Profile Photo
Paul E. Owens
7 articles

Messerschmitt Bf-109F4 Trop

March 30, 2015 · in Aviation · · 28 · 2.4K

Otto Schulz, born on February 11,1911, served with II./JG 27 from 1940. He had achieved moderate success during the battle of Britain and the invasion of Russia but the bulk of his successes were achieved over North Africa, where he served from the fall of 1941 as the new Bf-109F was entering service.
On October 6,1941, he shot down three British fighters over Libya. During the next weeks, he stunned his fellow pilots by achieving an impressive victory row, starting with three kills on October 30, 1941. On November 17, 1941, Schulz shot down an RAF Bombay transport plane, and landed all within three minutes. For this feat, the men of JG 27 nicknamed him "one-two-three Schulz".
He scored three victories again on November 28, and two each on November 30, December 6 and December 20,1941. Otto Schulz's greatest day was on February 15,1942, when his base at Martuba came under a strafing attack by twenty aircraft of RAF 112 and 94 Squadrons. Schulz's Bf-109F was the only one to get airborne and promptly shot down five of the attackers in ten minutes. Among his victims in that combat was the top RAF scorer in North Africa, Squadron Leader Ernest "emshi" Mason, credited with seventeen kills. He had just returned from a long convalescence from being shot down and badly injured in his Hurricane fighter in April,1941 by Bf-109's of 7./JG 26 over Malta. Re-equipped with the new P-40E Kittyhawk, this was his first combat mission in the new aircraft.
Otto Schulz did not return from a mission over Sidi Rezegh on June 17, 1942. it is thought that his victor was Canadian ace, Flight Sargent James "eddie" Edwards of 260 Squadron who lives to this day in British Colombia, Canada. https://acesofww2.com/can/aces/edwards/
Otto Schulz was credited with 51 confirmed victories.

This kit is the offering with few modifications. The notorious Hasegawa prop spinner was replaced with a Hobbycraft one. The markings for Otto Schulz's Bf-109F are from spares, the canopy is a vac-formed one and the paints are all Model Master. The oil cooler was exchanged for a slightly deeper one from spares.

Reader reactions:
13  Awesome

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.


28 responses

  1. very nicely done

  2. Nice clean build and and finish, Paul...I like it.

  3. Great looking F4, Paul, and surprisingly clean! I also prefer MM paints for quality and control of airbrush finishes, second only to White Ensign paints.

    I like your display base too - wasn't sure if you chose the wood tone to mimic the desert floor and so bring home the point of the camo?

    • thanks rob, yes the display base was the only thing that was close to the desert floor color but maybe I should have used something more contrasting. glad you like it.

  4. Paul, good looking build, and on the best aircraft of the series, before they starting hanging stuff on it to make up for the limited armament.
    I see you avoided doing Marseilles plane, and thanks for the tip on the alternate spinner.

  5. Very nice 109!

  6. Greetings :
    Very nice work on that 109, sharp and clean.
    Just like Bernard, I to am a little surprised that " YELLOW 14 " was not the choice. But then again, when it comes to aviation in AFRICA, most choose Marseilles 109. Your choice was the right call. Very good background on Otto Schulz. Nice work.

  7. Very nice 109. I too use MM paints.,Way more control and shelf life than acrylic. At least for me it is. 🙂

  8. Paul,
    This is outstanding. I liked th story and the model. The F is also my favorite. IF I remember correctly I read somewhere that the F was also the favorite of Galland.
    PS, Love the white walls

  9. A flawless 1/48 build. Beautiful. I'm guessing Otto Schulz was from Berlin, judging from the "Berliner Bär" shield on the engine cowl.

  10. Sharp looking 109, really nice ! Great story as well !

  11. Hi Paul. A particularly nice build of my favourite version of the 109. Your finish is superb & the colours really look right. I like the bio as well.

  12. Very well-kept and precise work, thank you for speaking to us of have German ace Otto Shultz.

  13. Great build, Paul. It's strange (or maybe not when you think about it) the some pilots just 'took' to a new mark of airplane, as Otto clearly did with the Frederich.
    JG 27 was legendary and there are so many outstanding pilots who flew (and died) with the outfit, including one of my personal favourites, Franz Stigler. This is a great choice and thanks for the back story.

Leave a Reply