"Vati" Moelders' Hand-me-down

Using an old 1/24 scale Airfix Bf 109 E kit that I'd had lying aroound for too long, I’ve finally completed the build of this aircraft which I thought was interesting because of the back story. It’s been a frustrating build and is far from my best work, but I thought I ought to register it in a post for the amusement of others. It got very close to being trashed at several stages. The camouflage reflects the state of JG 51’s 109s of the period.

Ironically, the aircraft (Werke Nummer 3737) was one of the Bf 109 E-4s normally flown by JG 51’s Geschwaderkommodore, Werner Mölders, but on this occasion it had been flown by another member of JG 51’s Stab Flight, Hauptmann Hans Asmus. Vati Mölders had continued to fly his new Bf 109 F and Asmus had taken off in Mölders’ former Bf 109 E-4 with some of the Moelders’ markings unchanged.

Even more ironic, it appears that Asmus had actually been hit by a falling bomb that had been released by one of the fighter-bombers overhead. He’d been flying over mid-Kent at some 26,000 feet and had dived steeply to avoid some British fighters that he’d seen approaching from behind. As he pulled out of the dive on top of a cloud bank, his aircraft suddenly exploded and he lost consciousness, recovering later to find himself sitting in the shattered remains of his cockpit, with the aircraft’s engine and wings nowhere to be seen. He baled out injured, perhaps later amused at the confusion the aircraft’s markings had created in RAF Intelligence.

6 additional images. Click to enlarge.