This weekend’s Warbirds Over the Beach Airshow in Virginia Beach will feature the participation of a rare World War II fighter. Though close to 34,000 Messerschmitt Me-109s were produced, only a handful are currently flying. The Military Aviation Museum’s Me-109G-4 is one of the very few flying to be powered by its original Daimler Benz DB 605 inverted V-12 engine. Ironically, post-war Spanish-built Buchon versions of the German fighter were powered by the same Rolls-Royce Merlin that was installed on British fighters during World War II.
Calling that a restoration seems crazy. More like a miracle to me. If you haven’t had the opportunity to stop in at the Virginia air museum, make it a priority. Some amazing birds there going back to WW I.
That appears to be somewhat the case here. Searching on the N-Number (N109GY) brings up an “AerialVisuals.ca” website with the history of this airplane. Now, with the proviso that you can’t trust everything you read on the internet, this site reads that this was originally a Spanish (Hispano) built 109 with a Merlin engine. In 1966 the Spanish Air Force donated it to the US Air Force Museum. In 1983 the engine was replaced with the Daimler-Benz DB 605 and the airframe reconfigured as a 109G.
Then in 2003 it appears to have been acquired by the Virginia Beach museum. In 2011 “repairs” were started and were completed in 2015. That’s when the salvaged plane’s serial number was assigned.
Looking at the Military Aviation Museum website they do say “To expedite its restoration, the museum’s Bf 109 includes some parts once belonging to Hispano HA1112 Buchón C.4K-64.”
I don’t know what the definition of “some” is in this case. But looking at the pictures of the restoration on the Mueum’s web-site it was substantially disassembled and rebuilt. And the attention to detail resulted in almost the same aircraft as it was before being shot down. One difference they note is the use of a composite propeller because an original is simply not available.