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Bf 109 C-1: The Caesar Variant
6 March 2024 Development

Let’s take a look at one of the lesser known types of Bf 109, the model C! This variant saw one of the lowest production runs of any Bf 109 model, with only around 50 examples of the C variant being produced.

Bf 109 C-1: A Fighter for Germany at Rank I

Features:

  • Four 7.92 mm machine guns.
  • Fuel injection Jumo 210G engine.
  • Decent agility.
  • No suspended weaponry.
Vehicle History▼

While taking on experience from combat in the Spanish Civil War, one evident drawback of the Bf 109B was its armament. With a pair of twin 7.92 machine guns being its only offensive weaponry, this was quickly deemed outdated, and efforts to improve its weaponry began.

Designers quickly came across several hurdles in this process, experiments were trialled equipping these early 109s with a nose mounted cannon or machine gun to no success, with the only remaining space being the wings. Though even equipping the wings with additional weaponry proved difficult. Accommodating for the comparatively low wing area in addition to the spars and wheel wells, only space for one gun in either wing was possible. But with some adjustments and ingenuity, the designers managed to cram in one machine gun into each wing, effectively doubling the firepower of the Bf 109 at the time.

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Meet the Bf 109 C-1!

This new C model of the 109 most closely resembles the current B model we have in game with some notable improvements. The C features a new engine, the Jumo 210G, which offers a fuel injection system, plus two more machine guns. It’s coming in the Alpha Strike major update — let’s take a further look!

The most apparent change though will be the two extra guns in the wings which add a much greater spread of fire, allowing your bursts to do much more damage. The two wing machine guns have slightly less ammo than the nose mounted guns at 420 RPG instead of 500 RPG. If you see the wing guns start to run dry, it’s time to head back and rearm!

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Interesting: While specific 109 variants lacked official names, they were sometimes referred to by their model letter in relation with the German phonetic alphabet, C for Cäsar (Caesar), D for Dora and E for Emil.

While it does lack wing cannons found on the later E models, these machine guns are no slouch, featuring a high rate of fire and a good mix of armor piercing and incendiary ammo. As aircraft around this era are comparatively much more fragile, they’re much easier to dispatch with just machine guns alone, and generally hold a much longer firing time than contemporary cannons, which often only have a small amount of ammo.

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The C model is an all around improvement on the previous 109B, adding greater combat reliability across the board. It’s a powerful and fast fighter, allowing you to comfortably maintain a great amount of speed against your somewhat slower opposition. This speed is very important however — you may be very fast, but your opponents are often very agile, and can easily chew you up if you’re caught out on low speed. If you feel your energy start to waver, it may be time to disengage from the fight to build up more speed before heading back into the fray.

In your matches by Tom, Lead Community Manager: “The Bf 109C is a strong fighter for its rank, but as aircraft around this era are often very agile it’s even more important to maintain a good amount of speed and altitude. If you get too close to one of these enemies while at low speed you’ll struggle to shake them off. Focus on climbing well and maintaining your speed and altitude — don’t engage too early, it can be tempting to dive on the first attacker you see but you forfeit your advantages by doing this. Stay high and focus on Boom and Zoom attacks, once the higher altitude fighters have been dispatched or pushed down, then you can safely drop altitude and mop up what's left.”

That just about wraps up our blog for today! The Bf 109 C-1 will make for a powerful interim model between the B and E variants, we hope you like trying out this rarer Bf 109 model in the skies of the next major update, Alpha Strike. Until then, keep an eye on the news to read all about interesting vehicles like this one!

Kick-start your German vehicles research with this starter pack:

German Beginner's Pack
German Beginner's Pack
The Kit Includes:
  • Sd.Kfz. 140/1 (Germany, Rank I)
  • Ju 87 R-2 (Germany, Rank I)
  • Premium Account for 7 days
  • 120000 Silver Lions
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