Sandgelb RLM 79 on II./JG 5 Bf 109Fs? Making the case!

By

Kjetil Aakra

(Photo: Keskinen & Stenman 1998).

Introduction

One of the many controversies in regard to camouflage and markings seen on aircraftof the Third Reich during WWII centres around the possibly use of RLM 79 Sandgelb (desert brown) on Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4/trops allocated to II. Gruppe of Jagdgeschader 5 in summer/fall/1942. The photograph reproduced above is one of those fueling this debate. As can be seen, the two top-surface colours are carried further down the fuselage sides than is normal on BF 109s camouflaged in the normal greys (i.e. RLM 75 Grauviolett and RLM 74 Dunkelgrau). Furthermore, the top colours are not broken down in the classical Luftwaffe style mottling but consist of solid areas of colour, highly unusual for Bf 109s at the time. The question wether this is just an unusual application of the normal greys or a modified sandgelb desert scheme has been debated for a considerable time but as no colour photographs of these aircraft are known, it has never been adequately answered.

Arguments have been made supporting both viewpoints. In this brief article I will try to summarize some of the facts regarding these planes and try to make a decition as to what the most likely colour scheme was.

Facts – What we know

The controversy centres around the approximately 45 Bf 109F-4/trops belonging to the W.Nr. block 10001 – 10290 that were delivered to II./JG 5 from late April to December 1942. These were delievered as follows1: May 1942: 24 newly built machines (4 of which were lost during the month) June 1942: 19 newly built machines (4 lost during the month)

For the remainder of 1942 only low numbers of newly constructed F-4s were delivered (2 in July, 1 in September and 6 in December), other Bf 109Fs received came either from repair centres or other units.

This makes a total of 52 new Bf 109Fs delievered to II. Gruppe during the course of 1942. It is certain that the majority of these were from the 10001 – 10290 W. Nr. Block, a block that consisted of 290 F-4/trops built by Erla between January and June 19422. This was the last of the F-series built. Known machines from this W.Nr. block serving with JG 5 are3: W. Nr. St.K.Z. Unit Code Pilot Fate

10 023 III./JG 5 Damaged 25 % on 20.04.43 10 073 6./JG 5 Yellow 3 Lt. Rudolf Müller Lost on 16.09.42 (?) 10 096 10 099 10 101 6./JG 5 Yellow 6 Hartwein 10 112 II./JG 5 Damaged 25 % on 15.08.42 10 121 II./JG 5 Damaged 85 % on 30.06.42 10 122 10 123 II./JG 5 Damaged 15 % on 21.04.43 10 124 10 128 10 129 5./JG 5 Black 20 Fw. Walter Puhl Emergency landing on 01.09.42 10 130 III./JG 5 Damaged 20 % on 29.04.43 10 131 II./JG 5 Damaged 15 % on 22.07.42. 10 132 CD+LZ Stab II./JG 5 Chevron Hptm. Horst Carganico Lost on 12.08.42 10 133 6./JG 5 Yellow 15 Uffz. Wilhelm Kuchlingg Lost on 29.06.42. 10 135 II./JG 5 Lost on 28.05.42. 80 % 10 136 10 138 II./JG 5 Damaged 50 % on 04.06.43 10 139 6./JG 5 Yellow 4 Uffz. Ludwig Scharf Lost on 15.09.42. 10 144 6./JG 5 Yellow 7 Fw. Albert Brunner Lost on 05.09.42 10 145 6./JG 5 Yellow 3 Fw. Leopold Knier Lost on 19.07.42. 10 150 III./JG 5 Damaged 25 % on 22.04.43 10 153 II./JG 5 Uffz. Martin Müller Lost on 10.07.42 10 155 10 157 II./JG 5 Damaged 55 % on 21.04.43 10 160 7./JG 5 White 3 Uffz. Alfred Kern Lost on 14.03.43 10 161 6./JG 5 Yellow 7 (?) Fw. Albert Brunner Lost on 21.08.42 10 164 II./JG 5 Take-off accident 15.05.42 50 % 10 169 6./JG 5 Yellow 9 Uffz. Hans Döbrich Lost on 19.07.42. 10 170 10 171 III./JG 5 Damaged 10 % on 03.09.43 10 173 10 174 10 176 II./JG 5 Damaged 50 % on 06.07.43 10 177 6./JG 5 Obfw. Willi Pfränger Missing on 17.05.42 near Murmansk 10 180 6./JG 5 Yellow 2 Fw. Emil Stratmann Lost on 29.06.42. 10 183 10 193 10 195 II./JG 5 Uffz. Hans Enderle Lost on 20.05.42. 100 % 10 151

1 Flugzeugbestand und Bewegungsmeldungen II./JG5, March 1942 – September 1944. 2 Prien, J. & Rodeike, P. 1993. Messerschmitt Bf 109F, G & K Series. An Illustrated Study. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. 208 pp. 3 Based on loss lists, photographs and various other documents in the possession of Air Historical Society, Norway, a well as additional data from Andreas Brekken and Mark Shepard.

10 252 Stab II./JG 5 Chevron Lt. Werner Kunze Lost on 19.09.42.

10 253 III./JG 5 Lost on 19.07.43

10 256 Stab II./JG 5 Chevron Hptm. Horst Carganico Emergency landing on 22.07.42, 100 % 10 258

It is established beyond doubt that the vast majority if not all of these machines carried a

factory finish of RLM 79 Sandgelb over RLM 78 Hellblau. Examples are W.Nr. 100374, W. Nr. 10079, one of the machines flown by Lt. Marseille in North Africa in summer 19425 (see photographs below) and W. Nr. 102376. The first and last machine mentioned belonged to I./JG 3 and carried the famous “modified Africa scheme” so well documented in photographs (see references and photograph below). I. And III./JG 3 achived their spectacular camouflage scheme by adding two additional upper surface schemes onto the single RLM 79-coloured top surface of their Bf 109Fs. Not only that, the scheme carried was similar from machine to machine! These machines establishes beyond doubt that the W. Nr. block in question were painted at the factory in RLM 79 on top surfaces and 78 on ventral surfaces. It appears that most of these carried the Hellblau half-way up the fuselage sides, whereas Marseilles’ machine probably had the entire upper surface covered I Sandgelb, probably the result of additional repainting.

Figure 1. Hans Joachim Marseille’s Bf 109F-4/trop, W. Nr. 10059, Yellow 14 seen on 1st. June 1942. The plane carries a scheme of RLM 79 over all top surfaces and RLM 78 on ventral sirfaces. Note supercharger dust filter and the white nose and spinner and tailband. (Photo: Prien & Rodeike 1993).

4 See page 49 in Reference 2. 5 See page 46 in Reference 2. 6 See page 51 in Reference 2.

Figure 2. Bf 109F-4/trop, W. Nr. 10037, Black 8, of 2./JG 3 in May 1942. This machine carries the characteristic modified Africa scheme seen on all Messerschmitts of the Gruppe at the time. (Photo: Prien & Rodeike 1993)

Even if these photographs of I./JG 3 are not in colour, they are very useful in providing black-and-white renditions of what RLM 79 sandgelb appears like compared to other top surface colours. It is not possibly to establish beyond doubt what the latter were in the cae of I./JG 3, but it is likely that it was RLM 75 Grauviolett and Black-Green 70, both of which were readily available to a Jagdgruppe on the eastern Front where I./JG 3 was stationed at the time. The darkest colour used in too strong in tone and stauration to be RLM 74. A rendition of W. Nr. 10202, serving with Stab I./JG 3 may be seen in figure 3 below.

Figure 3. Bf 109F-4/trop, W. Nr. 10202 of Stab I./JG 3 in August 1942. This plane was also finished in two additional colours applied over the Sandgelb upper surfaces but the scheme used is vastly different from that seen on F-4/trops in JG 5. © Kjetil Aakra.

Operational History

So, we know that the Bf 109F-4/trops carried a delivery scheme of RLM 79 over RLM 78. But this is not what these machines looked like when they arrived at the Feldflugpark Pori in April - June 1942! Figure 3 & 4 below shows two of these F-4/trops at Pori as they appeared when they arrived at the aircraft depot.

Figure 4. Bf 109F-4/trop, w.Nr 10173 at Pori on April 23rd 1943 enroute to JG 5. It was probably not delivered before May as no Bf 109Fs are on record with II. Gruppe in April. Interesting points are overpainted tailband and the drop tank. Alos note heavy exhaust staining and recently applied service stenciling on fuselage. (Photo: Keskinen & Stenman 1998).

Figure 5. Bf 109F-4/trop, VE+TU, at Malmi airport near Helsinki. It left for Pori on May 23rd 1942. Werkenummer of this machine is not known for certain but it may have been 7534. Note the rentention of the white theatre tailband and the simlarity of its segmented upper surface scheme with CI+MM in Figure 4. (Photo: Keskinen & Stenman 1998).

Before going into the specific of their camouflage and colours it is necessary to look at the history of these airframes prior to allocation to JG 57.

7Based on information provided by Mark Shepard.

In early summer 1942 large numbers of newly constructed Bf 109F-4/trops slated for service in North asfrica became surplus to requirements as the new Bf 109G-2/trop was about to enter service with the Jagdgeschwadern (JG 27 & 53) serving in that theatre. These superfluous Messerschmitts were therefore assigned to two Jagdgeschwdern serving on the eastern front, where the need for the latest models of Luftwaffe’s principal fighter was not so pressing. I./JG 3 and II./JG 5 were the main recipients as far as is known.

After the obligatory Werkstattflug (factory test flight) the Bf 109Fs were flown to a refitting and modification center located at Anklam near Leipzig. Here the F-4/trops were probably “de-desertialized”. This mainly consisted of removal of the supercharger dust filter and it was probably here that the camouflage scheme was altered. After the modifications were finished the machines were stored before delivery to an operational unit. Where the Guesswork begins

Both photographs reproduced above (figures 4 & 5) are revealing. Firstly, it is extremely interesting that the white Mediterranean theatre fuselage band has been either overpainted (CI+MM) or retained (VE+TU). This means that there is a high probabillity that the original desert camouflage colours were also retained, why else would the tailband be present? It is not known where the tailband was removed/overpainted, both Anklam and Pori are possibilities. The latter is most likely as remnants of the tailband were present even on operational machines (Hans Döbrich’s Yellow 10, se figure 7). The F-4/trops do not appear to have had the white nosering commonly associated with Bf 109s in the African theatre (see figure 1) as there is no sign of overpainting there. This was probably not part of the factory finish anyway, as some Bf 109F-4/trops in Sandgelb and with delivery codes were photographed without these markings8. The spinners were delivered in black-green 70 with 1/3rd in white as seen on CI+MM.

What is as good as certain is that the ventral colour was definitely RLM 78. This is obvious from photographs were the fuselage frame numbers are still visible (again Yellow 10 of Hans Döbrich). On later photographs of Döbrich’s Yellow 10 (as well as others) repainting around the position of the ID number is visible and a lighter colour has been applied over the Hellblau. This can only be RLM 76 Lichtblau. Detailed examination of the fuselage section of CI+MM reveals some of these features as well as a few more of interest. Figure 6 below show these in detail.

Figure 6. Close-up of Figure 3. The following features are notewhorty: 1 – the Stammkennzeichnen appear to have been reapplied over a slightly lighter colour (compared to the RLM 70 or 74 base colour). This could be the result of reapplication of the letters following recamouflaging at Anklam or Pori. (Photo: Keskinen & Stenman 1998) 8 See page 43 in Reference 2.

2 – tailband has been overpainted, probably in RLM 74 or 75, most probably not RLM 79 (compare contrast with light background colour around Balkenkreuz). 3 – there is also evidence of repainting over the Hellblau on the fuselage sides, again after possible reaplication of St.K.z. after the original Sandgelb was complimented with RLM 70 or 74.

Figure 7. Hans Döbrich’s Bf 109F-4, Yellow 10. This machine still carried the fuselage frame numbers meaning that the original RLM 78 was still carried. A further proof of this is the overpaiting around the numeral in a lighter blue colour, presumably RLM 76. The white tailband is also faintly visible behind the fuselage cross. © Kjetil Aakra.

Moving on to the colours making up the camouflage scheme, several possibillities present themselves. Accepting that the lightest colour is RLM 79 Sandgelb, two possibilities seem most likely in regard to the darkest colour. Being a fighter, RLM 74 would be a natural colour to use on these machines and the tonal contrast on CI+MM and VE+TU seem to be consistent with the apperance of this colour on black-and-white photographs. However, other photos (from a private collection) of II. Gruppe Bf 109Fs from this period show what is definitely a much darker colour applied to the top surface. This was in all likelyhood RLM 70 black-green. The best example is provided by W.Nr. 10073, yellow 3. of 6./JG 5, flown by Rudolf Müller. This machine is unusual in that the topside colours covers the entire upper and side surfaces of the fuselage. However, the general picture is complicated by the fact that a third upper surface colours has been applied. This is very light in appearance and I interpret it as RLM 75. That this is a third colour and not just RLM 79 is proved by the fact that it partly overlaps the fuselage Balkenkreuz and thus have been applied after the machine was completed, most likely when in service with JG 5. Furthermore, the Werkenummer of this machine is present on a lighter patch of colour. As the surrounding colour is definitely not RLM 70, it becomes obvious that a third colour has been added and I believe this was RLM 75 as this would have been readily available to the ground crew of JG 5. Application of a third top surface colour has been seen on many F-4/trops at the time, including Yellow 9 and Yellow 12 of 6./JG 5 (see figures 6 & 7 below).

Figure 8 below shows how Müller’s F-4/trop appeared in summer 1942. Comparing the photos of Müller’s Yellow 3 with other F-4s in 6. Staffel it becomes clear that the dark colour was most common on the majority of II./JG 5’s F-4/trops. RLM 74 cannot be ruled out but RLM 70 is the best documented choice.

Figure 7. Obfw. Rudolf Muller’s Bf 109F-4/trop, W.Nr. 10073, Yellow 3 of 6./JG 5, as it appeared during summer 1942. Noteworthy features are the large segments of RLM 70 and 75 covering the entire fuselage top surfaces, leaving only traces of the original RLM 79 below the cockpit, on the supercharger intake and nose section. © Kjetil Aakra.

Müller’s Messerschmitt is more of an abberation however, definitely not being typical of the F-4/trops of II./JG 5. A more typical scheme is exemplified by e.g. Yellow 12 of Lt. Heinrich Ehrler (figure 10), although on this machine it is obvious that a third colour has been apllied over the original top surface colour. Available photographs of this machine show that the darker colour has allready started to fade or its original application was not sufficient to completely cover the Sandgelb colour.

Figur 8. Yellow 9, a Bf 109F-4 of 6./JG 5 showing what is definitely three colours on the upper surfaces. They were most likely RLM 70 (darkest colour), RLM 75 (medium dark) and RLM 79 (lightest). Note white wingtips. (Photo: Keskinen & Stenman 1998).

Figure 9. Heinrich Ehrler’s Yellow 12 showing uneven apllication of the second top surface colour and addition of a third colour on the rearmost part of the engine cowling. © Kjetil Aakra.

Two top surface colours appear to be most common, however. A typical scheme is seen in Figure 11 below. The scheme is characterized by the fact that the two (or in some case, three) upper surface colours are carried halfway down the fuselage sides. The schemes are also more or less identical from machine to machine, though not to the same degree as seen in I./JG 3. Although this scheme has been seen mostly on F-4/trops from 6./JG 5 it is also known from 5./JG 5. The last Staffel of the Gruppe, 4./JG 5, continued flying Bf 109E-7s for a considerable time and so far no Bf 109Fs of this unit with what would appear to be a modified African scheme has been located.The three Staffeln of III. Gruppe had differently camouflaged Bf 109Fs as did IV. Gruppe.

Figure 10. Bf 109F-4/trop, Yellow 6, of 6./JG 5, possibly W. Nr. 10101. Two upper surface colours are visible. Note the white wingtips. (Photo: Keskinen & Stenman 1998). During the last decade some of the machines delivered to II./JG 5 have actually been recovered from their crash sites in Northern Russia and restored. Most notable is W.Nr. 10132, a former mount of Horst Carganico. This has enabled us to analyse the remaining parts for paint samples and indeed, on this machine traces of RLM 79 were found9. Even if it has not unequivocally proved that RLM 79 was a topside colour at the time of the crash, it at least established this colour as a part of the airframe’s original colour scheme. When restored, 10132 was finished in a 74/79/78 scheme.

9 Information from Mark Shepard.

It is also interesting to note that traces of RLM 79 Sandgelb was found on Bf 109G-1/R-1 W. Nr. 14141, Black 6, St.K.z. DG+UF, recovered from Southern Norway and currently under restoration at Sola Aviation Museum. There has also been speculation that some of the G-2s delivered to JG 5 in early 1943 were finished in RLM 79 when delivered to JG 5. This scheme was subsequently modified by the application of RLM 70 and white spots to make the planes more suitably camouflaged for the winter season10! Finally, one of the arguments against the existence of a modified Africa scheme on these Bf 109s operating over the not-so-desert like tundra of Northern Norway, Finland and Russia, has been that it would be totally unsuitable for the environment found here. At the time of writing this the autumn has reached us living in this region and I can personally testify that there is more than enough of brown colour to go around in nature these days! It is therefore probable that the Sandgelb, when combined with greens and/or dark greys, would be suitable for the environment, especially during late summer and fall. Summary and Conclusion To sum it all up, it seems more than likely that the BF 109F-4/trops belonging to the W. Nr. block 10001 – 10290 delivered to JG 5 in early summer-fall 1942 (see list above) carried either a combination of RLM 79/707/8 or RLM 70/75/79/78, at least during their initial service. This is made all the more probable by the following facts: - At least machines of W. Nr.block 10001 – 10290 delivered to JG 27 and I./JG 3 carried RLM 79

on their topmost surfaces, in the latter case supplemented by two other colours. - Traces of Sandgelb has been found on remaining pieces of JG 5 Bf 109F-4/trops. - Detailed analysis of available photographs, several of which have never been published or been

generally available, reveals that there are two or sometimes three upper surface colours on these F-4s

- The style of application of the upper surface colours is not consistent with a factory applied RLM 74/75/76 scheme due to the solid appearance of the scheme

- It is however, consitent with a modified Africa scheme as seen on I./JG 3 machines

As an example of before-and-after images of these machine, figure 12 & 13 below are revealing. This depicts Carganico’s W. Nr. 10132 in its hypothetical pre-delivery scheme and how it appeared when in service with Stab/II./JG 5.

Figure 11. How W. Nr. 10132 might have looked before transfer to Anklam (or Pori) where the Africa scheme was modified. © Kjetil Aakra.

10 See Luftwaffe in Focus No. 2, pp. 27 – 30.

Figure 12. W. Nr. 10132 after repainting and application of opertional markings. Note that the canopy has been changed into an early E-1 type as the pilot, Hptm. Horst Carganico, preferred this type to the more angular deisgn seen on the Bf 109E-4 and later versions. © Kjetil Aakra. Acknowledgements Thanks to Andreas Brekken and Mark Sheppard for crucial information used in this article. Photos are from Prien, J. & Rodeike, P. 1993. Messerschmitt Bf 109F, G & K Series. An Illustrated Study. Schiffer Publishing Ltd. and Keskinen, K. & Stenman, K. 1998. German aircraft in Finland 1939-1945. Apali OY. Finland. All profiles are © Kjetil Aakra.