Markings for Gustav pt.3 1/72
Bf 109G-6/AS/U2, WNr. 412807, Uffz. Heinz Zimmermann, 6./JG 27, Fels am Wagram, Austria, July 1944
In the beginning of April 1944, first Bf 109G-6/AS aircraft were delivered to JG 1, JG 5 and JG 11 units, the following month several aircraft were delivered to JG 3 and also to JG 27, at that time based at the Fels am Wagram airport in Austria. Yellow 2 was camouflaged in RLM 74/75/76 colors sporting the Reich Defense marking of the aircraft serving with JG 27, i.e., green band around the rear fuselage. Irregular stripes of RLM 74 were applied on the engine cowling sides at the unit. There is a FuG 16 system antenna mounted at the bottom of the fuselage. The aircraft had red undercarriage legs, which indicated it was using the 96octane fuel.
Bf 109G-6/AS, Hptm. Friedrich-Karl Müller, CO of 1./NJGr. 10, Werneuchen, Germany, July 1944
Friedrich-Karl Müller, the future Knight’s Cross recipient and the ace with thirty night victories over the enemy aircraft, was born on December 4, 1912, in Sulzbach, Saarland. In 1934 he completed his pilot training and got the job with Lufthansa. After the outbreak of World War II, he was transferred 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 flying with He 177s and 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 without airborne radar guidance) tactics. While serving with this unit, Müller was credited with 19 victories and in January 1944 he was ordered to form 1./NJGr. 10. In August 1944, he was promoted to command I./NJG 11 and was leading this unit until the end of World War II. He passed away on November 2, 1987. The bottom surfaces and part of sides were painted black to better suit night conditions. The red band around rear fuselage indicated the original operator of this aircraft within the Reich Defense system was JG 300. The kill marks were painted on left side of the rudder in the form of the twenty-three stripes with cockades appropriate to the victim nationality and date of the victory.
Bf 109G-6/AS, WNr. 110087, Hptm. Horst Carganico, CO of I./JG 5, Herzogenaurach, Germany, May 1944
The first unit in which the then twenty-two-year-old Lt. Carganico served after completing flight training was JG 1 at the beginning of the war. This was followed by service with JG 77 with which he saw combat in Norway and then in the Battle of Britain. On January 1, 1941, he returned to Norway where he led 1./JG 77. On September 25, 1941, Carganico achieved his 27th kill and was awarded the Knight’s Cross. In March 1942, Carganico’s unit was redesignated 6./JG 5 and he was given command of the entire II. Gruppe in April 1942. On March 26, 1944, he took over I./JG 5 as CO and the unit saw combat against Allied forces within the Defense of the Reich. On April 27 of the same year, Carganico took off for the last time. In an attack on a group of B-17s, his Bf 109G-5 was heavily damaged and during his attempt to belly-land, he struck some high power lines and died in the resulting crash near the French town of Chevry. His final tally consisted of sixty kills over the course of 600 sorties. Bf 109G-6/AS aircraft were assigned to the high altitude interception units therefore they were camouflaged in the overall coat of RLM 76. Hptm. Carganico had Mickey Mouse painted on the fuselage port side, marking carried by his previous airplanes. Starboard side is not photographically documented, it may have carried the Gruppe Commander’s double chevron marking.
Bf 109G-6/AS, 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.
Bf 109G-14/AS, Fw. Eberhard Gzik, 2./JG 300, Borkheide, Germany, October 1944
This Bf 109G-14/AS belonging to I./JG 300 was a Series 780 machine produced by the Erla factory in Leipzig. During the fall of the 1944, the I./JG 300 led by Hptm. Gerhard Stamp conducted fighter cover for the Fw 190A-8/R2 Sturmbock heavy fighters. The unit suffered serious losses during tough combats with USAAF fighters in September and October. On October 2, I./JG 300 lost 19 aircraft destroyed and 13 damaged by Mustangs of the 355th FG which strafed the Borkheide airfield. Fw. Eberhard Gzik was posted to 9./EJG 2 in November 1944 and flew the Me 262 in Kommando Stamp. He achieved three aerial victories during the war.
Bf 109G-14/AS, WNr. 784986, Ofw. Paul Schwerdtfeger, 11./JG 6 Bissel, Germany, January, 1945
Since 1944 Ofw. Paul Schwerdtfeger logged many sorties as a reconnaissance pilot. In the summer 1944 he volunteered to the fighter air corps and on January 1, 1945 took off as a member of III./JG 6 staff flight for his first combat sortie in the fighter role. JG 6 target was supposed to be Volkel airport however the unit commander led his unit much further to the south. Ofw. Schwerdtfeger’s aircraft was hit by an anti-aircraft artillery fire nearby Helmond. The pilot tried to reach German lines however he crash-landed and was killed nearby Groesbeek. Ofw. Schwerdtfeger aircraft flew camouflaged in typical camouflage from the Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg, in RLM 74/75/76 colors. Vertical tail surface and rudder were manufactured by the sub-contractor and painted in the same colors with sharp-edged blotches of RLM 74, overpainted slightly by RLM 76 blotches, 900 mm red-white-red stripe was spray-painted on the rear of the fuselage. This was Jagdegeschwader 6 recognition marking for its Reich Defense role.
Bf 109G-14/AS, WNr. 785185, Lt. Heinz Schüler, 16./JG 5, Stavanger-Forus, Norway, March 1945
In November 1944 in Stavanger 16. Staffel Jagdgeschwader 5 was established in order to boost the IV. Gruppe inventory to four Staffels. The IV./JG 5 equipment was unified to Bf 109G-14 even though couple of Fw 190 continued flying with the unit till the end of 1944. Bf 109G-14/AS marked blue 17 was flown by Lt. Heinz Schüler who painted Berlin’s coat of arms under the windshield. It is apparent in the photographs that at that time the aircraft did not carry the Defense of the Reich markings, however when Lt. Schüler landed it on March 27, 1945, at Stavanger-Sola airport it sported black and yellow bands (JG 5 aircraft marking) behind the fuselage national insignia. The upper sides were camouflaged in RLM 74/75 colors in standard camouflage pattern from the Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg.
Bf 109G-14/AS, WNr. 783906, 3./JG 4, Ensfeld, Austria, April 1945
Elements of I./JG 4 were gradually established in Romania during 1942 and 1943, where they participated in the defense of local oil fields and petrochemical plants. From late 1943 until the summer of 1944, the unit was deployed in Italy before fighting in the defense of the Reich. Its final mission was to oppose Soviet forces along the Oder river, which included escorting Heinkels He 111 from I./KG 200 equipped with Hs 293 guided missiles for attacks on pontoon bridges. In mid-March 1945, I./JG 4 was disbanded, and its pilots were transferred to II.(Sturm)/JG 4, III./JG 4, or began training on the Me 262s. The Yellow 8 aircraft, with its upper surfaces painted in RLM 74/75 colors, may have been reassigned to III./JG 4 after I./JG 4 was disbanded. While most of its aircraft remained in northern Germany shortly before the surrender, some pilots were permitted to fly home independently. This could explain why the original I./JG 4 aircraft was found in Austria at the war’s end.
Bf 109G-14/AS (Mtt Reg), WNr. 784993, Uffz. Herbert Maxis, 13./JG 53, Stuttgart-Echterdingen, Germany, January, 1945
In the ranks of IV./JG 53, Uffz. Maxis was to participate in the raid on Metz-Frescaty airport captured by the US troops. During the flight to the target, together with the other pilots, he attacked the 455th AAA Battalion post located nearby Ittersdorf. He was shot down however, force-landed and after getting out of the cockpit he was shot to death by the member of the Battery A of the field artillery 739th Batalion. Maxis’ burial place remains unknown.
Uffz. Maxis’ Bf 109G-14/AS flew camouflaged in RLM 74/75/76, in typical camouflage pattern from the Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg. Vertical tail surface and rudder were manufactured by the sub-contractor and painted in the same colors with sharp-edged blotches of RLM 74. 900 mm wide black stripe around the rear fuselage indicated JG 53 aircraft deployed in the Reich Defense role.
WNr. 785083, Sgt. Magg. Aldo Burei, 1a Squadriglia, 1o Gruppo, Caccia ANR, Malpensa, Italy, April 1945
After declaration of the Italian Social Republic on September 18, 1943, a puppet state on the German armed forces occupied territory, and under the leadership of Benito Mussolini, Germany allowed this state to form the army in the strength of four divisions. Its aviation component, named Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, consisted of two fighter groups (Gruppo Caccia), a group of torpedo bombers (Gruppo Aerosiluranti Buscaglia) and several transport flights. 1o Gruppo Caccia (Asso di Bastoni) initially flew Macchi C.205 but from November 1944 till February 1945 went through the transition training on Messerschmitt 109 in Holzkirchen, Germany. In February the unit received Messerschmitts 109 of the versions G-10 (manufactured by Erla factory in Leipzig), G-14 and G-14/AS and several K-4s. The original German markings were oversprayed in Italian colors and the aircraft received the Italian markings. The German iron crosses were left on the wing underside surfaces. The upper sides were most probably painted in RLM 74/75 shades.