[Cruver Collecter]

UPS folks dropped off another Corgi Bf 109E today (Also a Dragon one too). Corgi Bf 109 dropped off is of Werner Molders aircraft. This model provides a nice early war livery and this one looks quite nice with simple splinter pattern paint scheme. Model also depicts the early war positioning of the swastika on the rudder. I sure wish that Corgi would do one of their Bf 109Es in Nationalist markings for Spanish Civil war.

[brunowbe]

That's nice looking. I've got the smaller fighter scramble version and wouldn't mind finding the version you just got. Hopefully I'll be adding 2 new "old" Corgi 109Es (von Hahn and Marseilles) next week.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by brunowbe

That's nice looking. I've got the smaller fighter scramble version and wouldn't mind finding the version you just got. Hopefully I'll be adding 2 new "old" Corgi 109Es (von Hahn and Marseilles) next week.

Good luck with getting hold of those two aircraft. I have the Von Hahn 50th Anniversary Collection, but not the Aviation Archive version. The Joachim Marseille is a real gem. So many more paint schemes Corgi could go with on their Bf 109E model.

[Epapazian]

Nice model. It's interesting to track the evolution of Luftwaffe fighter camouflage during the early days of WW II. At first, most German fighters looked like your Molders warbird, with a black green and dark green splinter pattern on their upper surfaces. This was designed to make the planes less visible when sitting on their airfields. As it became apparent that Allied aircraft were operating primarily in the defensive mode and rarely raided Luftwaffe bases, the Germans switched to an "offensive pattern", which was in force for the invasion of France and the Low Countries in the spring of 1940. This had the undersurface light gray/blue ( RLM 65 ) extended up the sides of the fighters almost to the top, while many planes also had one of the upper surface greens toned down by the application of RLM 02---a lighter gray/green. The result was a very effective air-to-air combat scheme, which is one of my all-time favorites.

As the tide turned against it, including the mid- to last stages of the BOB, Luftwaffe pilots began to apply disruptive mottling or stripes to the sides of their machines, which often found themselves operating in low level fighter sweeps and "Jabo" attacks, where the light gray/blue sides were far too conspicuous. The upper surface colors also changed from greens to two shades of gray ( RLM 74---a muddy gray/green and RLM 75---a lighter grayish blue color ). This combination remained in force in northern Europe until late in the war, when the Germans began to use green again, in combination with gray or a dark brown---the latter, perhaps in an attempt to hide their warbirds while parked on the ground ( often in improvised forest strips ) from marauding Typhoons, P-47s or P-51s.