1/48 Me 410A-1/U-2 Dietrich Puttfarken - Me/FW Group Build

The search for a scheme continues, often frustrated by discrepancies between the various resources I'm using. Here are some of my thoughts on schemes that I've been considering:

U5+FE of 14/KG2

This aircraft is well documented by profiles and 3 known photos. It has a very attractive (in my opinion) paint scheme of standard 74/75/76 over-sprayed by black on the undersides and up the sides. This aircraft, purported to have been flown by Ritterkreuz holder Rudi Abrahamczik, was the subject of the exquisitely built 410 by the chap over at Kitmaker Network who used the cartoon figures throughout his photo essay. Although it's a fantastic build, I think his use of the resin cannon set in the bomb bay was incorrect as photos of the front of the plane show no evidence of the WB151 twin cannon unrüst-bausatz in this location, nor do any of the profiles refer to the plane as anything other than a pure A-1 or B-1.

I really like the scheme but the downsides are that I would have to find or make the decals and the flame arrestors would also have to be fabricated, although this shouldn't be too hard. In addition, this model would not show off the huge firepower that many 410's displayed, a feature which is unique to this aircraft and therefore worthy to depict.

U5+FE of 14/KG2 W.Nr.420085

Identical to the scheme above, I've seen one profile of this aircraft but no pictures. It was flown by Lt. Hans-Georg Baack who was killed on the night of Dec 19/20 1943 while trying to land his heavily damaged plane. Same pros and cons apply.

3U+AA?(B?) of Stab I/ZG26

This one is a head scratcher. 3U-AA appears in a painting on the cover of the Squadron/Signal "Messerschmitt Me210/410 In Action" publication and seems to be referred to on a couple of occasions in the text as "Green A" flown by Lt Hannes Wenko. I like it because this plane sports the arrangement of 6-20mm cannons and because it seems the kit provides decals for it, albeit as 3U+AB where the A is blue which to me would indicate the Geschwader Stab (?). One of the pics in the publication shows "Green A" in the distance behind 3U+GB in the foreground but the second letter of the code is difficult to read but it looks to me like a 'B' like in the kit decals. It gets better in that this publication shows a frontal picture of an Me 410 running up its engines with the caption reading that it is Wenko's rig. The photo is credited to Wenko himself but unfortunately you can't read the codes. Petrick Stocker's book has the same picture, identifying the plane to be WNr 420625 but making no reference to Wenko nor the fact that it served in the Stab of I/ZG26. I looked up Wenko in the Aircrew Remembrance Society database and it says he flew 3U+AA. My brain hurts so this one is doubtful…I have decals but no aircraft.

3U+CK of 2/ZG26

Pics and profiles of this on abound but I have no decals! However, this plane also sports the 6-20mm cannon arrangement that I like. Looks like a well-worn paint scheme.

The other kit decals are 9K+Ww of Erg. Gr. KG51 and 5+- of II/ZG76. I've seen no photo evidence of the latter.

So that's it at the moment. I've done precious little on the kit. A bit of work on the rudder pedals and a coat of RLM 66 is all the progress I can claim so far. A slow start for sure.

Andy,

Quite right about Rudi Abrahamczik. U5 + FE was on a bombing mission in support of Operation Steinbock, so no WB151. Abrahamczik went on to join I./KG51 and survived the war.

As we know, the II./KG51 intruder '410's did have the WB151 and additional 300l drop tanks, but sadly no photographs are known of them. It's a pretty good bet they'd look like U5 + FE though...

Have you considered Maj. Wilhelm Schmitter's '410?

Andy, this looks like 5+- of ZG 26
source Mushroom no 6120 Messerschmitt Me 410

Thanks Karl, I should have clairified. The profile that comes with that aircraft has yellow codes and Petricvk and Stocker also call it yellow 5. Kit's decals are red. Also, Petrick and Stocker are silent on the weapons load.

Any details on Schmitter's scheme Paul? I'd look deeper but need to run off to work.

Crimea_River said:

Any details on Schmitter's scheme Paul? I'd look deeper but need to run off to work.

Click to expand...

It would be the same as U5 + FE - Schmitter was from V./KG2. You can find plenty on the man ( a very experienced pilot) here:

Maj. Wilhelm Schmitter

Good info here, well done all.

Great research guys, and it's not the speed that counts Andy - this should be another fine build when done.

Thanks Paul, I remember seeing that page but have not gone through in detail. Just did a quick overview and it looks like there's soem good detail in there. Will have to scour it tonight. A-1 U5+CF WNr 420214 might be a possibility but that's as far as I got with the quick scan.

Ok Andy... re the Wenko kite. He's a bit of an enigma - I've scoured all the sources I have and found very little. As far as the 3U+AA or 3U+AB debate goes, look here:

Wenko '410

It seems the author has come to similar conclusions.

a couple things the pic above appears to be yellow 5 of ZG 76, ZG 26 as far as I am aware never had MK 103 3cm fitted. ZG 76 flew on the Ost front for a time on ground attack missions where the MK 103 would of come in handy the ballistics sucked for an A/C to intercept bombers though.

Stab of a gruppe may have worn green letters and the stab of the Geschwader blue but will have to check further on that, also I think Wenko's mount though done quite nicely as a model on HS is much too light in camo. also think it is a misprint for June of 44 to have R. Dassow flying an A-1 and not a B-1

Guys, thanks for your thoughts. Paul, yes, I saw that Hyperscale build but I don't think the guy did much in the way of research on that rig. Use of AA would make sense for Geschwaderstab with blue A, AB for Gruppenstab with Green A as Erich pointed out. However, Petrick Stocker in their WNr listing show a number of instances of "Blue XX" of Gruppenstab so-and-so rather than Geschwaderstab. As far as I know the standard use of blue letter applies to Geschwaderstab machines and green to Gruppenstab machines. Perhaps exceptions existed....All the more reason to avoid Wenko.

Erich, thanks for the confirmation on Yellow 5 - all the more reason I'm avoiding the red numerals supplied with the kit. And I agree with you on the camo looking too light.

Having now read the Schmitter story, which is quite an impressive piece of work, there are two possibilities to consider, although photo evidence is limited or non-existent. (BTW, if anyone reading this has not read Schmitter's story kindly linked by Paul above, I'd suggest you take a look - a cracker of a tale!). The first one would be U5+CF WNr 420214 in which he and BF Gräber crashed on the night of Aug 23/24 1943. This WNr is confirmed in Petrick Stocker's book with consistent loss record. There is a commendation to the crew written by the Geschwaderkommodore in which the following VERY sketchy photo appears:



Whether this is U5+CF is an open question. Nevertheless, the camo scheme suggests no black undersides, although the flame dampers are apparent.

The second possibility is U5+BF WNr 10244, "Red B" in which Schmitter and BF Felix Hainzinger met their deaths on Nov 8, 1943, being shot down by Squadron Leader W.H.Maguire (pilot) and Flying Officer W.D.Jones (radio operator) in a Mosquito Mk XII of No 85, Squadron coded VY-E. The WNr is confirmed by Petrick and Stocker as an A-1 lost on the night in question.

If I could get some help with possible markings and camo schemes for this aircraft, I may well give this one a shot. My desire would be to do this one with the U5+FE scheme, even though this was from 14 Staffel and Schmitter led 15 Staffel.

Open the floodgates of conjecture!

I think you'll have to make an educated guess, as far as I remember only a few small parts were found, including a section of the unit code. I've been to the crash site and from the crater formed you can see it vaporised after the bomb load went up.

I've finally settled on a scheme and to eliminate a lot of the guesswork, I've decided to go with the A-1/U2/R4 W.Nr. 120093 3U+CK of 2/ZG26 pictured in the profile and photos below (3U+CK is behind 3U+GK in the last pic). This aircraft was built 21 February, 1944 and was destroyed on 21 June 1944 near Löcknitz killing the pilot, Lt. Gunther Borkert (from Petrick and Stocker).

The profile below (thanks Cory) is from the Kagero book on the Me 210/410 but inaccurately shows this plane to be W.Nr. 420093 which it admits is a guess. The Petrick and Stocker tome has a better profile, plus two more pictures not shown here that confirm it to be 120093. In addition to the basic armament of 2 MG17's and 2 MG151 cannons, this particular aircraft sports an additional pair of MG 151 20mm cannons in the weapons bay as well as another pair in an underfuselage pod, making for a formidable gun platform for use against bombers.

Camouflage is a basic 74/75/76 scheme with a very patchy and non-uniform mottling on the sides and the aircraft looked quite worn on the wing uppers.

My progress has been agonizingly slow, with not much to show so far. I've been busy outdoors now that the weather has become summery and have been doing a number of projects around the house rather than spending time in my basement dungeon. I should have a few pics up shortly. Thanks for your patience.

Crimea_River said:

The profile below (thanks Cory) is from the Kagero book on the Me 210/410 but inaccurately shows this plane to be W.Nr. 420093 which it admits is a guess.

Click to expand...

Andy, the profile is not from the Kagero book but it's from Mushroom Yellow Series no.6120 on the Me410.

Oops, you're right Wojtek! I got my sources mixed up and it is indeed a scan that Karl sent me. Sorry Karl!

No problem. Here you are one of profiles of Me410 from the Kagero book as memo serves. You might be interested in.

Nice that you've finally been able to figure out something that's accurate Andy. And I know what you mean by the weather. Minus today it's been wonderful out!

I was considering that one Wojtek, along with many more. Don't make me change my mind!

The problem I had with that one was that the kit does not provide the proper weapons bay doors for the BK50. The interesting thing about that particular aircraft was the unusual cannon layout with the barrels of 2 of the 20mms protruding quite a bit from the mounts on the side of the cockpit.

Wurger

the profile is all wrong. it would of been a white band and most likely this late in the summer of 44 not even a band at all nor yellow spinner covers either. there were no A variants in the summer of 44 anymore they were all B's plus the 5cm was no longer used on anti bomber missions with the base so far to the east so they were used minimally and not very effective as tank busters against Soviet armor.

CR, I guess these are the pics of 3U+AA that you referred to? Anyhoo, threw acouple others in for fun. Just trying to help.