Markings for Bf 109F-4 1/72
COL A
Bf 109F-4/Z, WNr. 8412, Oblt. Kurt Ubben, CO of III./JG 77, the Soviet Union, October/November 1941
Kurt “Kuddel” Ubben was born on November 18, 1911, in Dorstadt. In 1935, he was accepted into the Luftwaffe. After completing his flight training, he was assigned to 6./JG 186 (T), which was to serve aboard the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. In July 1939, Kurt Ubben was transferred to 5./JG 186 (T), with which he participated in the invasion of Poland. He scored his first aerial victory on May 10, 1940, over the Netherlands during the Battle of France, and on July 22 of that year, he became commander of the newly formed 8./JG 77. On April 19, 1941, during the invasion of Greece, he shot down a Hawker Hurricane from No. 33 Squadron, but his Bf 109E-7 was severely damaged in the dogfight, and Ubben was forced to make an emergency landing. During Operation Barbarossa, III./JG 77 operated on the southern sector of the front, and Kurt Ubben scored numerous aerial victories there until October 16, 1942. III./JG 77 was then deployed to the African theater in Tobruk on October 26, 1942. In Africa as well, Ubben recorded several aerial victories until October 1943. After the retreat from Africa, III./JG 77 was stationed in Romania to defend Ploiești. On March 10, 1944, Ubben left III./JG 77 and assumed command of the entire JG 2, but on April 27, 1944, he was shot down in a dogfight with American Thunderbolts from the 356th FG. Although he managed to bail out of his Fw 190A-8/R2, W.Nr. 680113, his parachute failed to open, and he was killed.
COL B
Bf 109F-4, Lt. Hans-Joachim Heyer, 8./JG 54, Siwerskaya, the Soviet Union, April 1942
The recipient of the Knight’s Cross, Hans-Joachim Heyer, was born on April 20, 1922, in Rehungen. He served his entire aviation career as a member of 8. /JG 54 and scored his first kill on the first day of the invasion to Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. His victim was a Polikarpov I-15. Heyer’s “Black 9”, which he flew from the spring of 1942, was camouflaged with RLM 74/75/76 colors and the fuselage sides were completed with RLM 70 and RLM 71 patches. The upper surfaces of the wing, the rear fuselage behind the cockpit and the horizontal tail surfaces were all overpainted in white with washable color. The III. /JG 54 emblem was painted below the windshield on both sides of the fuselage. More to it, on the left side under the cockpit there was painted the JG 54 emblem – a green heart. On the rudder, there were kill marks painted on both sides. Hans-Joachim Heyer was shot down and killed near Leningrad on November 9, 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Knight’s Cross on November 25, 1942. His score stopped at 53 aerial victories, all achieved on the Eastern Front.
COL C
Bf 109F-4/Trop, WNr. 8477, Ofw. Albert Espenlaub, 1./JG 27, Ain-el-Gazala, Libya, November 1941
Albert Espenlaub was born on August 25, 1913, in Balzholt. He joined the army in 1937 and completed his flight training at the end of 1940. He was assigned to I./JG 27 and saw action on the African front. He recorded his first aerial victory on April 21, 1941. On December 13, 1941, after a dogfight with a Hawker Hurricane, he was shot down, made an emergency landing, and was captured by the British. He had achieved a total of 14 aerial victories. On February 25, 1942, while attempting to escape from a prisoner-of-war camp, he was shot and killed by a British guard. Espenlaub flew the Messerschmitt pictured here in November 1941. At that time, the noses of aircraft in Africa were painted yellow. Eleven stripes were painted on the rudder, representing Espenlaub’s aerial victories.
COL D
Bf 109F-4, WNr. 7223, Ofw. Josef Heinzeller, 3./JG 2, Beaumont-le-Roger, France, May 1942
Josef Heinzeller was born on June 10, 1915, in Innsbruck. After completing his flight training with the Luftwaffe, he was assigned to 2.(J)/LG 2. It was there, during the campaign in France, that he scored his first aerial victory on May 31, 1940. He then served in 5./JG 3, from where he was transferred in June 1942 to 3./JG 2 Richthofen. He then moved to 2./JG 54, which was operating on the Eastern Front. There, in May 1944, he became commander of 1./JG 54. During World War II, he scored 35 aerial victories and lived to see the war’s end. All of his aircraft were adorned with a drawing of a dog and the inscription “SCHNAUZL” on the engine cowling.
COL E
Bf 109F-4/Trop, WNr. 8477, Ofw. Albert Espenlaub, 1./JG 27, Ain-el-Gazala, Libye, December 1941
This color scheme depicts the appearance of Ofw. Albert Espenlaub’s Bf 109F-4/trop after its emergency landing on December 13, 1941, and the repairs it underwent during November 1941. It had new engine cowlings, a widened white stripe on the fuselage, and a white kill mark added to the rudder, on which a repaired bullet hole was also visible.