"..FalkeEins Luftwaffe blog - my main modelling 'go-to' reference for all Luftwaffe subjects !" Paulo Castro ('armoured sprue') on Facebook.
'white 8' of II./JG 53 with yellow cowl and spinner somewhere in Holland prior to Barbarossa. Note rough over-painting of the yellow areas. A single click on the images for a wide view.
by Gilles Collaveri
"...31 January 1944, Pau, south-west France. Friedrich Kisslinger climbed into the cockpit of a Messerschmitt 109 E coded ‘red 5', an E-3 built by Erla in April 1940, from a batch of 500 constructed between August 1939 and April 1940. According to German archives, it had already been damaged twice, the first time on 29 August 1942, when it sustained 35% damages in northern France, and a second time on 25 March 1943, again at 35%, at La Rochelle Laleu airport [when a plane was damaged, the Luftwaffe recorded the degree of destruction. Thus 100% meant total loss]. Friedrich Kisslinger was 21 years old and had followed the standard curriculum by learning to fly gliders before arriving in Pau. On 31 January he got airborne. Once at altitude, he somehow lost control of his aircraft and was unable to stabilise it. When he finally bailed out he was too low. He was killed on impact with the ground, and his plane crashed nearby. How did the young Friedrich Kisslinger find himself in 1944 in south-west France? Quite simply because in 1943 and 1944, Tarbes, Pau and Toulouse were three major Luftwaffe training bases. These airfields were far from the front line and enjoyed decent weather, ideal for training young pilots. Jagdgeschwader 101 and the Jagdgruppe Ost, Süd and West were based here. Formed at the end of 1942, JG 101 was based in Pau, Tarbes and Ossun, while JGr. West and Ost were based in Cazaux, Biarritz, Toulouse, Mont de-Marsan and Landes-de-Bussac. These training units sometimes opposed Allied raids. On 5 March 1944, for example, Chuck Yeager's P-51 B was shot down by Irmfried Klötz, a young pilot from JGr. West flying the Fw 190..."
Ex-JG 5 machine, located in Russia, (crashed near Murmansk in early 1942) and restored in the UK, now based in Bonn-Hangelar..back in the air after engine problems.
JG 52 Emil in the hands of the 'black men' under the netting on the Channel coast at Calais Coquelles during the 'Battle of Britain' ('Luftschlacht um England'). Previously published - but this is not Bennemann's 'Black 5'.
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The Hs 123 was a single-seat biplane and 'close-support' attack aircraft, flown by the Luftwaffe during the Spanish civil war and effective through the early campaigns of WWII, including Barbarossa, the invasion of Russia.
The Airfix 72nd Hs 123 has been reissued as a 'vintage classic'. That means 'not very good' and/or 'lacking in detail'. Quite a few builds of this kit can be found on youtube, but none of the modellers attempt to add some extra detail, which given the 'age' of the model, it desperately needs.
Here I've sanded away all the raised detail, added a 'cockpit' with rudder pedals and instrument panel and cut away the pilot's entry doors. I had a number of disasters during construction, including snapping off a cabane strut and losing one of the footsteps - a replacement was made from wire.
The paint job is inspired by some of the artworks in the MMP 'Henschel Hs 123' booklet where a number of profiles depict machines in overall 71 dunkelgrun with yellow cowl and rudder. I used 'Colour Coats' enamels - but didn't really like the green as it seemed far too dark when dry.
I've dug out some replacement decals - for some reason the 'Schlacht' triangle is presented in 'red' on the kit decal sheet.
Below; two views of the kit built by Jose Cavas in the Legion Condor scheme on the kit decal sheet. Neat work!
Luftwaffe Helferinnen welcome back a crew from 1.(F)/123 somewhere in Brittany, possibly Morlaix or Brest, following a 'milestone' sortie somewhere over England and the Channel during 1941.
