Hobbyboss 1/48 scale Messerschmitt Me262 A1 a/U4

Follow UK master modeller Pete Smith's  Hobbyboss Me 262 build;

".... After building quite a few AFV's lately I have chosen the superb Hobbyboss 262A 1a/U4 for my next project. I picked it up when it was released and have been itching to start it. The only after market stuff I plan on using is a set of eduard seatbelts and a replacement gun barrel from master models which looks much better than the plastic kit item. I have also got the Valiant wings publications book on the Me262 which is packed with info and detailed pictures. Markings wise I plan on building W/Nr 111899 which was flown by Major Wilhelm Herget of JV44 against USAF formations on two occasions...."

Pete's Model World blogspot is here

Late-war variant Fw 190 Dora with Ta 152 tail (Eduard kit Fw 190 D-9 Late ProfiPACK)

Eduard's latest release features another boxing of their very nice 1/48 scale Dora kit - a late-war variant fitted with the wider broad chord Ta 152 empennage. The kit itself is nicely reviewed on britmodeller here. The article excerpt below neatly illustrates the two types of Dora tail alongside each other (Fw 190/Ta 152 Aircraft in Detail by Neil Page in SAM 27/12) and the lower photo depicts the Eduard tails as published on their Facebook page.

 Like other German late-war fighter aircraft, production of the Fw 190 Dora variants was largely dispersed with major aircraft components being brought together and mated up at a final assembly location. The majority of these components were painted to varying degrees prior to delivery resulting in the 'pieced together' appearance of many Fw 190 Dora camouflage schemes. Various attempts were made to 'standardise' the production effort - one such was the planned introduction on the later Dora variants of the broad chord tail built for the Ta 152. And while these airframes may appear to be 'hybrids' the so-called Einheitsheck or 'uniform tail' ( see Rodeike) was designed, firstly, to be constructed from non-strategic materials (wood) and, secondly, to fit all the later planned Doras (D-12, D-13, D-14 up to the D-15). However the fascination with the variant resides in the fact that only two examples have been documented photographically, whether as new or replacement items is unknown. From Jim Crow's collection, the first photograph to appear ( in Monogram Close-up No. 10, but subsequently in multiple sources, including Hildebrandt 'Broken Eagles', Aero Detail Fw 190 D, German Aircraft Interiors by Merrick, 'Greenhearts'  by Urbanke and so on and so forth.. )  showed the wrecked and burnt-out tail fin of WNr. 500645 (clearly visible). According to authors Smith and Creek the photo appeared to depict     "... the remains of what might be a Fw 190 D-15. WNr. 500645 would suggest the type is a Fw 190 D-9 but the revised fin seems incompatible with this series. However the new fin was to be standard on the Fw 190 D-15.."  German authors Griehl and Dressel also agree in their Fw 190/Ta 152 book published in 1997 that this is   "... the wreck of a Fw 190 D-15 discovered close to the Czech border. Despite the Werknummer the empennage differs considerably from that of a Dora-9 ". Dietmar Herrmann in his 'Focke Wulf Ta 152' volume identifies the broad chord tail fin of WNr. 500645 as belonging to " Ta 152 C WNr 500645 "  - with no further commentary. Peter Rodeike - author of the Focke Wulf 190 'bible' - goes further in his Jagdflugzeug 190 book (P.404); " the so-called Einheitsheck or 'uniform tail' was planned for the Dora from the spring of 1945 and designed for series production of the Ta 152..it can be seen that the yellow/white/yellow fuselage tail bands of JG 2 are also visible .." W.Nr. 500645 was most recently illustrated as 'black 6' from III./JG 2  (Crandall Fw 190 Dora, Vol I) although this profile is speculative and apparently not based on any documentary evidence- although now featured on a least one after-market decal sheet and as an option in this Eduard boxing. The single 'known' photograph was allegedly published in a Dutch monograph in the 1970's but surprisingly not a single example has yet surfaced anywhere (?)

 

Urbanke's 'Greenhearts' volume was perhaps the first to publish pictures of what was identified as 'brown 4' of 7./JG 26, WNr. 500647 and photographed by a Canadian soldier at Hustedt airfield near Celle. Again the photographs appear to show a Dora-9 fitted with the wide tail and given that the two Werknummern are so close together, this according to author and publisher " demonstrates that a small number of of Fw 190 Doras were constructed with the Ta 152 tail ".

This aircraft is the box-top subject of the new Eduard Dora - 'brown 4' WNr. 500647 of JG 26. A third photograph of this machine was published in Hideki Noro's 'LO+ST' photo album of captured and abandoned Luftwaffe aircraft - interestingly this 'new' photo, along with the previously published pics of this aircraft, again fails to show a complete view of the tail unit, leading some to suggest in a debate on one forum that 500647 does " not have a Ta 152 tail..." (see P282 Crandall Vol II -while the broader tail fin appears to be present the top of the fin itself is nonetheless cropped out so it is not possible to confirm absolutely the absence of the typical pointed Dora aerial mast ). However it is now generally assumed that other Doras in the WNr. 500600 range were fitted with the same broad Ta 152 tail and are mostly covered here on Eduard's decal options.

There are a number of 'blanks' in the history of the Dora - such as the 'operations' of Kampfgeschwader units re-organised and re-equipped with fighters in the last months of the war. These so-called Kampfgeschwader (Jagd) or KG (J) units - the designation reflecting their conversion to the fighter or Jagd role - presumably did only relatively limited flying due to difficulties in obaining fuel. In SAM 27/12 Dora/Ta 152 'Aircraft in Profile' (February 2006) article a third candidate Dora with Ta 152 tail was illustrated speculatively - a 9./KG(J) 27 machine 'yellow 6' featuring green/white rear fuselage band checks. Noted Luftwaffe colours researcher David E. Brown first wrote about KG(J) Doras, specifically "ge.6 + I" of 9./KG(J) 27, way back in July 2000 - 11 years ago. His commentary and a profile by Claes Sundin were posted on Claes' website at that time. As recently as 2008 the existence of these Doras was being questioned by one prominent Dora Experte - however with the passage of time more KG(J) 27 aircraft have surfaced, the majority wearing the green/white Karobands, which rather vindicates David E. Brown's research. Interestingly - giving previously expressed doubts - a KG(J) 27 green/white tailband on a Dora fuselage is shown on page 337 / Vol. 2 of the Crandall Dora book. Also worth pointing out that the white/green fuselage checks have been seen photographically on this unit's Antons, which presumably accounts for this shift - although no artwork. Some 'speculative' machines are more valid than others it would appear.
  
'Yellow 6' was identified from loss reports as WNr. 500641, subsequently revised as WNr. 500648, just one number above the JG 26 machine. III./KG 27(J) lost two Doras in action on 1 April 1945, one of which was the aforementioned 'yellow 6'. And although the profile is speculative, this aircraft was likely finished in the typical Mimetall scheme - fuselage sides in the green-blue variation of 76, fuselage spine and engine cowling in 81 Braunviolett, fuselage underside natural metal from the wheel well back to the fuselage insert, wing leading edges and the front underwing panel probably 75 Mittelgrau with the control surfaces in 76. Note that these later Doras were more often than not fitted with the re-designed centreline weapons rack - the ETC 504 was a simplified carrier featuring a much smaller mounting and fairing.

JGr.Ost Gruppenkommandeur Major Hermann Graf, Alfred Heckmann, Wilhelm Freuwörth RK

A small selection of some of the very interesting images from Michael Meyer's current Ebay sales here

Grabkreuz mit Propeller to mark the grave of  Hptm. Erwin Aichele of the Stab I./JG 51. Aichele died in a crash landing at Wissant (?) on the Channel coast on 29 July 1940.  Aichele - who was a Flugzeugführer im Fronteinsatz (front-line combat pilot) - had been born in 1901 and was 39 years old when he died. 

Below; Fw 190s of 3./JGr.Ost seen at their dispersal in Perpignan during January 1943

Gruppenkommandeur Major Hermann Graf (RK) of JGr. Ost. 1 + 3 Staffeln of  JGr.Ost moved to Toulouse-Blagnac during April 1943 and their CO is seen here (middle) strolling through Toulouse.  (RK 24.1.1942,  Brillianten on 16.9.1942, in total 212 Luftsiege  and survived the war)

 JGr.Ost in Toulouse during April - June 1943.  Below; a snapshot of two of the unit's instructors. On the left is Fw Wilhelm Freuwörth (RK on 5 January 1943, obscured here), who survived the war credited with 58 Luftsiegen including 3 in the West achieved with 2./JG 52 and 6./JG 26..

Posted as Unteroffizier to 2./JG 52 on 1 April 1941 stationed on the Deutsche Bucht. First victory during August 1941, shooting down an RAF Blenheim. Late fall 1941 the Staffel was moved to the East, where 'Willi' Freuwörth claimed two more victories before the end of the year. During 1942 he became one of the leading aces of I. Gruppe and was awarded the RK after a further 53 victories; on 1 November 1942 he accounted for four Lagg-3 fighters shot down and on 16 December 1942 claimed no less than six Il-2 Sturmoviks downed . Posted to the Kanalfront on 1.2.1943 with 6./JG 26, claiming two Spitfires during March 1943. Wounded in combat over Montdidier on 24.10.1943 and was again injured on 21 December 1943 when his FW 190 A-6 WNr..530733 “schwarze 8″ over-turned on landing at St. Omer (Wizernes). Returned to flying as an instructor after recovering from his injuries and on 1.1.1945 was promoted to Oberleutnant. 254 Feindflüge (combat sorties)

Below; JGr.Ost in Toulouse during the spring of 1943. Five Jagdlehrer (flight or lit. 'fighter' instructors) enjoy a hand of cards ! From left, Lt. Alfred Heckmann (RK on 19 September 1942, total of 71 Luftsiege ), Fw Hiller, Fw. Wilhelm Freuwörth (RK on 5 January 1943 (58 victories), Fw. "Spezi" Franz, Oblt. Waller..and Erika !

Above; FW 190 A 'yellow 5' of 9./JG 26. Note around 20 victory markings on the rudder, just visible alongside the mechanic's head. Photograph dates from 1942 on the Kanalfront.

 Me 110 E of 10.(NJ.)/ZG 1 seen in Russia 1942/43. Mechanic replenishing the four nose-mounted MG 17s and checking the muzzle flash dampers. Bottom; working on one of the DB 601 engines

Fw 190 colours 74/75/76

The classic Luftwaffe fighter colours, Farbton 74 Graugrün, Farbton 75 Grauviolett and Farbton 76 Lichtblau.. Courtesy of Richard Goyat, herewith some photos of wreckage belonging to a Fw 190 retrieved from a 'dig' that took place a few years ago at Semallé, (Orne, Basse Normandie) France. The location suggests that this was an aircraft possibly of JG 1 dating from August 1944. Click on the images for a closer view.

View of the lower wing surface -  no surprises here, RLM 76

Below; a view of the horizontal stabiliser. Note the bright red of the dotted stencil markings - an indication that the colours on this piece appear not to have undergone any sort of 'shift' and therefore must be pretty close to the colours as applied during the operational career of this machine. The 'darker' colour is either a 'grey-green' or 'green-grey' 74, almost certainly the Graugrün variation of '74'. The shade appears overwhelmingly 'green'. Richard makes the point that this '74' as applied to the Fw 190 differs from the typical '74' seen on a Bf 109 cowling part which has a distinctive 'grey-blue' cast.

The lighter grey colour corresponds to the typical '75', although very thinly sprayed and revealing an undercoat of  RLM 02 which appears to have given the part a tint of what is described as 'violet' - the classic Grauviolett perhaps. Again this tint is more marked on the Fw 190 than that seen on the Bf 109.

Note that these parts have been wiped over with a dampish rag to achieve a certain 'lustre' and that when dry the colours appear much more 'matt' and 'dull' in tone and that the differences in 'shade' and 'tint' are much less marked.

Jabos over England - Batailles Aériennes No. 56

New from Lela Presse (publishers of 'Avions' magazine) is this nice edition of  Chris Goss' "Tip and Run...", the story of the 15-month Luftwaffe fighter-bomber campaign against southern UK towns during 1942-3. A-4 format 82 pages softback, French text. The pictures are as large and clear as I've ever seen them and there is some neat Dekker artwork to complete the package. Recommended at just 12 Euros.  Contents illustrated here courtesy of Michel Ledet. Available from http://www.avions-bateaux.com/

The illustrations below depict Fw 190s flown by IV./SKG 10 based at Caen during May 1943 responsible for the 'notorious' raid on the English seaside resort of Bournemouth on 23 May 1943. Each Fw 190 carried  two 250kg bombs under the wings or more usually one 500kg slung under the fuselage.

One of the RAF units tasked with defending the south coast during the first half of 1943 was 91 Squadron based at Hawkinge under Sq. Leader Raymond Harries. This unit was one of the first to receive the new Griffon-engined Mark XII Spitfire in April 1943 designed to combat the low flying Fw 190s. On 25 May 1943, Harries, flying Spitfire XII DL-K (EN 625), intercepted Fw 190s from SKG 10 heading for Folkestone;

" I was leading Blue Section on a defensive patrol. I had just returned to base, with my No 2, had just landed when the scramble signal was given from the watch office. We both immediately took off again, and saw enemy aircraft approaching Folkestone. I sighted one lone Fw 190 at sea level returning to France. I came in from his starboard side, delivering a three-second burst at 250 yards. The enemy aircraft hit the sea tail first, split in two, and sank immediately.."

The Fw 190 was thought to be Fw 190A-5 Wrk Nr 2511 of 6./SKG 10, flown by Oberleutnant Josef Keller, the only loss apparently recorded by the attackers.

"..I then spotted another Fw 190 to starboard. I flew straight over the top of it in order to identify it in the failing light. The enemy aircraft pulled his nose up and gave me a quick squirt. I pulled straight up to about 1000ft, and turning to port, dived right onto his tail, opening fire from 300 yards and closing to 150 yards. I fired a four-second burst, seeing strikes and flames all over the enemy aircraft. The enemy aircraft gradually lost height, with smoke and flames coming from it, skimmed for some distance along the surface of the water and then sank. I orbited around taking cine gun snaps of the oil patch and pieces of wreckage that were visible..."

The Jabo attack on Folkestone on 25 May 1943 showed up the limitations of this type of raid when defended effectively by RAF fighters - in fact the Fw 190s failed to reach the target and similar daylight raids were abruptly curtailed shortly thereafter. Author Goss continues to maintain that the campaign was a success for the Luftwaffe, while pointing out that there were only ever a maximum of 28 Jabos for some 1,300 kms of coastline (!). In the end, when elements of SKG 10 were committed that summer to the Mediterranean and what was left was switched to an equally disastrous night campaign, the Luftwaffe simply ran out of French-based Jabos. The last victory over an SKG 10 Jabo by day was on 6 June 1943. Harries was ultimately the most successful pilot to fly a Rolls-Royce Griffon powered Spitfire, scoring 11 kills.

Below; my model of Harries Spitfire XII from the new Airfix kit. More on my modelling blog here

Werner Bartels III./JG 26 - Emil cockpit colours RLM 66 ?

While poking around in the RAF Manston history museum over the weekend I came across these photos of Oblt. Werner Bartels' Bf109 E-1. Oblt Werner Bartels, Technical officer of III./JG 26, was shot down by a No.65 Squadron Spitfire over Dane Valley, Margate on 24 July 1940 and taken captive. The rather grainy shot above shows the Dane Valley Arms pub in the background. The pub was originally built as a railway hotel - although the railway station was never built. As for Bartels, his story doesn't end there because in 1943 he was repatriated in a prisoner of war exchange and later became an engineer on the ME 262 programme.

 The Emil WNr is 6296F. The 'F' stands for "flugklar" or 'airworthy' as in 'repaired to airworthy status'. The retrofitted later style canopy is of interest as is its dark finish.

In fact it can be seen that the framing has apparently been finished in a different shade to the surrounding fuselage paintwork. While it is generally believed that Emil cockpit colours were finished in the standard 02 Grau during the summer of 1940 it is argued by some Experten that here the windscreen and retro-fitted 'later' style canopy are finished in the darker grey RLM 66. The cockpit itself appears in the same dark colour - although late July is usually considered to be far too early for an RLM 66 interior. The rear view below is again AFAIK another previously unpublished shot and clearly shows the yellow rudder and wing camo scheme - Bartel's machine was one of the first examples of an Emil to have been noted with an area of yellow paint on the airframe.
 

Examples of Bf 109s that had successfully force-landed in England were exhibited in dozens of towns and cities across the country during the summer of 1940. Bartels' Emil was put on display in Croydon (south London) later that summer (below). More than 90 Emils made successful force landings in the UK during 1940, although some seven of these were partially or wholly destroyed by fire and a number were stripped and appraised at Farnborough. Bartels' machine was one of two that force landed on 24 July 1940.

Defecting Luftwaffe pilots (1) Focke Wulf 190 WNr. 171747 Johannes Kuhn Schlachtgeschwader 101

I came across the following photo of a crash-landed Fw 190 in the RAF Manston Airfield history museum and was rather surprised on reading the caption to learn that this particular Fw 190, WNr. 171747, had landed close to RAF Manston in Kent during August 1944 and had been flown by a defecting Dutch ferry pilot called Kuhn. A quick look through the books turned up the following.

Johannes Kuhn was born in Amsterdam on 15 November 1908. He served in the Militaire Luchtvaart (Dutch air force) from 1932, and in 1937 volunteered for a six-year term with the Dutch Indies air force, which he joined on 14 August 1937. However, due to an illness, doctors pronounced him unfit for service in the tropics in 1938, and Kuhn had to return to the Netherlands. From April 1939 onwards he flew with 1-2 LvR (1st Reconnaissance Group of the 2nd Air Regiment/ Army Aviation). At the end of that year Kuhn was transferred to V-2 LvR (Army Aviation Fighter Group) and retrained as a fighter pilot. He was shot down over the Pijnacker area on the first day of the German western campaign, on 10 May 1940. Kuhn saved himself by parachute, but owing to a bad knee injury had to spend several months in hospital. His wound did not heal until 1942, and on 15 October of that year he was officially discharged from the Dutch military service. On the same day he volunteered for the German Luftwaffe. Kuhn was later to declare that his German wife had talked him into joining the Luftwaffe, probably a 'protective' statement given to veil his real motives. In any case, until April 1943, he underwent training with the Flieger-Ausbildungsregiment 63 (Pre-Flight Training Regiment) at Toul, and passed the Flugzeug­führerüberprüfungsschule (Pilot Re-Examination School) at Prenzlau, graduating in early July.


From 2 July 1943 Kuhn was with Schlachtgeschwader 101, a close-support training formation, flying the Hs 129 armoured assault aircraft from Paris-Orly. In February 1944 he was assigned to the Flugzeugführerüberprüfungsschule at Quedlinburg, and in May was posted to his last unit, 3./Uber­fiihrungsgruppe West (3rd Squadron of Ferry Group West). The pilots of this unit, consisting of four Staffeln and a Stab, were engaged in ferrying aircraft from industrial establishments and assembly plants to the various front-line units. After the Allied invasion of France the losses of Ferry Group West rose dramatically, the pilots having to fly in all weather conditions and their aircraft often being damaged while touching down on improvised airstrips.

By then Kuhn had realized that the war was lost for the Reich and decided to defect. A favourable opportunity came on 30 August, when 14 Fw 190s had to be ferried to JG 26 at Brussels­-Melsbroek. Kuhn took off from Wiesbaden, and, as the weather was poor, managed to disengage from the others without being noticed. His course now led over Ostend and the English Channel in low-Ievel flight straight to southern England. Kuhn avoided landing on an RAF airfield, where he would have risked being shot down by anti-aircraft fire. Instead he made a perfect belly landing in a field near Monkton road farm, close to Manston in Kent. His Fw 190A-8, WNr. 171747 was only slightly damaged and later put on display at the Farnborough exhibition of captured German equipment prior to being scrapped.

(Source: In The Skies Of Europe by Hans Werner Neulen)