Bf 110 unit markings again

[chriswchase]

Thanks for all your help, it is greatly appreciated!!!! I made the mistake of buying a model before I had source material of my own to refer to and for this I apologize. If this is too much to ask I understand and will wait to purchase a book on the subject on the first of next month. On the decals that came with my model came the following unit designation combinations:

G9 IN - the I is red
U8 GL - the G is yellow
LN KR - the K is black with yellow around it
3U BT - the B is white
M8 FA - the F is yellow

I would very much like to do this model as the D version with the non jetisionable fuel tank in the Desert Camo of North Africa. If anyone has those combinations for a BF 110 in the German Afrika campaign I would appreciate it. Any version of the BF 110 with those unit combinations.

Last thing I wanted to do with this model is use the "bee" nose art...if that didnt serve in the German Africa campaign please let me know. My other choices are a "dog" looking kind of nose art. Thanks for all the help again....

 

[Jack_Hill]

Not a bee, a wasp.
Found this : sorry, a C , no wasp but fine 3X30mm pod :
www.risingdecals.com/72-014_Deutsche/72-014.htm

 

[stona]

Don't worry. It can be confusing.
Just a very quick explanation of the unit markings.

The first letter/numeral combination indicates the unit or Geschwader to which the aircraft belonged. Off the top of my head 3U would be ZG 26. ZG is an abbreviation of "zerstorergeschwader".

Next comes the balkenkreuz or national marking

The next letter is the individual aircraft identification letter and the colour indicates which squadron,"staffel" it belongs to. The letter but not the colour was unique to a particular aircraft,for example all the aircraft in the second staffel in each gruppe shared the colour red. In a typical geschwader of four gruppen of three staffeln each the aircraft of 2,5,8 and 11 staffel would carry a red letter.

The final letter is the staffel letter. The aircraft of each Staffel (squadron) in every Gruppe (group) within the Geschwader (wing) had a unique staffel letter carried in this position by all that staffel's aircraft.
For example the first three staffeln (1,2 and 3 staffel) comprising I Gruppe would carry the letters H,K and L respectively. II Gruppe (4,5 and 6 staffel) would be M,N and P.

Did I mention that it is easy to be confused

If noone gets to the other questions first I'll have a look when I get to my books.

Cheers

Steve

 

[chriswchase]

Steve,

Thank you for all your time and effort in this matter and I am looking forward to your answer for me....take care and happy modelling!!!!

P.S. It is my plan to carry forward any and all help I get here by checking this site often and then offering answers myself...

 

[chriswchase]

Thank you for that link...much appreciated

 

[Njaco]

This thread gives you an idea of Luftwaffe markings....

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/ai...twaffe-aircraft-camouflage-markings-9318.html

G9 IN = ZG 1
U8 GL = I./ZG 26 (Initial Activation)
LN KR - the K is black with yellow around it
3U BT - ZG 26
M8 FA = ZG 76 (first activation)

and this site will tell you where the unit was stationed and when....

The Luftwaffe, 1933-45

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Chris. Sounds like this is the old Fujimi kit. They had a habit of issuing it with markings (decals) which didn't correspond to the painting instructions or box art work. I recently bought one which had the decals for the earlier issue, and the instruction sheet for the later issue, which I discovered after checking the old instructions/decals. Didn't matter in my case, as I'll be building it as a EpGr 210 machine, with different markings.

 

[Wurger]

I agree with the post above.