JG53 Bf109E Graue 13

 

An interesting Bf109E-3 or E-4 from 5./JG53 in the autumn of 1940. The combination of a yellow cowling with a partially overpainted red band makes it likely that the photos of this aircraft are from late September or October 1940. In November the Ace of Spades emblem was reapplied. 

The tactical markings applied in RLM 02, typical for 2 and 5./JG53, as well as the yellow nose extended further than usually seen on JG53 aircraft makes this a quite unique Emil!

Bf109Ga-6 from 1./JG27

 

Bf109Ga-6 from 1./JG27 at Fels am Wagram in early 1944 as seen in the Wochenschau n° 707. The early style fuselage cross is typical for early Ga-6's i.e G-6's license built by Györ in Hungary. 

Bf109G-6/AS of JG11

 This Bf109G-6/AS from II./JG11 was found by allied troops at Bernay in France, abandoned more or less intact by the looks of if. The camouflage is heavily modified, something that one would expect from a former Reich defense unit going into the battle of Normandy. Interestingly though, II./JG11 seems to have been modifying their G-6/AS' camofalge long before the invasion. A similar scheme can be seen already in the spring of 1944 on another II./JG11 Bf109G-6/AS

Erla built Bf109K-4

 

Only one single completed Erla built K-4 has ever been photographed, as far as we know (yet!). W.Nr 570 276 found by US troops in May 1945. For a long time only one single photo was known but another photo has turned up showing the nose and most of the fuselage. This photo shows a scheme in two colours similar to those seen on Erla built G-10's but the nose is different with a more defined mottle. 

 The oil cooler in RLM 76 is interesting as on similar G-10's from Erla it's always in the darker top colour. It really shows that you can never be sure with Luftwaffe aircraft! 

Bf109E-1 from Ergänzungsgruppe JG27

 A photo of this amazing looking aircraft showed up online recently. I had to try and recreate it and this is the result. The emblem on the nose shows that this aircraft belonged to the Ergänzungsgruppe of JG27. The pennant on the aerial mast seems to indicate a Staffelkapitäns aircraft. Some aircraft of the unit had capped spinners while others didn't. The angle of the photo makes it impossible to be sure but I opted for the capped version. 

Bf109G-14 Blaue 62

While updating the link to the larger version of the profile I finally adjusted the information that have become available since I posted the original.

 

This Mtt Regensburg built Bf109G-14 belonged to JG110 at Finow, spring 1945. The tall tailwheel were installed on all 109's serving with training units as it improved forward vision and made the aircraft easier to handle 0n the take-off run. Judging from the darker look of the color it seems likely althought not certain, that the aircraft wore a late war colorscheme. The spinner is not visible in the photo but is based on another picture from Finow showing other aircraft seemingly from the same unit. 

Bf109G-10 of Heinz Ewald

EDIT - The link was broken so I updated this profile to my latest standards. 

This WNF-built Bf109G-10 was flown by Heinz Ewald of II./JG52 in February 1945. Pictures, decals and a profile are provided by Kagero for this aircraft and Hasegawa has boxings of this aircraft as well. Both Kagero and Hasegawa depicts this aircraft in late-war colors and a camoflage that looks close to the pattern used on late Bf109K-4's.

The internet is full of pictures of models depicting this scheme that is unfortunately incorrect. I was sceptical of that scheme from the start and when I started learning about Wrk.Nr ranges and how camoflage patterns could be used to understand from which factory a Bf109 came from I just knew something was wrong. WNF never used the kind of pattern that Kagero and Hasegawa suggests.

Finally when I found pictures of this aircraft, nothing in them contradicted a standard WNF camo as depicted in my profile. Sure, the fuselageside might have had some extra mottling but nothing like the solid, low demarcation scheme shown in the instructions from Hasegawa and Kagero.

A big shame since it's quite an attractive idea, I believe that my version is far closer to the truth - which still might be a bit off!

The numerals provided by Hasegawa and Kagero are too large, they should be in the same size as all other II./JG52 aircraft wore in the spring of 1945 and seen for example on the aircraft found at Neubiberg at the wars end.

One final thing to notice is that the landinggear doors had been removed to prevent snow and mud from getting caught up between the doors and the leg.