Bf109F-4 flown by Heinrich Bartels of 8./JG 5 in November 1942. By this time, Bartels had scored 46 victories and had just been awarded the Knight's Cross. The rudder was painted with a representation of the medal with a "45" inside a laurel. The emblems of III Gruppe and 8 Staffel JG 5 are painted under the windscreen. The inscription "Hella" was painted under the canopy. The camouflage scheme is a non-standard pattern with high contrast colors, presumably covering an original desert scheme as most of JG 5's 109F's were factory painted for tropical use, despite the unit being in Finland. General consensus of the colors used are an overall coat of RLM 75 gray-violet with RLM 70 black-green splotches. The underside is the original RLM 78 bright blue used on desert schemes. Yellow wing tips and lower cowling served as IFF markings.
Bartels would score a total of 99 victories before losing his life in December 1944 during combat with American P-47's.
