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Tom Cleaver
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Late war JG 26 Bf-109K-4 (1/32 Hasegawa)

July 11, 2013 · in Aviation · · 17 · 2.3K

This Bf-109K-4 is done as an airplane flown by Georg Genth of III/JG 26 around the time of Operation Bodenplatte. Genth was the son of a WW1 German aviator who flew Gotha bombers, and joined the Luftwaffe as a "nachwuchs" (literally, "new growth") in the spring of 1944 with something like 100 hours total and under 15 in the Bf-109; he managed to survive the slaughter of the innocents over Normandy that summer and kept up with the steep learning curve. In early 1945 he was transferred to III/JG 54 (later IV/JG 26) when III/JG 26 was deactivated due to heavy losses, and then flew the Dora-9. He is believed to be the pilot who shot down David C. "Foob" Fairbanks, the top-scoring Tempest pilot of the war, on February 28, 1945 (while flying a Dora). Genth's son, Thomas, is fairly well-known nowadays as a modeler on the internet.

I decided to do a late war scheme that emphasized the way the Bf-109s were produced at the end, with wings and horizontal stabs coming from one manufacturer in 75/82/76, while the fuselage was painted 81/82/"84" Sky. The 1/32 K-4 kit isn't always that available these days - this one was built in 2005 shortly after it was originally released.

Reader reactions:
12  Awesome

13 additional images. Click to enlarge.


17 responses

  1. Profile Photo
    said on July 11, 2013

    Great 109 Tom. I like the late marks such as the K4 & the G14.

    • They're fun when it comes to painting because you can speculate (intelligently) and no one can really prove you wrong. I use that shade of tan as a result of seeing a part from a 190 that Jerry Crandall once showed me as an example of the unknown "RLM 84".

  2. A fine choice of colors. That is a most impressive 109. I like the later models best. You really inspire me Tom..

  3. That's sure different. I like the mix and match.

  4. Nice subtle touch with the gun on the fuselage. Please don't tell it was hand painted. I appreciate models that don't have over stated pre-shading & panel lines.
    Well done Tom.

  5. Beautifully finished as are all your models, Tom, you make me want to build one! How do you get the spiral on the spinner?

    • Did the spiral the easy way, with a decal. Before there was much aftermarket, I would do it with a lot of masking using personally cut very narrow masking tape bits - what a drag.

  6. Really well done.

  7. "Operation Bodenplatte"...didn't I just hear that on one of the Dogfight episodes? The ill-fated raid by the Luftwaffe on the American P-47/P-51 base called "Y-29" (the slag heaps in Belgium, I think).

    • Not just Y-29 - they hit as many Allied airfields in Belgium as they could. This was supposed to have been the opening operation of what became the Battle of the Bulge, back on December 16, but bad weather canceled it. By January 1, the German offensive had been stopped, but the air attack still happened. It was basically the Luftwaffe's last gasp.

  8. fine looking piece...loved the term "slaughter of the innocents"...reminds me of the old dawn patrol

    • Well, what happened to the Luftwaffe was that between January-April 1944, they lost a good 60% of their trained pilots in "the Battle of Germany." These were replaced by youngsters with much less training and no experience, who were close to overwhelm in just flying a fighter straight and level, which made them perfect targets for the now highly-experienced Allied pilots during the battles over France in the summer, which some Germans called "the slaughter of the innocents" because these kids didn't know enough to get out of their own way. Some (like Georg Genth) survived, most didn't, and were replaced with kids with even less experience - the continuing "slaughter of the innocents" was only stopped by the Luftwaffe running out of gas after the oil industry attacks in the summer of 1944, so they weren't airborne to be shot down.

  9. Very interesting and high-quality paint! I liked it))!

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