Ulrich Steinhilpers Yellow 2

 

For the first time, I'm posting a profile of an aircraft of which no known photos exist, Ulrich Steinhilpers "Yellow 2" that he flew on a mission against England on October 27th 1940 that ended with him being shot down and taken prisoner. 

Ulrich Steinhilper wrote a book about his life in the Luftwaffe that has been often quoted by authors for the German perspective on the Battle of Britain. One author who have leaned on Steinhilper for the German perspeptive is James Holland in his "The Battle of Britain" that I finished reading this summer. 

Just when I finished the book, Kotare posted the marking options for their upcoming model of the Bf109E-4 and included Steinhilpers aircraft as one of the options. Their idea of how the aircraft could have looked seemed wrong though as it included the JG52 shield and sword emblem below the windscreen and had the Running boar emblem moved to aft of the Balkenkreuz. These were changes to the markings of I./JG52 that was made after the Battle of Britain, either in Germany or the Netherlands.  

I went back to known photos of I./JG52 aircraft during the Battle of Britain and during September and October 1940 the Running Boar emblem was still displayed on the nose. The nose was painted yellow all the way back to the windscreen. Some photos shows spinners in Black-green and white while others shows yellow. 

3./JG52 seems to have used brown numerals which was often the case for the third staffel. Photos shows tactical numbers darker than the yellow in the fuel triangle for example. Also, "Yellow 4" that was shot down on the same day as Steinhilper is described in the intelligence report as having a yellow nose and an orange "4". I have there fore opted for RLM 26 for the "2" on Steinhilpers aircraft.  

Finally, Holland mentions that Steinhilper had five victorymarkings on the tail of his aircraft the day he flew what would be his last mission. I've added the five markings in the same style and placement as on Helmut Bennemanns aircraft as such markings most likely would be similar on aircraft within the unit.  

Finally, the general look of the aircraft - as the W.Nr is known, it's 2798, and there is a photo of aircraft from the same W.Nr range taken at Regensburg, I could use that to try and do a similar style of mottle and stencils. 

Without a photo it's of course impossible to be certain that a profile is correct, but I'm confident that it's as close as it can be given what we know.