Was the Me/Bf 109 Produced After WW2?

by ImaBuckDatAsh

Title is pretty much the question.

wotan_weevil

Spain started to build the Bf-109 (Bf 109G-2) in 1942; the goal was to import German engines and install them in Spanish-built airframes. No German engines arrived, since the Germans had a shortage of them, so eventually a Spanish engine was used instead, and the first plane flew in 1945. This first batch of 25 aircraft flew in the late 1940s, but never went into operational service. An improved version with an improved engine went into service in the 1950s, as the Hispano Aviación HA-1112. These flew with the Spanish air force until 1965.

These Spanish aircraft flew as Bf 109s in various movies (Spanish tanks also did movie duty, often with rather less accuracy than the HA-1112).

Czechoslovakia also made post-war Bf 109s, based on the 109G. This was a continuation of wartime production for the German air force. Post-war aircraft were called Avia S-99. Early production aircraft were basically the same as wartime Bf 109s, but when they ran out of Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines (which were no longer made; they had been using leftover wartime production), they switched to the Junkers Jumo 211 engine, which turned out to be inferior in practice. They saw service with the Czechoslovakian air force into the 1950s. A small number of these saw war service - Israel bought 25 aircraft (of which 23 were delivered), and these saw service during the war in 1948. They formed the first operational fighter squadron in the Israeli air force, and shot down the first enemy aircraft shot down by Israel. The aircraft proved to be difficult to maintain, and operational serviceability was low. Handling was also apparently poor - they were difficult to fly and even more so to land. By October 1948, they had been largely replaced by thee Spitfire IX and P-51D, and flew their last sorties in December 1948.

A listing of Israeli air force kill claims, with the Avia S-99 prominent in the first few months of the war in 1948: