Markings for Fw 190F-8 1/48
COL A
Stab I./SG 2, Csar or Raab, Hungary, winter 1944/1945
The original camouflage in the colors RLM 74 and 75 was overpainted with washable white winter paint on this aircraft. Focke-Wulf 190s of the Stab I. Gruppe SG 2 had blue numbers in their fuselage markings during this period. The I./SG 2 was deployed in Hungary until March 1945. Hptm. Herbert Bauer, an Austrian native from Innsbruck held the command of the unit from November 1944 until the end of the war. From the beginning of 1941 he flew Stukas with I./St.G. 2 Immelmann (later I./SG 2). From June 1943 to May 1944, he was commander of the 3. Staffel. Prior to rearming the unit with Fw 190F during May 1944, he was given the task of commanding operational training unit II./SG 103 in France. During the war, he conducted 1071 combat flights, 70 of them with Fw 190. He destroyed 51 tanks, two armored trains and achieved a direct hit of the battleship Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya. He was awarded 11 aerial victories as well (one with Ju 87), while another 12 were not confirmed. Bauer was awarded the Knight's Cross with an Oak leaves.
COL B
1./SG 4, Airasca, Italy, June 1944
The I./SG 4 was formed from the II./Sch.G. 2 in Italy during October 1943. The unit used Fw 190s of A and G versions and the F-8 starting from June 1944. By then, the unit lost almost sixty aircraft in combat on the Italian battlefield, as the Luftwaffe faced strong Allied air superiority in Italy over this period. Therefore, to achieve lower visibility over the battlefield, the crosses on the upper surfaces and the upper half of the white fuselage band of this aircraft were over-painted. The I./SG 4 took over Fw 190F-8s in June 1944 at the base of Airasca during rest and refitting. In July, the unit moved to the Eastern Front under the command of Maj. Werner Dörnback, who later became Kommodore of SG 4. At the end of the war, I./SG 4 had a base in Kostelec na Hané in the then Protectorate Böhmen und Mähren (Czechoslovakia after the war and Czech Republic today).
COL C
W.Nr. 586188, Stab III./SG 10, Hohenmauth (Vysoké Mýto), Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia, May 1945
This aircraft was found in Dolní Kamenice (the then Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia) at the end of the war after an emergency landing. It probably belonged to SG 10. Camouflage colors RLM 74, 75 and 76 are partly overpainted on the upper surfaces with dark paint, probably RLM 70. The Yellow V and the band on the engine cover identified Luftflotte 4 aircraft since September 1944. This identification was introduced due to the Romanian Air Force, which joined the Allied forces and used German aircraft. From July 1944 to April 1945 the III./SG 10 was commanded by Hptm. Horst Steinhardt, former member of I./JG 2 Richthofen and Sch.G. 1. In the last weeks of the war, the unit was commanded by Major Arnulf Blasig. He flew Stuka bombers before the war and successively served in St.G. 77, IV.(Stuka)/LG 1 (later I./St.G. 5) and St.G. 51. He was awarded the Knight's Cross in September 1941 and completed a total of about 200 combat flights.
COL D
W.Nr. 581632, 1./NSGr. 9, Villafranca di Verona, Italy, May 1945
The aircraft is painted in colours RLM 74, 75 and 76 with spots of green on the side of the fuselage. Due to night combat flights, it was probably equipped with a FuG 25a (IFF). Nachtschlachtgruppe 9 was formed in Italy at the end of 1943 and was used for night bombing missions using aircraft types Ju 87, Fiat Cr.42 and Caproni Ca 314. During 1944 the unit converted to Stukas completely. The only part of NSGr. 9, which received the Fw 190F planes in early 1945, was the 1. Staffel, which used F-8 and F-9 versions. Commander of NSGr. 9 was Obstlt. Dipl. Ing. Karl Vehmeyer, who previously led several Gruppen of Lehrgeschwader 1. From the autumn of 1944, Hptm. Karl-Heinz Kuhle the former Bf 110 pilot of ZG 26, was commanding the 1./NSGr. 9.
COL E
Maj. Karl Schrepfer, CO of III./SG 1, Kraków, General Government (Poland nowadays), August 1944
The unit this aircraft belonged to is tentatively identified as Stab III./SG 1, but it is just probable, not certain. This group was in fact renamed III./St.G. 1, the change occurred in October 1943. Until May 1944 the unit used Junkers Ju 87D-5 bombers, but from March it started to rearm with Focke-Wulf Fw 190s planes of A and G versions. In May the unit received its first F-8 aircraft. Major Karl Schrepfer was the commander of the III./SG 1 from April 1944. He flew Stukas before the war and for the entire duration of his frontline service he was assigned to St.G. 1 (SG 1). He was deployed in the Battle of Britain, carried out raids on Malta, took part in the African campaign and from June 1941 fought on the Eastern Front. During the period from May 1943 to March 1944 he led two training units. Schrepfer completed approximately 800 combat flights and received Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross as the last ground attack pilot on April 28, 1945. He died in an accident in September 1946 in Wertheim.
COL F
Stab SG 77, Schönfeld-Seifersdorf (Łukaszów nowadays), Germany (Poland nowadays), August 1944
This aircraft probably belonged to the Stab SG 77. The fuselage marking indicate a wingman within the Geschwaderstab. The white E identifies the fifth wingman's machine. Stab SG 77 received Fw 190 F-8 planes in June 1944 and had six of them available. From February 1943 to November 1944, Oberst Helmut Bruck was commander of SG 77. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1935 and served with St.G. 77 (SG 77) during his whole frontline career. He was shot down during the attack against Poland on September 1, 1939, and was rescued by a German tank crew. In August 1940 he took command of I./St.G 77 and participated in the campaign against Yugoslavia and Crete. For the rest of his frontline service, he was deployed on the Eastern Front. Twice he landed in the enemy territory to pick up a downed crew. From January to April 1945, he commanded the operational training unit SG 151. In April he was appointed General der Schlachtflieger-Nord. He completed 973 combat flights, including 15 with Fw 190. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves.
COL G
W.Nr. 584205, III./SG 3, Sabile (Zabeln), the Soviet Union (Latvia nowadays), May 1945
This aircraft escaped from the Courland pocket in the Baltics on May 8, 1945, and landed in Glemminge (Ystad), Sweden, at 5:55 p.m. On board there were three members of the Luftwaffe - pilot Stabsfeldwebel Werner Skirlo, Fw. Johann Gruber and Fw. Adolf Karnel. Originally, they wanted to fly to the Danish island of Bornholm. Parts of this aircraft were handed over to the USSR in November 1945. The usual camouflage RLM 74, 75 and 76 is supplemented on the upper surfaces with a dark color, probably RLM 70. The last commander of III./SG 3 was supposedly Hptm. Erich Bunge. He joined the army in 1935, first serving in the artillery, later in the reconnaissance aviation unit. From 1941 he worked as an instructor and in February 1944 became commander of the 5./SG 4. A month later he received the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold. In July 1944 he became commander of the training unit I./SG 151 and in March 1945 commanded III./SG 3 in Courland.