Interesting photo of Gerhard Schopfel's BF109E-4

[Njaco]

I don't see the yellow?

 

[Wurger]

I'm afraid it's not about the yellow. They meant the oversprayed area on the fin at the root of the horizontal stabilizer.

 

[Crimea_River]

Yesh.

 

[Airframes]

But here's the yellow segment, on one of my 1/32nd scale Bf109E's.
In this instance the aircraft of Helmut Tiedemann, downed on 'The Hardest Day', August 18th, 1940. He belly landed, and was at large for over 12 hours before capture!

 

[Capt. Vick]

Love it!

 

[GrauGeist]

Great job there, Terry!

 

[Airframes]

Thanks Jim and Dave. That's the old 'Matchbox' kit, built in the early 1980's, coincidentally as Schopfel's, re-painted a few years later, then totally re-furbished and re-painted a year or two back, shown here on the forum's modelling section.

 

[stona]

Over spray is not difficult to do, it's just a bit tricky to control

I did it in a slightly different context around the re-applied tail number on Gabreski's P-47 here.

It's surprising how often traces of overspray can be seen on aircraft which have been remarked or repainted.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Wayne Little]

Good stuff fellas...

 

[Alte Hase]

Beautiful work guys!

Always a treasure trove of information on here.

Thank you once again to everyone for your kind and invaluable input!

 

[Alte Hase]

Does anyone maybe have the 'front view' photo I've heard mentioned of this aircraft?

 

[Airframes]

I have it in a book somewhere ! Will need to find which book, but from what I remember, it's not that detailed, and taken from about fifty meters away, or more.

 

[Airframes]

Here it is.
I thought this was Schopfel's aircraft, as the photo is from a series of photos from his personal album, showing the Staffel aircraft in the dispersal pens around the edge of Caffiers airfield, and the layout of the pen in this shot, with the vegetation and overhead camouflage net, looks very similar to that shown in the other pics of his aircraft.
However, on closer examination, it appears to be an E-1, unless, of course, the cannon had been removed for servicing when the pic was taken. It's difficult to tell if the magazine bulges are present, beneath the wing, due to the lighting, but the position of the prop, the vegetation at the edges of the pen, and the general layout do look like his aircraft, but it's not conclusive, and the information with the photos does not state which aircraft it is.
However, I either have, or have seen, another version of this photo (if I can find it!), where the caption states that this is the Staffelkapitans aircraft, but again, this can not be taken as certain.

 

[Alte Hase]

Thank you so much Airframes for going to all the trouble of finding that photo and posting it-it really is kind. Hmmm...I think I see bulges under the wings and the holes look a bit small to be an E-1 (I think they had slightly larger muzzle holes?)...It could well be an E-4 with the guns removed.It's really not easy to say whether this is Schopfel's aircraft, but it is still very nice to get another perspective of what Caffiers looked like. Thank you!