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. 

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. 

Bf109F-2 of Stab JG1

This Bf109F-2 has a very unusual paint scheme for a Bf109F serving in the west. Thanks to the knowledge of Franck Benoiton and Sinisa Sestanovic it is safe to assume that this aircraft was flown by the Geschwaderstab of JG1 at Jever in June 1941. Another photo of the Geschwader stab Bf109F's shows similar camouflage schemes but with yellow noses and the Geschwaderstab emblem applied.

Bf109F-2 of Kurt Sochatzy, III./JG3

A Bf109F-2 flown by Kurt Sochatzy, the Staffelkapitän of 7./JG3 in the spring of 1941. The time frame makes it hard to be certain whether the aircraft was finished in the old 02/71 scheme or the newer 74/75 but the contrast between the colors as well as the traces of repainting makes me think 74/75.

Bf109F-2 flown by Lothar Keller

Photos of this aircraft comes from E-bay and shows a Bf109F-2 with the markings of a II./JG3 Gruppenkommandeur. Considering that the aircraft has the all yellow engine cowling it must have been flown by II./JG3 at the channel front in 1941 which means that the pilot must have been the II./JG3 commander at the time, Lothar Keller. The contrast of the camouflage points towards an RLM 65/02/71 camouflage.

Yellow 12 of Felix Sauer

I previously posted a profile of Yellow 1 from 6./JG53 labeled as having been flown by Felix Sauer, Erik Mombeeck has since pointed out that Yellow 1 was most likely not flown by Sauer. Yellow 12 depicted here was! Looking at the colorpictures of this aircraft it seems as if it was painted in a regular paintscheme of 76/74/75 but with a misting of 02 creating a slightly greenish cast to the fuselage.

Karl Vockelmann Bf109F-2 Weisse 12

 

Another III./JG53 Bf109F-2 that seems to have been polished so hard that some of the camoflage has worn off. This one, with Wrk. Nr. 8093 was photographed at Maldeghem in the spring of 1941.

5./JG27 Bf109F-4 Trop

It's rare to see a Bf109F-4/Trop in RLM 78/79 with a yellow enginecowling but II./JG27 used aircraft with that combination late 1941. The few photos showing these aircraft would indicate that the spinners were painted RLM70 but the photo of Black 9 is taken from an angle making it impossible to confirm the likely RLM70 spinner.

Chevron Circle of Detlev Rohwer

This aircraft has the standard WNF camoflage along the spine but it has been oversprayed with meandering lines of a very dark color like RLM70. Judging from the tailplane and comparisons with the contemporary aircraft flown by Hans von Hahn the wings of this aircraft were propably repainted in RLM70 and RLM 02.

Rohwers personal emblem was a shield with the knight Götz von Berlichinen dropping his pants which luckily is partially obscured by the wingtip! :)

Black 1 of Max Helmut Ostermann

Many photos exist of the Bf109F-4/Z of Max Helmut Ostermann flown in the spring of 1942. Photos taken from both sides at what is clearly the same time shows that this aircraft looked very different from side to side. Additionally the light color seems grey rather than white.

Bf109F flown by Felix Sauer, 6./JG53

Several colorpictures in Erik Mombeecks "Luftwaffe Gallery" shows this aircraft flown by Felix Sauer on the Channelfront in the spring of 1941. The propblades, mottle on the enginecowling and the darker color on the spine seems to be the same i.e. RLM70. The grey on the spine is much warmer than the greys on the side of the fuselage so I believe that the spine is painted RLM70 and RLM02 while the sides are overpainted in RLM 74 and RLM75. Looking at the wingroots I believe that RLM70 and RLM02 was worn on the wings as well.

Additional info, Erik Mombeeck pointed out to me that although photographed by this aircraft, it was propably not Felix Sauer who actually flew it.