WOW046 – ME109 EDUARD NEUMANN

Description

WOW046 The Messerschmitt BF 109 (ME 109) was a German fighter aircraft that
formed the Luftwaffe’s fighter backbone at the beginning of the war and
right up until its conclusion in 1945. Designed by Willy Messerschmitt and
Robert Lusser in the 1930’s, it was one of the first truly modern fighters
which featured an all metal monococque construction, armoured canopy and
retractable landing gear. The BF 109 first saw combat in the Spanish Civil
War where it performed admirably albeit against somewhat outdated Republican
forces. Originally designed as an interceptor, later models were designed as
bomber escorts, fighter bomber and ground attack aircraft. Several of
Germany’s Allies operated the BF 109 during and after WW2 and it still
remains the most produced fighter aircraft of all time with nearly 34,000
examples having been produced. Our Messerschmitt BF 109E is one flown by
Eduard Neumann an ace with 13 kills (2 during the Spanish Civil War) during
the course of his career. Neumann was born in 1911 in Austro Hungary, his
family moved to Germany after WW1 and this was where he learned to fly as a
glider pilot and then in the fledgling Luftwaffe as a fighter pilot, which
was still under secret construction. Neumann’s first kill of WW2 was an RAF
Blenheim before his unit was posted to Yugoslavia and then to North Africa
where his scores steadily mounted. He remained in the Southern European
theatre for the rest of the war, where he ended his career as the commander
of fighter forces for Italy. We have depicted Neumann’s aircraft as it
appeared during the opening stages of the war in 1939 in a very attractive
two tone green camouflage whilst he was serving with JG 26 Schlageter. The
unit emblem was of the hapless cartoon character ‘Adamson’ drawn by Swede
Oscar Jakobsson, interestingly ‘Adamson’ has often been described as the
inspiration for Homer from the Simpson cartoon series! Limited edition of 5
pieces and priced at $499, all figures shown in the photos are for sale
reference purposes please note and are not included with the aircraft.