Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4
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Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 Lt. Josef Eberle, 9./JG 54, Netherlands, August 1940
A very interesting camouflage was created in the summer of 1940 by the ground staff of JG 54 on many of their machines when, in an attempt to darken the light blue fuselage sides of their Bf 109Es, they sprayed vertical to diagonal stripes of RLM71 paint. The basic camouflage was standard RLM02/71/65 with colour additions for quick identification. Yellow 13 was also similarly colored, and on 12 August 1940 Lt. Josef Eberle, despite his injuries, made it across the Channel to a belly landing in France. The wing tips and elevators of Eberle's machine were sprayed with yellow RLM27, lighter than RLM04, which was applied to the propeller cone, tactical number and background of the III./JG 54 emblem. However, a white variant of the wing tips and elevator cannot be ruled out. The light blue RLM65 interfered on the leading edges of the wing up to slightly into the camouflage scheme of the upper surfaces. This aircraft is sometimes misidentified as an E-3 variant. Although in August Lt. Eberle escaped from its clutches, he was not so lucky on 9 October 1940, and a fight with RAF fighters on its wake proved fatal.
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