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Re: Looking for the Wrk # and a history for this aircraft..

Posted by Dave on Sun May 11, 2003 03:17:57 PM

In reply top Looking for the Wrk # and a history for this aircraft.. posted by LeeWalsh on Sun May 11, 2003 02:10:40 PM

Lee

Here is the history I have , courtesy of Richard Corey ...
No mention of it being in Canada.

Dave


Messerschmitt 109G-10 / U4 wk.nr ?610824? , Black 2 of 11./JG52
United States Air Force Museum , Dayton , Ohio , U.S.A

Remanufactured from a G-6 fuselage (wk. nr. unknown) in 1944 by WNF. It may
also be that the quoted wk.nr. is misidentified as there is no known record of listings in
the 6108XX range
Surrendered at Neuibiberg, near Munich and found not to be airworthy , but
selected for evaluation . Its journey to Cherbourg was by truck, where it was loaded
on the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Reaper leaving port on 19.7.45 , finally arriving at
Freeman Field near Seymour, Indiana on 17.5.46
Allocated FE / T2-124, the aircraft was not used for research, but instead became a
display aircraft in the early post war era touring various airbases.
Donated to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta at the request of Professor
Donnell W. Dutton in 1947. The airframe was not used officially by Georgia Tech. for
research or evaluation, but was placed in storage for later display .
Around 1955, Bud Weaver, an FAA inspector in Atlanta traded a working aero engine
for the aircraft. Stored out in the open at various rental properties owned by Mr.
Weaver it soon became derelict due to vandals and exposure to the elements.
It was at this time that 610824 lost its original wings. Someone had the local trash
company hauled it off to the dump! Mr. Weaver arrived in time to retrieve the
fuselage, but it was too late to save the wings.
In the mid-1960s John W. Caler of Sun Valley, CaliforniaValley purchased the
fuselage of the 109. His intentions were to restore the aircraft and he was able to
obtain a set of Avia built wings from Czechoslovakia .
This project was eventually abandoned and the airframe sold to an unknown private
collector.
In the early eighties it was sold to Doug Arnold?s Warbirds of Great Britain
Collection and placed in storage at his Biggin Hill facility , it was apparently missing its
tail group at that time.
In 1989 it was sold to Evergreen Ventures and restored to static display condition
by Vintage Aircraft Restorations Ltd. of Ft. Collins, Colorado. Since 1.4.99 the aircraft
has been on display at the USAFM as ?Blue 4? of JG300.

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