Bf 109 G-6

Bf 109 G-6

Bf 109 G-2/trop

Bf 109 G-14

Bf 109 G-6

Bf 109 G-2/trop

Bf 109 G-14

Germany

IV Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.3	4.7	4.7

Class:

Fighter

Research:27 000

Purchase:185 000

This page is about the German fighter Bf 109 G-6. For other versions, see Bf 109 (Family).

Description

The Bf 109 G-6 is a rank IV German fighter with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB) and 4.7 (RB/SB). It has been in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.27.

The Bf 109 G-6 is, while stock, a difficult plane to fly, and needs the upgrades to even be considered an opponent for its adversaries. Once upgraded, however, it performs decently enough to even the playing field and allows an enjoyable experience.

This variant is played much like its predecessors, so stick to energy fighting. Because of its poor performance, it's imperative to keep your energy state high at all times.

General info

Flight performance

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 5,500 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	636	616	11500	21.3	22.1	14.0	14.0	343
Upgraded	705	668		19.3	20.0	27.6	19.5

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
790	360	460	460	260	~12	~6

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 450	< 390	< 450	> 715

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
5,700 m	1,270 hp	1,778 hp

Survivability and armour

• 60 mm Bulletproof glass in front and rear of the cockpit.
• 4-8 mm Steel plates on pilot seat.
• 10 mm Steel plates around pilot's head.
• 21 mm Steel plate on the rear of the fuel tank, with 4 mm plates surrounding it on other sides.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Bf 109 G-6 is armed with:

• A choice between two presets:
  • 1 x 20 mm MG 151 cannon, nose-mounted (200 rpg) + 2 x 13 mm MG 131 machine guns, nose-mounted (300 rpg = 600 total)
  • 1 x 30 mm MK 108 cannon, nose-mounted (65 rpg) + 2 x 13 mm MG 131 machine guns, nose-mounted (300 rpg = 600 total)

The two machine guns are located just forward of the pilot firing out of the nose of the aircraft. The cannon (either 20 mm or 30 mm) is mounted in the propeller shaft and will fire through the propeller hub.

Suspended armament

The Bf 109 G-6 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 4 x 50 kg SC50JA bombs (200 kg total)
• 1 x 250 kg SC250JA bomb (250 kg total)
• 2 x 30 mm MK 108 cannons, gunpods (wing-mounted) (35 rpg = 70 total)
• 2 x 20 mm MG 151 cannons, gunpods (wing-mounted) (135 rpg = 270 total)
• 2 x Wfr.Gr.21 rockets

Usage in battles

When stock, you should side climb and enter combat with a superior altitude before engaging. Your enemies will render you ineffective if you don't have the height advantage. However, when it's fully upgraded you might omit side-climbing as the plane should generally get you either at the same altitude or above the opponent. WEP is very effective, so use it to get to an effective altitude in the least amount of time. The engine overheats quite fast, but it also cools down rapidly. Don't be afraid to use WEP even if your temperature is yellow or red.

If you're engaging an enemy while you have an energy advantage, you should do everything in your power to keep or regain this advantage while depleting his. The Bf 109 can achieve this through the use of energy traps like rope-a-dopes, and to disengage when a foe avoids your boom. When neither you or the enemy has an advantage, you should avoid head-ons with the least amount of energy waste. Most of the time the enemy tries to get back on your 6 o clock, which drains his energy much more than yours. This gives you the opportunity to extend, climb, or bait him into an energy trap. Should you, however, face an enemy with superior altitude or speed, attempt to evade his booms on you or force him to overshoot.

When it comes to armament you have the choice of a 20 or 30 mm cannon in the engine, and gun pods of the same calibre. The 20 mm gun has good gun characteristics with decent damage and a good ammo count, while the 30 mm deals devastating damage but has a low ammo capacity and a very slow shell velocity. The gun pods aren't recommended as they dramatically decrease the plane's performance.

Specific enemies worth noting

Your worst enemies in the Bf-109 G-6 are the Spitfires and the P-47D/N/M Thunderbolts. The Spitfire can out-turn you at almost all altitudes below 4,000 meters. You have to be really careful when engaging a P-47 with an altitude advantage against you. The best thing you can do in that case is to turn away and keep climbing. If the Thunderbolt dives on you, turn into the head-on, fire a few rounds then use your superior roll rate to do a split-S. If a Spitfire engages you DO NOT try to turn with it! If you try, you will have fallen into their trap, your best defence is similar to the tactics employed against the Thunderbolt, split-S and use your roll rate.

Counter-tactics

If you're facing this plane, try to deplete its energy and force the plane either low or high. At higher altitudes, the engine performance is poor at best, and at lower ones, the plane loses energy quickly with no fast means to regain it. Avoid head-ons, as the enemy aircraft can potentially carry up to 3 x 30 mm guns.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Auto control available	Controllable Auto control available	Controllable Auto control available	Separate	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Offensive 13 mm	New 13 mm MGs	ETC 50/VIIId
II		Compressor	Airframe	Offensive 20 mm	New 20 mm cannons	ETC 500/IXb I
III	Wings repair	Engine		Offensive 30 mm	New 30 mm cannons	U4 modification
IV		Engine injection	Cover	R5 modification	R6 modification	W.Gr.21

As mentioned earlier, the Bf 109 G-6 performs badly in stock conditions with bad flight characteristics (essentially a brick with guns) and armament that is vastly inferior to most other fighters. This changes drastically with upgrades. The upgrades are listed in the order in which they should be acquired.

• Offensive 13 mm (for removing the tracers and getting an idea of where your cannon rounds land)
• Radiator
• Compressor
• Offensive 20 mm (the stock belts are abhorrent with only 25% of glorious minengeschosse)
• Engine
• U4 modification (do not equip it now, the single 30 mm is a bit inconsistent)
• Offensive 30 mm (for later use)
• Engine injection
• Gunpods (depending on which you like more take the 30s (R5) or 20s (R6), though generally, the 30s are more sensible since when engaging fighters gun pods are more of a hindrance and the 30s are very useful against bombers)

Afterward, get all the cannon and machine gun upgrades and the remaining for better flight characteristics. Bombs and rockets should be ignored until you have researched everything else since they are not very useful.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Powerful nose-mounted armaments, very accurate
• Has a researchable 30 mm cannon replacement for close-up approaches
• Can research 2 types of gun pods for increased firepower
• Can be equipped with 30 mm gunpods, with 3 x 30 mm 11.95 kg/s burst mass
• Very good energy retention
• Very good rate of climb
• Somewhat stable
• Somewhat decent manoeuvrability at low speeds in comparison to other a Bf 109 models
• Pilot protection from the rear is good
• Powerful engine
• Feels a lot lighter than the Fw 190s
• Features the Stab.III/JG.52 camouflage, which considered to be one of the best and historically accurate camouflage for the 109
• Features a pair of equipable Br.21 rockets, enabling it to take out even heavy tanks like the American T29 and Soviet IS-2 in tank realistic battles

Cons:

• Poor performance without flight performance upgrades
• Is not really suited for new players
• Still overheats, although not that often as the F model
• Mounted weaponry/payloads will reduce flight performance to some degree
• MK 108 has low ammo count compared to the 20 mm
• MK 108 is has a slow velocity, is very hard to lead
• 13 mm machine guns create bulges in the nose, limiting visibility in the cockpit
• 13 mm machine guns are underpowered

History

In-game description

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was a single-seat monoplane fighter used by the Luftwaffe before and during WWII. It was used as a fighter, interceptor, high-altitude interceptor, fighter-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.

The Bf 109 G-6 "Gustav" was the most mass-produced variant of the Gustav series. It entered production in the late Autumn of 1942, and was initially designed as a universal platform which could be quickly converted to various roles as needed in field conditions. The G-6 was also equipped with improved engines, either with MW 50 methanol-water injection, or the high-altitude GM-1 nitrous oxide injection. The DB 605AS engine, which used 96-octane fuel, as opposed to 87-octane, could reach over 2,000 HP at 500 m and 1,800 HP at 5,000 m. These variants were designated Bf 109G-6/AS. The armored seat had a transparent seat back, which significantly improved visibility. A total of 700 /AS aircraft were produced.

In addition to those changes, the G-6 was also the first to house the 30mm MK 108 cannon, which had 60 specially designed incendiary shells. A single hit was usually enough to destroy a single-seat fighter, most bombers needing no more than 4 or 5 hits.

Media

• Skins and camouflages for the Bf 109G-6 from War Thunder Live.

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Mitsubishi A6M
• Bell P-39 Airacobra
• Curtiss P-36
• Curtiss P-40
• Dewoitine D.520
• Fiat G.55
• Focke-Wulf Fw 190
• Grumman F4F Wildcat
• Grumman F6F Hellcat
• Hawker Hurricane
• Heinkel He 112
• IAR-81
• Kawasaki Ki-61
• Lavochkin LaGG-3
• Macchi C.202
• Macchi C.205
• Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3
• Morane-Saulnier MS.406
• Nakajima Ki-43
• North American P-51 Mustang
• Polikarpov I-16
• Supermarine Spitfire
• Yakovlev Yak-1
• Yakovlev Yak-9

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
• other literature.