Bf 110G-2/R7/M2, 6./ZG 1, Brest, France, August 1943

In August 1943, 6./ZG 1 moved from Sicily to Brest, France, where the unit was tasked with escorts of German submarines on their way across the Bay of Biscay to the Atlantic. The standard camouflage scheme of RLM 74/75/76 colors was darkened on the fuselage sides with patches of the same colors. The unit’s emblem was a drawing of a wasp on the nose, additionally supplemented on the left side of the fuselage under the cockpit by a drawing of a witch on the S9+LP. The color of the 6. Staffel was yellow hence the aircraft code is yellow and the same applies to the color of the spinner. The aircraft had also a white stripe on the fuselage in front of the tail surfaces, which was a remnant of the unit’s time on the Southern Front in Italy.

Bf 110G-2/R3/M1/M5, 7./ZG 26, Fels am Wagram, Austria, May 1944

Due to the intensification of Allied air raids from Italy on the southern areas of the German Reich, 7./ZG 26 was relocated to Fels am Wagram airfield in May 1944. The unit’s aircraft had the tips of the spinner and the third letter in the code painted white, which was the color of the 7. Staffel. The black code letter K was painted also on the bottom of the wingtips. The 3U+KR sported a white fuselage stripe in front of the tail surfaces and white bottom of wing tips. Both were the designation of aircraft operating on the southern front. Two MK 108 guns of 30 mm caliber mounted in the nose were the Rüstsätze 3 kit add ons. Additional armament were WGr. 42 rocket launchers under the wing.

Bf 110G-2/M1/R7, 5./NJG 200, Nikolayev, Soviet Union, September 1943

In September 1943, 5./NJG 200 was based on the airfield near the town of Nikolayev in Ukraine. The pilots were tasked with night interception of VVS (Soviet Air Force) aircraft. This machine was camouflaged with standard RLM 74/75/76 colors. The distinguishing color of 5. Staffel was red hence both the codes and the tips of the propeller cones were painted so. The aircraft had a yellow stripe on the fuselage in front of the tail surfaces, which was a distinguishing feature of machines operating on the Eastern Front and in the USSR.

Bf 110G-2/R1, 4./ZG 76, Wertheim, Germany, October 1943

Dispersed Zerstörer units were called up from all over Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to be incorporated into the defense of the Reich. ZG 76 was rebuilt in southern Germany with the use of the personnel of training and reconnaissance units and ZG 76 stayed there through the winter of late 1943/44. Its aircraft were armed with a 37 mm BK 3.7 cannon under the fuselage and WGr. 42 rockets to scatter American bomber formations. On October 4, 1943, the American Eighth Air Force attacked targets in Frankfurt am Rhein. II./ZG 76 encountered the stream of bombers alone and shot down four American bombers. But they encountered the American 56th Fighter Group afterwards and without their own fighter escort nine Bf 110s were shot down in the ensuing battle. Eleven of the downed crews were killed and seven wounded. The introduction of the American long-range fighter escort meant a large increase in losses for the Zerstörgeschwader units. In November 1944, 4./ZG 76 was disbanded and its pilots were retrained on the Bf 109, subsequently transferred to the 9./JG 54 fighter unit.