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JG 27 109E white wall tyres


Knight_Flyer

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Any one know the definitive background behind JG 27 white walled tyres during the desert campaign? Did all of their 109E planes have it or was it some? Or perhaps they were only fitted for a specific period of time?

Did try to search for more information and didn't really get anywhere. Looking to build Marseille's 109 and it seems opinion is divided as to whether it was fitted with white wall tyres or it was tail wheel only.

 

These photos appear to confirm white wall tyres. Or perhaps they're not white at all and I'm just looking at badly weathered tyres :lol:

 

Messerschmitt-Bf-109E4BTrop-1.JG27-White

 

850a6e3a6ff94871f5bc25811fa1c88c.jpg
 

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I can't tell for sure - but I believe I've read that some were indeed painted white to help them keep cooler in the scorching sunshine of Libya. Sounds reasonable for excuse and actually isn't difficult to do at field. Luftwaffe did have white paint (as their theater colour) and the paint could be applied with any (paint)brush. So no snobbery or millionaire-whitewalls, just basic heat management, I believe. V-P

Edit: I'd say that Friedrich definitely has painted tire sidewalls, that's not wear and tear...

Me109-F4Trop-Ju88-87af-s

 

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While the heat issue mentioned above is a very convincing hypothesis and perfectly plausible we have at least one example which only has a thin (white?) ring painted around the main tire. Photographed at Treviso, surely if heat was an issue a much larger surface area of the tire could and would have been covered by white paint? Would the electrical grounding of the aircraft have been required more so in the Med than other regions? The thin white? band on the tire below seems similar in size application to that on the tail wheels... Speculation of course...

 

0_D9_BB099_3_EA9_4_EC6_9_BA7_24_A766_A5_

Edited by Kaldrack
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Yes it is rather confusing hence I asked the question in case anyone knows the reason and circumstances for painting the tyres white. I did wonder if it was JG 27 trying to be different. I'll probably be tempted to paint Marseille's 109 tyres white - just to be different ;)

  • Haha 1
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