Fine Molds Me 109G-2 3 Squadron RAAF

[Michael louey]

Hi,

 

Normally I don't duplicate posts on various sites however I thought this might be a good place to get on the soap box. This plane is the famous "Black 6" restored to flying in England as it was after being captured by 3 Squadron RAAF. It was taken over by the RAF Intelligence Unit as it was the first Me 109G that had been captured intact. Eventually it made it's way to England and the whole story can be read in Ref 6 below.

 

What my view is (and of a number of other Aussies I talked to at Model Expo a couple of weeks ago) is that this plane really should be in the War Memorial in Canberra. It was taken as a war trophy by 3 Squadron RAAF and by now there is no need to do any more evaluation of a Me 109G 😉. Now it's not like we would just ask for it for free. There's a nice Me 109G-6 in the AWM gifted by Great Britain after the war which is pretty original and has a whole less provenance with regards to Australian connections than "Black 6".  A straight swap seems fair. 😊

 

 

Well, on to the actual model and notes which are hopefully of help to anyone wanting to model this subject:

 

Recently after purchasing the Kecay book "Captured 109's", I decided to finally build the Me 109F-4 captured by 3 Squadron RAAF. It was repainted in RAF Desert Colours and given the serial HK849. At the same time, it was a good chance to redo the famous Me 109G-2 "Black 6" also captured at a similar time. I modelled this plane a number of years ago but was never happy with the paint job due to trouble with the Xtracolour paints used. This time around I decided to use mainly Gunze lacquers with some Testors instead. It was also a chance to make some updates to the paint scheme based on addtional reference.

There are numerous interpretations of the "Black 6" as operated by 3 Squadron RAAF with none of them agreeing though there are some common agreements. A list of the references I had at hand were -
1. IPMS Modelcraft (Article by Peter Malone and Fred Harris)
2. IPMS NSW News & Views
3. Dave's Decal Instructions
4. H Model Instructions
5. Kecay "Captured "Me 109's"
6. "Black 6" by Russell Snadden
7. "War Prizes" by Phil Butler
8. Photos from ADF Serials
9. Photos and observations from Peter Malone.

The main areas of agreement from all references were that the plane had a red spinner and most of the original RLM 78/79 finish was left intact. Other than that the views on overpainting the original Luftwaffe markings varied markedly.

The interpretation I finally worked with is as follows:
1. The spinner and undercowl were painted red (This is the view of Refs 1 and 2 who I believe would have talked to 3 Squadron members including Bobby Gibbes who flew the plane)
2. The rear fuselage band was painted over in yellow - Ref 2 has this as well as another Czech book I recall viewing. Discussions with Peter show this likely by matching the band with the yellow in the roundel. Note the yellow band appears slightly wider than the original white one.
3. The wing overpaints appear to cover the tips and crosses, the latter in a square pattern. This can be seen in one photo of the underside and the wing walk stencils can be seen in Ref 6 so the overpaint is likely to have matched the underside pattern. Colours are likely to have been mid stone upper and Azure Blue lower as these were the closest match and were available as standard RAF paints. I expect they would the flying surfaces (ailerons, flaps) to have been left as is as there were no markings on them and practice was not to paint flying surfaces if not needed.
4. The fuselage markings and fin were likely overpainted in mid stone and some azure blue. The actual sections for each paint are hard to tell. It is possible that only the swastikas were overpainted on the fin however I decided to follow the full fin overpaint of Ref 5. It is possible that Dark Earth was used however its always hard to really interpret colour from black and white and if they had mid stone, I expect they wouldn't have bothered with a 3rd colour in addition to Mid Stone and Azure Blue.
5. The tail plane was replaced from an F version due to damage as was the canopy (other than the windscreen). I've actually painted the tail plane using a different brand of paint (Humbrol) but this is just being pedantic. Patches on the rudder where access to replace the tailplane was performed are likely to have been primed in red oxide primer.
6. Gibbes is reported to have practiced gunnery in the plane - Ref 6 so the guns can be retained.
7. The head armour was lost with the original canopy so this can be omitted.
8. All roundels are non standard. Neither the Dave's Decals or the H Model Decals were really correct and the later were out of register so a bit of customising work and a bank of generic roundels (Xtradecal and Aeromaster) will help. Note the roundel on the starboard side is smaller than the one on the port side. The H Model codes seemed ok as was their fin flash (which is also non standard).
9. You'll have to trim a part of the original fuselage Balkenkreuz to cover the First Aid hatch as this was not overpainted. (Note this was later overpainted when the airframe was taken over by the RAF but while the RAAF codes were retained - Ref 6)
10. Some original Luftwaffe stencilling is retained though all the items near the number 6 and fuselage crosses were overpainted. The wingwalks were still in place.

Hope all this will help others who are planning on building this subject. It is a popular one as I saw a 1/48th one at Model Expo last year and I know Paul Gloster built one the same year I entered my original one at Model Expo. Noel Barnes has one on this site and he based his markings on the Dave's decals instructions. Please note that this is just my personal interpretation and it's quite possible (and likely) that there are still some errors in it.

Regards

Michael
 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by Michael louey

[Roman Schilhart]

A very interesting and in-depth research on your behalf - and a nice model as well.

I was surprised to read that "The spinner and undercowl were painted red" ..

There weren't any red ID markings in use with Luftwaffe fighters in North Africa/MTO -  was this painted by RAF personel after taking over the plane?

 

 

 

[IanC]

An absolute cracker.

 

Im assuming the red spinner would be appropriate to match RAF ID markings. Makes sense.

[Hairtrigger]

Supurb and interesting read.

[Michael louey]

9 hours ago, Roman Schilhart said:

A very interesting and in-depth research on your behalf - and a nice model as well.

I was surprised to read that "The spinner and undercowl were painted red" ..

There weren't any red ID markings in use with Luftwaffe fighters in North Africa/MTO -  was this painted by RAF personel after taking over the plane?

 

 

 

Hi Roman,

 

Yes, the red overpaint was performed by 3 Squadron. Red spinners were standard recognition markings for the Desert Air Force. 3 Sqdn would have known it was critical to remove all the standard Luftwaffe quick recognition markings (White spinner, yellow undercowl, white wing tips and fuselage band as well as the national markings). This would have been especially so when flying such a recognisable enemy aircraft like the Me 109.

 

By the way, the painting was done by RAAF personnel not RAF - big difference. 3 Squadron was one of the few regular RAAF squadrons operating outside the Pacific Theatre (The other was 10 Squadron RAAF retained in England in Coastal Command and a few sent to Singapore). The whole establishment including ground crew was sent to the Middle East.

 

Cheers

 

michael

[Johnson]

Hi Michael,

Excellent thread, very useful research. And I was thinking of just using the Dave's Decals for the captured version of Black 6! I'll have to dig out my copy of War Prizes and I've got Russ Snadden's book (read years ago) coming in the post.

On 6/20/2018 at 12:54 PM, Michael louey said:

What my view is (and of a number of other Aussies I talked to at Model Expo a couple of weeks ago) is that this plane really should be in the War Memorial in Canberra. It was taken as a war trophy by 3 Squadron RAAF and by now there is no need to do any more evaluation of a Me 109G 😉. Now it's not like we would just ask for it for free. There's a nice Me 109G-6 in the AWM gifted by Great Britain after the war which is pretty original and has a whole less provenance with regards to Australian connections than "Black 6".  A straight swap seems fair. 😊

I'm inclined to agree. My country has a rather too many objects in museums that really ought to be in other countries.

Cheers,