Gelbe 8 - another dull, late-war aircraft, or...?

 

I started looking into Gelbe 8 due to a discussion on social media, an aircraft that I've known about for a long time but never looked at closer as it honestly looked quite dull. 

Coming back to it after having spent considerable time on learning the paint schemes of various factories and their W.Nr batches, this one actually has some very interesting details. First, the contrast between upper colours suggests a camouflage of 75 and 81, which is rare for an Erla built aircraft. What is more rare is the fin, it's painted like a typical fin from a Mtt Regensburg aircraft, NOT a typical Erla built aircraft. 

As if that wasn't enough, there's a slight curve to the panel line below the windscreen! These unique features makes me wonder if this aircraft in it's relatively short career had a visit to a frontreparatur for a check up that included some fresh paint and some body work. 

Found at Ainring after the war, it's believed to have been a III./JG300 aicraft possibly flown by Jochen Stiege.  

JG1 in Normandy - Friedrich Zanders Blue 22

 

 

During its time in Normandy after the invasion, the Gruppenstab of III./JG1changed its markings from white numerals to blue. There's photos of Blue 22 and Blue 23 that shows this practice which is also confirmed by the loss lists. 

The photos of Blue 22  shows the area below the cockpit up to and including the numerals and a part behind the Balkenkreuz. The camouflage and stencils proves that Blue 22 was built by Mtt Regensburg and the III./JG1 loss lists shows several aircraft in the 165.xxx W.Nr batch. 

Details in the paintwork seems to confirm this, pointing towards the tall tail version found within the 165.xxx batch. I've finished the profile accordingly. Although markings were simple during the Normandy campaign, most aircraft seems to have had spinner spirals applied as it was an important I.D. marking.

 

Bf109F-2 flown by Wilhelm Balthasar

 

Another aircraft flown by a Geschwaderkommodore! This time W.Nr 5749, an F-2 flown by Wilhelm Balthasar during the summer of 1941. The bold markings and the aggressive angle of the Chevron makes for an interesting looking aircraft. The 31 victory stripes on the rudder shows that the photos of this aircraft were taken between May 19 and June 22 of 1941. 

Werner Mölders Bf109E-4/N W.Nr 3737

 

Depicted in this profile is Bf109E-4/N W.Nr 3737 flown by Mölders in October 1940. There's 43 victory markings on the rudder, Mölders claiming his 43rd victory on October 11 1940. As Mölders Flugbuch from 1940 doesn't show W.Nr entries it's not possible to know when he started flying this aircraft, but the lowest score photographed on this rudder is 40, the tally that Mölders achieved on September 20. 

Interestingly, in the photos showing 43 victories there's also visible damage to the tailplane and then there's photos of the tailplane disassembled. 

Further photos shows the same rudder back on a seemingly new tailplane, now with 48 victories and traces of yellow paint on the tips of the stabilizers. There's no such traces in earlier photos so the tail was possibly scavenged from another aircraft. 

On October 25 1940, this aircraft was brought down in England while flown by Hans Asmus and according to the intelligence report from the crash, the rudder now had 49 victories on it. 49 victories does not make sense though since Mölders scored victories 49 to 51 on October 22. Logic says that the rudder ought to have shown either 48 victories, the score reached on October 17, or 51 victores, the score reached on October 22. 

Werner Mölders Bf109E W.Nr 2804

 A while ago I started looking at doing some JG51 aircraft and got stuck on the aircraft flown by Werner Mölders when he was Geschwaderkommodore of JG51. Compared to both Galland and Wick there's not nearly as many photos of Mölders aircraft from the autumn of 1940. 

His Mtt Regensburg built E-4, W.Nr 2804, has been caught on film in the white I.D. markings used during the first week of September 1940, but I can't recall ever seeing an accurate interpretation of that scheme before. The number of victories on the tail confirms that the photo was taken some time during the first week of September so there's no doubt in my mind that white rather than yellow is correct. 

Based on photos and some STKZ "theory" from Lynn Ritger it seems that 2804 probably was marked GA + IL on delivery and then had the letters painted over in RLM 65. The result: 

 

A later photo of 2804 shows that yellow colour has been applied on the nose of the aircraft up to the windscreen, while traces of the white paint can be seen on the undersurfaces of the wings. That photo doesn't show the rudder so it's not possible to know whether the yellow was applied around the victory markings as on later aircraft, or if the entire rudder was painted yellow. The number of victories can not be ascertained either but the yellow nose means we're in the second week of September or later so 38 or 40 victories is a plausible combination with the yellow nose or rudder on 2804. 

 

Mölders flew at least one other aircraft marked with full Geschwaderkommodore markings and yellow nose in the same period, but I haven't been able to find enough photos to be able to recreate that aircraft. Later in the autumn of 1940 he also flew two unmarked Bf109E-4/N, one of which was the infamous W.Nr 3737 that I will cover in future post. 

Bf109F-2 of Gerhard Michalski, II./JG53

 

An early Bf109F-2 flown by Gerhard Michalski of the II./JG53 Gruppenstab at St.Omer in the spring of 1941. An all time favourite of mine that for some reason never made it to profile until now! The bold markings and the Ace of Spades emblem combined with the mottled yellow cowling and spinner is eye-catching for sure. The aicraft is also fitted with a rare telescopic sight.  

Edit: Profile updated 2025-09-21 as Neil Page posted a close up photo of this aircraft on his blog here. I had the style of the "2" wrong and have updated according to the photo. The photo was taken at a later date as is evident from the aircraft having less mottle, possibly due to polishing. 

Bf109G-6 of Geschwaderstab JG3

 

Having jumped into a conversation on which Luftwaffe units were involved in the response to an 8:th airforce raid on Berlin on April 29:th 1944, it was evident that among others, JG3 participated with its Geshwaderstab, I, II and IV Gruppen. I started looking into how aircraft of these units would have looked like at the time and found a picture of the above aircraft that belonged to the Geschwaderstab of JG3, photographed at Salzwedel in the spring of 1944. It's a WNF built Bf109G-6 with a retrofitted Erla canopy.