Small Scale Military Headquarters

In looking at photos of crashed and bellied in BF109's, I notice that often the entire canopy aft of the windshield is missing. I suspect that both the side hinged portion and the aft section come off together when released for bailing out or emergency landings. Anybody got some insight into this ?

I realize that the late model Erla Haube type is one piece aft of the windshield, so must be jetissioned as one piece, but many of the pictures depict early models like E's and F's, and the entire canopy except the windshield is gone. Are the sections connected in some fashion ?

As far as I know they did. Both sections came out.

yes, everything rear of the windshield was jetisonable.

This is a quote from Skip Holm's "The Flying Gun" where he talks of his personal experiences with Me-109 aircraft.

The hood jettison lever consists of two very strong springs in the rear part of the canopy, causing the rear section to come loose and therefore the whole main part of the hood becomes unhinged and can be pushed clear away into the airflow.

What he is saying is...when the jettison handle is pulled, two strong springs release and push away the rear section of the canopy. Since the center "hood" is piano-hinged between that section and the front windscreen, the hood becomes completely unhinged and can be pushed away. Hope that helps to explain it a little.