The German 109 is one of the best known Warbirds from World War two as a staple of the Luftwaffe it remained in service
Right up until the last days of the war now one of the questions
I often run into has to do with this aircraft nomenclature
Which some people debate very passionately some call this aircraft the Me-109
Others, the Bf-109. I've seen these discussions even in my own comment sections
Which is why I make this video to answer once and for all the question is it me-109 or BF 109
Before we do that however
Why don't we started off with a quick experiment below this video?
You'll find a pinned comment asking this very question before you listen to my answer
it would be great if you guys could make a reply there saying remember you think it's me-109 or BF 109 and
Optionally, what country you are from?
This is for science only and it might give us some cool answers
I'll explain why later also because YouTube once again decided to prevent you from getting
Notifications of new uploads make sure to hit the bell icon next to the subscribe button
This way you won't miss another of my videos when it is uploaded right. Let's jump into this with a quick refresher
Did you notice how this discussion is seemingly only ever held on the 109 and sometimes the 110?
But never on planes like the Me 410 or the me-262. Well, here's why.
Me stands for Messerschmitt Bf stands for by Bayerische Flugzeugwerke. Both companies histories are intertwined during the interwar years
But we won't go into all the political and economic reasons for this here. Simplified, It's enough for you to know that in
1927 the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke and the Messerschmidt Flugzeugbau GmBH fused through a cooperative
Merger. Planes designed throughout this partnership held the designation BF a perfect example would be the Bf 108 in
1938 the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke became the Messerschmitt A.G> and Willy Messerschmitt became managing director the
Designation changed from BF to Me however by this point the BF 109 and BF 110 were already designed and in production
the aforementioned Me 410 and
Me-262 were not, so this obviously now sounds like BF 109 is the correct term to use
Inded a lot of the official material of the time backs up this claim for example manuals of the time all feature bf
prominently on the cover take this bf109 be manual from
1938 or this bf 109 D manual from 1940 this B of 109 f2 and f4 manual from 1941 or
even this bf 109 g5 and g6 manual from 1943
so even though these manuals were printed after the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke became the Messerschmidt A.G. the abbreviation Me
Seems not to apply to the 109 a plane that was designed before the designation change is the definite answer then Bf 109
No, it is not. The designation me-109 can also be found in official documents for example in this manual referring
To 109 with the daimler-benz 601 engine also take a look at this high-speed test result of the 109 on the top
Right we can see the Year
1943 and a number of the tests 109 o 5 e
43
remember this number
we also see that it is written by the
Messerschmitt AG and this document comes out in the same year as the manual of the g5 and g6 that I showed earlier
Which called it the Bf 109
however in this document in the title we see
me-109 and in a text we find multiple references to an me-109 we also
Find a simple abbreviation 109
But I'll get into this in just a second browsing through this document at the end we see something very interesting
the designation BF 109 check the test result number 109 o 5 e
43 proving that this is the same document that earlier called his aircraft the me-109 and
Both me-109 and BF 109 is written
Not just on one page
But on multiple and again this whole document was written by the Messerschmitt our gear this means that the same document uses me-109
P of 109 and even just 109 as a designation to the same aircraft
So neither me-109 nor BF 109 is incorrect
However since BF 109 is the original designation it is *perhaps* a little bit more correct than me-109
But as we have seen from the Germans at the time didn't really care us of the designation me-109 and B of 109 are correct
The Germans used both throughout the war if you actually read documents off the time
You'll see that the Germans were very
flexible on this point in the lingo of the time the Bf 109 could also be a 109 a Hundertneun, or a
109 or just mine a Messerschmitt my Messerschmitt when the pilot talks about his kite if
You listen to German aces or engineers of the time read through their memoirs
Official reports and documentation you'll also find both me-109 and BF 109
Referenced the same goes for official documents as I have shown regardless of what terminology
You used everyone knew what plane you were talking about
It's kind of like referring to water as h2o a chemist will still understand you when you say water
And you'll understand the chemist when he says h2o the analogy is not perfect
But you get what I mean and thus the greatest
nomenclature debate on German aircraft of world war 2 is in fact a non debate the thing to remember is that books tend to
standardize on a single designation to prevent possible confusion in the reader a single book or document usually either
Uses me-109 or bf109 but not both this means that this discussion might originate out of the different
Standardizations the post-war literature followed in different countries and therefore finds itself perpetuated nowadays
This is why I previously asked you to tell me whether you think it's me-109
or bf-109 and to give me your country before I gave my answer to see if
Geographical differences exist and maybe some of you noticed that it was a trick question
but if you didn't don't worry this was for science only I'll see if I can post some of these results on social media and
The community tab in the coming days keep an eye out for those now if you enjoyed this video
Give me a like share it with your friends and the interwebs and leave a comment below if you like what I do make sure
To check out my patreon even just a dollar or two a month
Helps me push out these videos and also check out these videos. I have made previously as always have a great day
Good hunting and see you in the sky