This Bf 109E was photographed at Belgrad - Semlin airfield in Yugoslavia in late April 1941. It has some very unique markings which tells an interesting story. This plane was first flown by Hubert Mutherich of 5./Jg 54 and has his personal "Lilo" and victory markings as well as the II/Jg 54 "Lion of Aspern" badge on the fuselage sides. At some point, the cowl was replaced with one taken from an 8./Jg 54 machine, as evidenced by the 8./Jg 54 "Comical Bird" emblem near the front. Following the capitulation of Yugoslavia, Jg 54 turned over all it's Emils to Jg 77. Mutherich's Emil was assigned to III/Jg 77 and the Gruppe's "Wolf's Head" badge was painted on the cowl, towards the rear. Jg 77 continued combat operations over Greece and Crete.
Good quality color photographs indicate that this plane was finished in the three day-fighter grays of RLM 74, 75, and 76. Balkan campaign markings consisting of a thin tail band and wing markings were applied with a yellow lighter than the RLM 04 seen on the cowl and rudder. The campaign markings are wore off very quickly, and were mostly worn off when this plane was captured on film.
