Saturday, November 11, 2006

Anyone Seen This Vintage Me-109?

Oops, Someone's Made A Mess O' Schmidt

I've been following, with great interest, the story of the Battle of Britain-vintage Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Me-109, as reported by Manu Pubby in The Indian Express. Once gifted to the Nizam of Hyderabad, the single-seat fighter has, um, shall we say, ``disappeared''. And if circumstantial evidence is to be believed, it seems to have turned up - rather mysteriously - on the other side of the world.

My interest has been whetted by the fact that I recently accumulated exhaustive research on Spitfires, Messerschmitts, and the pilots who flew them on both sides of the English Channel during World War II. All this was invaluable while I was writing my second fiction novel, `The Jadu Master', a wartime love story that is currently with Penguin India.

While I was wrapping up the novel last year, my brother, a fighter pilot, put me in touch with a friend of his, Group Captain Kapil Bhargava (Retd). The latter is one of an exclusive group of pilots who flew not only Spitfires (55 hours with No.7 Squadron), but also flew Willi Messerschmitt's last design, the HA-300. His experiences can be seen at Bharat Rakshak. It is worth pointing out that in his library at home, Gp Capt Bhargava even has a book on Messerschmitt types, presented to him by the German author, Werner L. Blasel.

Obviously there were some pilots in the Luftwaffe and the RAF who flew and assessed captured enemy fighters and these instances have been fairly well documented. But does anyone else know of other pilots who flew both types? Feel free to leave a comment here if you do.

And keep your eyes peeled for that missing Messerschmitt!

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