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.
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