KITS 11/2023

Bf 109G-4/R6/Trop, Lt. Franz Schiehs, CO of 8./JG 53, Tindja, Tunis, April 1943

Austrian Franz Schiehs saw combat over Britain

with JG 53, followed by action against the Soviet

Union, where he shot down fourteen enemy

aircraft over a two month period. At the beginning

of August 1941, JG 53 returned to Germany,

re-equipped and transferred first to Sicily and

later to Africa. The number of claims made by

Schiehs grew and he achieved his 36th victory

on January 29, 1943, being given command of

8./JG 53 on February 16 of the same year. Holding

the rank of Oberleutnant and score of 55 downed

enemy aircraft, he was awarded the Knight’s

Cross on June 21, 1943. On September 2, 1943,

he led an intercept of American bombers over

Mount Vesuvius and remained missing after

the combat. It is assumed that he fell victim

to escorting P-38s. The camouflage scheme

applied to Schiehs’s aircraft consisted of RLM

78/79 and was complemented by the relevant

theatre of operations recognition marks – the

spinner, fuselage band and lower wing tips all

in white. The engine cowl had the JG 53 unit

insignia placed on it. The yellow rudder recorded

the number of kills up to the end of March 1943.

The original (likely Staff) markings on the

fuselage sides were sprayed over with fresh RLM

79 and replaced with a “Black 1”. Aircraft of the

unit had fields of the upper surfaces of the wings

sprayed RLM 80 Olivgrün.

Bf 109G-4/R6, WNr. 19566, Lt. Giuseppe Gianelli, CO of 365a Squadriglia,

150o Gruppo Autonomo, Sciacca,

Sicily, May–July 1943

Italian Macchi C.202 fighters flown by the Regia

Aeronautica from the beginning of the war

were due to be replaced by their more capable

descendants, the C.205, Fiat G.55 and Reggiane

Re.2005s. Due to slow production initiation of the

later types and the need for fighters to combat

Allied air power, Germany was asked to supply

its southern ally with the Messerschmitt Bf 109G,

November 2023

mostly in form of the G-6 version. The Italians

received ten Bf 109G-4s, and these were, along

with G-2 and G-6 aircraft, assigned to the 150o

Gruppo Autonomo. This unit was made up of

the 363a, 364a a 365a Squadriglia and to counter

the Allied air threat, they were based at Sicily.

The Bf 109G-4 used by Italian units came from

Luftwaffe stocks and so were camouflaged in

RLM 74/75/76. The German national insignia were

oversprayed with the Italian color Grigio Azzurro

Chiaro 1, and, as in the case of aircraft 365-1, with

the addition of small squiggles of Verde Oliva

Scuro 2. The usual white identifiers used on the

southern front were added to be consistent with

Luftwaffe aircraft.

INFO Eduard

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