Messerschmitt Bf 109 | Better than the Spitfire?

Video from the channel Imperial War Museums about Messerschmitt Bf 109, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 13:27. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A curator from the Imperial War Museum presents the collection's Bf 109 E, shot down during the Battle of Britain, and compares it with the Spitfire using accounts from pilots on both sides. According to the video, the Spitfire turned better and the Bf 109 climbed faster and could dive thanks to its fuel-injected engine.

Built as an E-3 in September 1939 by Erla Maschinenwerk in Leipzig, with serial number 1190, it was transferred to JG 26 in mid-1940. It was flown by Karl Ebbighausen, whose victories from the French campaign are marked on the tail fin. Later, partially upgraded to E-4 standard, it was issued to Horst Perez. On 30 September 1940, attacked by Spitfires of No. 92 Squadron over Eastbourne, Perez landed with the gear up near East Dean, Sussex, and was taken prisoner.

After passing through the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, it toured Canada and, in 1941, the United States to raise funds for the Bundles for Britain campaign. Visitors could sign their name on the wing; among them, Jack Dempsey and Lawrence Tibbett. After decades in a scrapyard, the museum acquired it in 1998 and restored it to the condition it was in on the day it landed.