Kjetil

Very good profile. You must have seen the wartime photos I have (but not when the paint scheme for 10132 had to be set down. (I'll send you a black and white photos of the aircraft at Duxford. (Don't know how to add them to the site).

The group of 6 photos or so were taken in late July/early August 1942 after Carganico had achieved his 50th Victory. (As a matter of interest, the first six 'kills' on the rudder should be RAF roundals).

Carganico felw two aircraft when he was Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG5. These were 10132 and 10256. Both have been recovered. 10132 had the Micky mouse, four leaf clover and kill markings. 10256 did not (Soviet patrol report provided by Rune). 10132 when recovered in 1980 had the symbols cut out and removed along with the Rudder. Someone in Northern Russia has some nice momentos. When he crashed 10256, 10132 was probably in for an engine change. 

Enclosed is a bit of history on 10132
History.
Messerschmitt Bf109 F-4, Werke Nr. 10132 was built by Erla Flugzeugwerk at Leipzig during April 1942 in a batch of F-4’s numbered between 10001 and 10290. A significant number of these were produced as tropical variants and the ‘Trops’ were finished in the RLM78 Hellblau and RLM79 Sandbraun camouflage colour.

In the spring of 1942, W.Nr10132 was issued with the RLM block codes of CD+LZ and was one of those basically completed as a tropical variant. 10132 was equipped with the deeper oil cowl, facility for a sand filter to be fitted and was completed with a standard VDM 9-12010A propeller. At Erla it was test flown and after being signed off it was flown to the Anklam refitting and modification center near Leipzig to have additional equipment fitted. It was most likely at Anklam that the RLM79 Sandbraun (sand brown) camouflage was supplemented with RLM74 Graugrun (gray green). The lower blue RLM78 Hellblau was retained and the F-4 was then stored prior to issue to a unit.

During this period large numbers of F-4 Trops were diverted to units other than JG-27 and JG53 in North Africa, significantly to JG3 and JG5 in Russia. This change was mainly due to deliveries of the new G-2 Trop to North Africa and there being a surplus of the older F-4 Trops still under construction. Both JG3 and JG5 received large numbers of these F-4 Trops and both had quite different and individual camouflage schemes applied over the sand upper colour.

In May 1942, II & III Gruppes of JG5 operating from Kirkenes in Northern Norway and Petsamo in Northern Finland were issued with 20 brand new F-4's from the 10001 and 10290 batch. In June another 19 were issued and it is highly likely W.Nr10132 was one of these aircraft. Most aircraft were flown from Anklam - Elbing - Riga - Reval - Helsinki-Malmi to the Feld Luft Park at Pori before going onto JG5. A number of F-4’s were even recorded as arriving at Pori carrying a 300 litre drop tank. At either Anklam or Pori, the yellow theatre markings were applied to the lower wing tips, lower engine cowling and a narrow band around the fuselage, but it still retained the RLM block codes CD+LZ which were to be removed by the unit on arrival. Although W.Nr10132 was built as tropical variant, none of those on their way to JG5 appeared to have had the brackets for the fitment of the sand filter.

On arrival of CD+LZ at Petsamo, W. Nr10132 was finally completed and became Carganico's own aircraft. We do not yet know the exact order of events prior to this, but the following is known:

On July 22nd 1942, Bf 109 F-4 Trop, W Nr10256 of Stab II/JG5 had to undertake an emergency landing due to engine trouble, this time at Murowskij. This was Hptm Carganico's first crash landing behind enemy lines with II/JG5. He was missing overnight but on the 23rd July Horst Carganico was picked up, most probably by Storch and returned to his unit.

At this time W.Nr10132 was undergoing and engine change and Carganico was flying 10256. The markings on the F-4 had at some point been completed. Full yellow wing tips were applied and the temporary yellow fuselage band was removed. On the cowling was applied Horst Carganico's personnel emblem of 'Mickey Mouse' and under the cockpit was painted the emblem of 6./JG5, a four leaf clover, which Carganico had brought across to become the emblem of the whole of the II Gruppe. (The II Gruppe of any Geschwader were normally differentiated from other Gruppes by a horizontal bar aft of the fuselage cross; these were not applied on II/JG5 aircraft until the late autumn/winter of 1942).
It also seems likely that Horst Carganico had his kill markings applied on the rudder of W.Nr10132. This was common practice with the ‘aces’ of 6./JG5 at this time all of which had there aircraft marked up with kill bars with Russian stars and dates. It is likely Horst Carganico had in the region of 40 kills by August 1942 although these have not been added during the present rebuild until further information is located. (Photos show 50 at the end of July 1942).

Horst Carganico flew this F-4 throughout the rest of July and into August. At sometime prior to its loss, W.Nr10132 received a new DB601E engine, as evident when it was stripped down. It is thought it had only run for a few hours prior to its loss. The DB601E carried the engine block number 601.104.001 although unfortunately the individual number is currently not known.

On one of Hptm. Horst Carganico's missions on 12th August 1942 over the Liza Front and Murmansk, 10132 was involved in an air combat with Russian fighters. The aircraft was hit from the rear starboard quarter with bullets passing through the fuselage and wings, and significantly, through the radiator and one bullet even went through a propeller blade - sufficient damage to require an immediate landing, but not bad enough to bale out. It is thought he was trying to get back to his own lines when the engine seized. Horst Carganico forced landed, wheels up in an area called Motowka (Motovski Fjord - ad old Finnish name Moutkavouno or "Torturous Fiord") behind enemy lines. He again was missing overnight (it was nearly full daylight at that time of the year) and was again picked up by Storch on the 13th August to return to his own unit. 

regards

Mark