen 119 attributed as both an E-1 and E-3, I plan on making it from the Dragon E-3 kit in time. 

[Dave Williams]

I had the Classic Publications books on the Condor Legion previously, but they are unfortunately gone.

Edited July 2, 2019 by Dave Williams

[Kagemusha]

I've got this book, but it's in the midst of piles of my books on account of them being shelf-less due to building work.

 

From the photos included it is hard to determine which is a - 1 or a - 3, and from what I remember they weren't assigned numbers in order of type, so for instance 113 could be - 3, and 126 a - 1.

 

Bottom line I guess is to enjoy building the model, and be happy with the result. 

[thierry laurent]

The best reference on the Condor legion 109s has just been released by Schiffer some weeks ago. I will try to find where I put mine! 

[thierry laurent]

Here is the book I mentioned:

 

https://www.amazon.com/German-Eagles-Spanish-Skies-Messerschmitt/dp/0764356348

 

Hth

 

Thierry 

[Thomas Lund]

I believe Rittgers book on the early 109s also had them. Can check when I come home. Any specific plane you are thinking about?

 

Afaik there are some controversy about which were which types, but perhaps that was in the B/D end of the spanish birds

[barkhorn]

Although David Johnston's book is very good in general and revolutionary in some areas (mainly the information on the Jumo-engined machines, especially the earliest ones) in comparison to older publications, the 'Emils' (and other lately delivered aircraft - the author doesn't recognize the fact that 6-95 to 6-98 were Jumo-engined Bf 109s) did not get a lot of interest from the author and some facts are unfortunately mistaken. In the July issue of Eduard Info you will find my article on the Bf 109 E in Legion Condor, which summarizes the known facts and brings some previously unpublished information (and photo) as well:
https://www.eduard.com/out/media/InfoEduard/archive/2019/info-eduard-2019-07en.pdf
As some identifications I've made do differ from what have been said in the past, I've included several footnotes (many of them directing to the photos available online, mainly those which were sold on Ebay in the recent years and not published anywhere, nor are their owners known), which allows the reader to confront my statements with the facts, i.e. the photographs.

As for the subject of serials itself, you will not find a lot: 6-92 is WNr. 715, 6-99 and 6-101 are most likely also from the 7xx range (the photos are unfortunately unclear and do not allow to decipher the numbers stamped on the tarpaulin covers), 6-106 is said to be WNr. 790, although the history of this aircraft (now preserved in a museum) is complicated (large parts were taken from different aircraft), so I don't treat this as certainty.

[Dave Williams]

Thanks for the link to the Eduard newsletter article.  Very helpful!

[ade rowlands]

Great article. I ordered the kit today so we’ll timed.