Markings for Bf 109G-6/AS 1/48
9./JG 1, Paderborn, Germany, May 1944
The Bf 109G-6/AS was developed to intercept enemy aircraft at higher altitudes. This accounts for the camouflage paint consisting of just RLM 76. At unit level, these aircraft often received additional coats of then standard colors consisting of RLM 74 and RLM 75 over the side and upper surfaces. The JG 1 unit emblem was applied to the nose, and this was a winged numeral 1 inside of a square, rotated to sit on one of its corners. On period photographs of Yellow 14, the red fuselage band is clearly visible, signifying the fact that this aircraft served within the Defense of the Reich system. The vertical bar located within it was a designator for III. Gruppe planes and was always rendered in the Staffel color. This was, in the case of the 9. Staffel, yellow. Some sources conclude that the fuselage code of Yellow 14 covered the earlier applied numeral 3, while others suggest that the covered designation was either the factory applied TO or TQ. We are offering both possibilities.
WNr. 412179, Uffz. Horst Petzschler, 2./JG 3, Burg near Magdeburg, Germany, May 1944
Horst Petzschler was born in Berlin on September 1, 1921, and joined the Luftwaffe on April 1, 1941. After undergoing fighter pilot training, he was assigned to JG 51 on August 23, 1943, and it was there he would gain his first three kills. On April 13, 1944, he was transferred to 2./JG 3 which was a component of the Defence of the Reich structure, but by June 1944, he would return to JG 51 on the Eastern Front. On May 4, 1945, III./JG 51 was relocated to Schleswig-Holstein from eastern Prussia. Horst Petzschler did not reach that location due to a navigation error and landed at Bulltofta in Sweden, where he was interned and in January 1946, the Swedes handed him over to the Soviets. He was released from captivity on September 22, 1949. On his return, he worked for the Berlin Police Department and in 1953, he emigrated to Canada and then to the United States, where he worked in the aviation industry. He retired in 1988. Over the course of the Second World War, he downed 26 enemy aircraft. During his service with 2./JG 3, Uffz. Petzschler flew an aircraft coded Black 14. The aircraft was painted RLM 76 overall at the plant and carried the JG 3 insignia on the nose. On May 30, 1944, Fw. Otto Bülsow was shot down during combat in this airplane over Belzig.
Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Müller, CO of 1./NJGr. 10, Werneuchen, Germany, July 1944
The future Knight’s Cross recipient, the ace with 30 night victories over the enemy aircraft, was born on December 4, 1912, in Sulzbach in Saarland. In 1934 he completed his pilot training and got the job with Lufthansa. After the outbreak of World War Two he was ordered to the Luftwaffe. Initially he was flying as a transport pilot, later as an instrument flying instructor. In December 1942 he was assigned to KG 50 operating He 177 aircraft, in the summer of the following year he responded to Hajo Hermann call and requested the reassignment to JG 300 famous for its Wilde Sau (single-engine fighter night interception deployment) tactics. While serving with this unit he was credited with 19 kills and in January 1944 he was ordered to form 1./NJGr. 10. In August 1944 he was promoted to command I./NJG 11 and lead this unit until the end of World War II. He passed away on November 2, 1987. The lower and partially side surfaces were painted black for the better night camouflage. The red stripe surrounding the rear fuselage indicated the original owner of this aircraft within Reich Defense, JG 300.The pilot’s “score” was painted on both sides of the rudder in the form of the 23 stripes with the enemy nationality and date of the victory.
MT-463, ylik. Tapio Järvi, 2/HLeLv 24, Lappeenranta, Finland, July/August 1944
Among the deliveries of Bf 109G-2 and G-6 fighters to Germany’s ally Finland were two G-6/AS version aircraft. In the Finnish Air Force, these were coded MT-463 and MT-471. MT-463 was delivered on June 28, 1944, and was assigned to HLeLv 24, where it was flown by, among other pilots, ylikersantti (Technical Sergeant) Järvi, who used it to shoot down two of his total 27 victims. A further five kills with this aircraft were claimed by another four pilots. The Bf 109G-6/AS did not represent any major advantage for the Finnish Air Force, because the majority of air combat with the Soviets took place at altitudes below 3,000 m. The DB 605AS, which powered the type, was designed to offer advantages at high altitudes. The camouflage scheme of this aircraft consisted of sprayed RLM 74/75/76 with the blue swastikas on white discs on the fuselage and wing positions. The code MT-463 appeared on the fuselage ahead of the tail surfaces. The yellow number of the aircraft within the unit was applied between the fuselage code and the cockpit. There are no available photographs of this aircraft during its combat career with HLeLv 24, but from other period photographs of other such aircraft, the list of aircraft numbers for this specific plane has been reduced to 2, 4 or 6.
MT-463, HLeLv 31, Utti, Finland, summer 1948
The end of the fights with the Soviet Union brought a ceasefire from September 5, 1944. One of conditions of the ceasefire was a change in the marking of the Finnish aircraft – the blue swastika was substituted by cockade bearing Finnish national colors, i.e., blue and white. Pilots of Messerschmitts Bf 109G from Lentolaivue 24 achieved 304 victories in aerial combats and kept these aircraft during the period of peacetime duties. From December 4, 1944, the planes served with HLeLv 31, which is still active today. The pilots of this squadron fly F-18C Hornets at present time.
The aircraft concerned is the same as the one portrayed in the paint scheme D, though, used in the post-war service – this is proved by the national insignia in Finnish national colors introduced from April 1, 1945. The marking of the aircraft is accompanied by the painting of the bat placed on the blue cloud and the moon – marking of the HLeLv 31 night fighters. The moon used to be white or yellow; MT-463 had the white one. The rudder was repainted most likely with the Finnish olive green color.