Bf 109E-7 flown by Werner Machold, Staffelkapitan of 7./Jg 2 in the spring of 1941. Machold was a 32 victory ace and Knight's Cross holder. On June 6, 1941, he was forced to crash land in southern England after taking critical damage to his 109 while attacking a shipping convoy. He spent the remaining years of WW2 as a POW.
This Emil is an E-7 variant and was photographed while Machold's score stood at 26. The rudder and cowling were painted in RLM 04 yellow, with the rudder getting a rather sloppy application of it. A color photo of the tail reveals an unusual combination of camouflage colors with the RLM 74 and 75 grays over the earlier RLM 65 light blue. Squadron markings consist of the 7th Staffel emblem on the cowl with white tactical digit and III Gruppe squiggled bar. III/Jg 2 would be change from using the squiggle to a vertical bar in mid 1941, about the time the unit converted to the 109F.
