Erla built Bf109G-14/AS Red 5 of JG300

  

During the autumn of 1944 Erla delivered a series of Bf109G-14/AS aircraft to units engaged in the Reichdefense. Unlike Erla built G-10's, the Erla G14-/AS didn't have the refined engine cowling. Neither did it have the redundant lower cowl bumps of the Mtt Regensburg built G-14/AS. It did have the deeper oil cooler and the enlarged oil tank that can also be found on regular Erla built G-14's. 

Red 5 was photographed at Borkheide in the autumn of 1944 and was flown by an unknown pilot of 2./JG300. This aircraft was very similar to the more famous Red 2 "Rita" flown by Eberhard Gzik. A colourphoto of Red 5 clearly shows that the numerals of 2./JG300 were a brighter red than the fuselageband.   

White 1 of Paul Schalk, 5./JG11

 

 

White 1 of Paul Schalk is featured in three photos in Priens "Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe Teil 16/1" although it's misidentified as a G-14/AS. It's actually an Erla built G-10. The aircraft shows traces of repainting in several places and the fuselage cross is slightly skewed. The yellow fuselage band of JG11 seems to have been overpainted with RLM 75 unless the yellow colour has the exact same tonal value as the 75 which is possible but unlikely. So, it's another late war aircraft painted to look as dull as possible. 

 

It's possble that White 1 was flown looking like this with the yellow fuselage band in place, but as there's also signs on the fuselage that the tactical number has been replaced at one time or other it's impossible to know for certain.

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.  

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. 

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 from 5./JG302

 

This aircraft served with 5./JG302 and was used in the Wilde Sau nightfighter roll, evident from the fact that the starboard wing under surface was black. Another interesting feature is the missing head armour which wasn't uncommon on Wilde Sau aircraft.

Bf109G-6 of Heinz Hunig, 5./JG2

 

Schwarze 12, W.Nr 27 083, of Heinz Hunig, 5./JG2 at Juvincourt, autumn 1943. Hunig was lost in this aicraft on October 20:th 1943. It's a striking aircraft with the yellow trim on the numerals and an interesting wingroot decoration. I created the profile for a decal sheet that never happened so now I'm posting it on my blog with the goal of posting more than once every other year! 

The pattern of the wing camouflage is interesting as it doesn't match the regular saw toothed pattern of Erla built aircraft. The 27.xxx W.Nr batch seems to be an anomaly in that regard. 

Bf109G-10 from JG301

 

Finally I've found my self between projects and with some spare time to do a profile for my own enjoyment! The subject is based on recently discovered photos of this Erla built Bf109G-10 serving with 14./JG301 at Gahro. The camouflage appears to be the standard RLM 74/75 but with an additional darker colour on the spine above the balkenkruez and the rear of the aircraft. 

The blog is not dead! It's only resting...

Fw190A-2 of Max Buchholz

Fw190A-2 flown by Max Buchholz of 5./JG1 at Katwijk 1942 showing his personal sea gull emblem that could also be seen on his Bf109F and Fw190A-5. I've been busy with commision work for a while but hopefully will be able to update a little more frequently once my Fw190 template evolves.

Bf109G-6 at Wunsdorf

A very colorful Bf109G-6 found at Wunsdorf by Canadian troops at the end of WWII. The camoflage scheme seems to consist of a base of late war colors taken down the sides of the fuselage, on top of which a light color has been mottled. In the profile I've opted for RLM 02 for the mottles. This color seems to give the most correct contrast with the darker colors. What's interesting is that there seems to be a dapple of darker spots at the lower part of the fuselage that are darker than both main colors of the camouflage. 

More than one aircraft has been found in this scheme so it's certainly not a one off. The question is whether it might have been an enhanced version of the austerity scheme seen on Erla built Bf109G-10's or something else completely. The WNr's of these aircraft shows that they were all old aircraft that had had a major overhaul at a repar facility which might be the origin of all the aicraft in this intriguing scheme. Similar spots were found on the noses of some Fw190D-9's and on the sides of a few Me262's though so there might have been a more elaborate plan with the use of this scheme. 

No "Christmassy" profile from me this year either, but a Merry Christmas to all nevertheless!

Franz Wienhausen White 21 part 1

Numerous publications are showing photographs of a Bf109 marked White 21 and belonging to Franz Wienhusen, the Gruppenkommandeur of IV./JG 4. In captions the aircraft has always been identified as being the Bf109G-10 with the W.Nr 130 282 that Wienhusen flew on the day of his death. One look at the camouflage pattern is enough to see that the aircraft pictured is an Erla built aircraft carrying the typical spotted mottle used by that factory. An additional photo in Mombeeks "Storming the bombers" shows that the White 21 seen in photos is most likely a regular Erla built Bf109G-14. As a second part of this article I'll be posting a 130 xxx range Bf109G-10 to show the differences.

JG51 Bf109G-10 at Fels am Wagram

Recently found photos from Fels Am Wagram in May 1945 shows a number of Bf109G-10's carrying fuselage bands with a white centre flanked by bands in a medium colour. These aircraft also carried the horizontal band of a II Gruppe unit applied on top of the fuselage bands. These markings are close in style to those of Jagdgruppe 300, but aircraft of that unit seems to have carried a small black horizontal band regardless of staffel colour. 

As II./JG51 was disbanded at Fels am Wagram in april, these aircraft may well be the first known examples of the use of the green - white - green fuselage band assigned to JG 51.

An Erla built Bf109G-10 with the shorter tail wheel is also rare. The short wheel seems to have been used on some aircraft late in the production though. A notable example being the only known photographed Erla built Bf109K-4.

Bf109G-14/AS Blue 11 of 8./JG27

Bf109G-14/AS W.Nr 785 750 photographed at Münster - Handorf in the summer of 1945. The thin fuselage band is typical of the band used by II./JG27 since the summer of 1944. The fin and rudder is clearly painted in darker colors than the fuselage hence the interpretation of latewar colors on the fin with a grey camouflage on the fuselage.  

Bf109G-6 of Wilhelm Schilling, 9./JG54

Willhelm Schillings Yellow 1 as it looked in February 1944 at Ludwigslust. Several publications are giving the W.Nr for this aircraft as 440 141 which is a WNF W.Nr. The relase of Eduards 1/48 Bf109G-6 includes decals for this aircraft and the instructions are consequently showing a wing pattern  for a WNF aircraft too. The problem is that the camouflage on the fuselage of this aircraft is a very typical Erla camouflage. 

Going through a JG54 losslist compiled by Bob Wartburg I found two entries for a Yellow 1 flown by Schilling on the same date in February 1944. One is the aforementioned 440 141 and the other is 27 068. Now 27 068 IS an Erla built Bf109G-6 so it's also quite likely the correct W.Nr for this particular Yellow 1. This also means that the wings would have had the saw toothed pattern rather than the WNF one.

For a run down of the various pattern, check my previous blog post on the subject!

Bf109G-14/AS of Bruno Klostermann

This is the Bf109G-14/AS flown by Bruno Klostermann in the autumn of 1944. Klostermann was a cousin of famous French ace Pierre Clostermann. Klostermann was killed in action on January 14:th, 1945, flying an Erla built Bf109G-10 marked Green 12. This however is clearly a Mtt Regensburg built Bf109G-14/AS.

Bf109G-6/AS from JG1

A Bf109G-6/AS from 9./JG1 based at Anklam in the autumn of 1944. The all RLM 76 Bf109G-6/AS fighters were used by III./JG1 in their role as topcover escorts for the heavily armed Fw190's of the Geschwader tasked with attacking the 8:th airforce bombers. The antenna is mounted on the fuselage, an indication that this aircraft was originally fitted with a standard canopy. An indication that this could be a regular Bf109G-6 converted to G-6/AS standards. 

Don't forget that you can click the profiles for a higher res version!

Bf109G-14/AS from JG300

A photo found on Ebay shows the fuselage of this aircraft beeing made ready to be towed away from a field following a crash/emergency landing. The tailband makes it certain that it's a JG300 aircraft. The medium tone numeral with white outlines looks like the numerals used by 11./JG300 although it's hard to be certain.

The JG300 losslist shows a Bf109G-14/AS Green 14, lost on January 30, 1945 after the pilot Uffz. Gerhard von Strassmann crashed on take off from Mark Zwuschen while on a ferry flight. Whether it's the aircraft in question is impossible to tell though.

Both colors in the top fuselage camoflage are too dark to be RLM75 so I've opted for latewar colors. The nose seems lighter as does the tail but that wouldn't be unusal with missmatched parts from different productiobatches. The wings are not seen in the picture and could have been in any of the late-war pattern. 

Updated the profile 2013-11-24

Bf109G-6 found at Kassel

This Bf109G-6 was found by US troops at the Henschel Aero Engine works in Kassel. The colorphoto of this aircraft is quite wellknown but new B&W photos of this aircraft has surfaced revealing more interesting detail. The enginecowling is a replacement in a different camoflage than the rest of the aircraft. Interestingly, it's mottled all over, there's no color covering the top as on regular camoflage schemes for the 109. The starboard wing also seems to be a replacement, the color of the undersurface being different than the rest of the aircraft but very similar to the enginecowling. In all likelyhood, a replacement in RLM 74/75/76. The port wing has the same color as the main fuselage but with some natural metal showing through. 

All that aside, the most interesting detail to me is that the close-up pictures shows a complete set of stencils on the fuselage, more or less proving that Bf109G's was at least to some extent delivered from the Mtt Regensburg factory in latewar colors.

Update: Thanks to some questions from John Irwin I've been able to see some new details and the profile has been updated accordingly. 

Messerschmitt Regensburg Bf109G-10

This is a rare Bf109G-10 built by Mtt Regensburg as can be confirmed from the W.Nr 130369 but modified for night fighting duties with 5./NJG11. Flame dampers has been fitted to the exhaust stacks and the fuselage has had it's panellines carefully puttied, sanded and polished for some extra speed. This work seems to have been in the field as the airframe is almost completely devoid of stencils. Additionally there's a small sliding section of perspex on the side of the canopy which is another non-standard item. Finally, the missing battery box on the rear cockpit bulkhead is an indication that there might have been some internal changes done as well. 

For the background story and hi-res photos of this aircraft go to Neil Pages FalkeEins Luftwaffe Blog All the info on this aircraft comes from him.

Erla Bf109G-10 from JG300

This is another one of those dark painted, Erla built Bf109G-10's. In this case there seems to be only one color on the upper surfaces, the small differences more likely being the result of weathering and a slightly uneven paint application. The newly released promopicture of the coming Revell Bf109G-10 seems to show this scheme, but with the wrong enginecowling as the boxart shows it in 74/75/76.


W.Nr comes from Jörg Meincke via Marc-André Haldimann. Also, credit goes to Jörg Meincke for correcting the caption.