Barbarossa Emil

[Devil 505]

Bf 109E-3 flown by Hans Lass, commander of 8./JG 27 in October 1941. Although JG 27 is associated with the battles in North Africa, both II and II Gruppen spent most of 1941 fighting first in the Balkans and then in Belarus, and Russia as part of Operation Barbarossa. Also, despite the new 109F being in serial production well before the invasion of the Soviet Union, JG 27 was still fully equipped with the older Emils. There just weren't enough Friedrichs to outfit every fighter unit in the Luftwaffe in 1941. Lass' machine featured the earlier canopy of the E-3 and fuselage camouflage high up the spine, typical of early 1940 built 109's. Yellow IFF markings were painted on the cowl, lower wings and in a broad band around the fuselage. In a style unique to III/JG 27 in the early years of the war, the side number was painted on the cowling. The III/JG 27 badge was painted on the fuselage sides.

[Vraciu]

Nicely done.

[lyric1]

 

[Greebo]

Excellent skin Devil.

[Banshee7]

Beautiful aircraft!

[oboe]

Terrific, Devil.  Great-looking scheme! 

[whiteman]

That's so good looking