Aeromaster 32-010

"Early Eastern Friedrichs Pt 1"

 

Offers three options as listed below:

-  Bf109F-2 "weiße 2" of Oblt. Max Helmut Ostermann, Staffelkapitän of 7./JG54, fall 1941.  74/75/76 camouflage with yellow rudder, cowling wingtips.  A color photo of another aircraft from this unit in Monogram Close-Up 7 shows yellow wing leading edges, and a white quarter (not yellow) on the spinner cap.  The photo also shows the yellow rudder lightly oversprayed with a faint mottle of what may be 74.  Rosipal's loss list shows Ostermann bellying in an F-2 coded "white 2", but the photo mentioned above shows a different number (could be 3, 5, 6, 8, or 9) with the rest of the features matching those shown here (including the kill marks).  

-  Bf109F-2 "weiße 1" of Hptm. Reinhard Seiler, Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG54, August 1941.  74/75/76 with a dense mottle on the fuselage sides; standard JG54 yellow theatre band behind fuselage Balkankreuz, wingtips, and lower cowling.

-  Bf109F-2 of Major Hannes Trautloft, Geschwaderkommodore of JG54, at Siwerskaja, Russia in early 1942.  The profile shows a 78/79/80 scheme, but discusses a number of different options available for this.  A color photo provided below from Monogram CloseUp 9 shows that the uppersurface may well be in two shades of green, and that the kill markings on the rudder are in yellow.

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Overall, the choices are well-done, and Aeromaster's discussion of Trautloft's camo possibilities is certainly welcome... offering the modeler the choice of possible schemes when doubt exists is a good idea.  The situation with Ostermann's aircraft is still somewhat confusing, but outside of the white spinner tip quarter, the rest of the markings seem to be accurate.

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