This kit is by Czech manufacturer Eduard, the first I have made by this particular manufacturer. It’s a very high quality kit and not too expensive. It is called a Weekend edition as it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of some of their more advanced kits which have lots of photo-etch parts. I am not a great fan of photo-etch, its very fiddly and a lot of the time you can hardly see the extra detail anyway as it’s usually hidden away in the cockpit or fuselage.
The Me109, as I am sure you are all aware, was the German workhorse fighter which bore the brunt of Luftwaffe front line duties in the Second World War. It was designed by Willy Messerschmitt and conceived as an aircraft with the best possible performance for the specified weight, size and aeordynamic qualities. It was a relatively small aircraft and incorporated some revolutionary features for the times such as low wing design, retractable landing gear, wing slats, landing flaps, weapons firing through the propeller hub, etc
The first combat use of the Bf109s was in the Spanish Civil War (December 1936). By the invasion of Poland in 1939, it was probably the best fighter in continental Europe. However, during the Battle of Britain it’s first weakness was revealed: the inability to carry drop tanks which severely restricted its range. However, its Daimler engine did have fuel injection unlike the Spitfire which only had a carburettor and so the engine didn’t cut out like the Spitfire’s Merlin during a dive.
The ‘F’ or ‘Friedrich’ variant took on an offensive role in North Africa and in operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the USSR. It was followed by the ‘G’ version and then the ‘K’. By the end of the war, the development of the Me109 was exhausted even though it had largely kept up with the foes it encountered.
After the war, some Me109s saw service with the Swiss air force until 1949, and many flew in the Czechoslovak air force though with a different power plant in some cases. They also served in the fight for the independence of the newly formed state of Israel and Finland only retired theirs in 1954. Spain didn’t retire its re-engined Bf109s until 1967. Many of these were used in the film ‘Battle of Britain’ (1969), starring Laurence Olivier, Robert Shaw and Michael Caine.
This model depictsBf 109G-4/R6/trop flown by Lt. Franz Schiehs, CO of 8/JG 53, Tindja Tunisia, April 1943. Oberleutnant Schiehs shot down 55 enemy aircraft and was awarded the Knight’s Cross on June 21st 1943. On September 2nd, 1943, he led an attack of American bombers over Mount Vesuvius, an event from which he did not return. It is assumed he was shot down by an escorting American P-38. The camouflage scheme is the standard RLM 78 and RLM 79 with RLM 04 yellow. It carries the white theatre band around the fuselage towards the rear for the Mediterranean theatre of operations. Yellow was used on the Eastern Front.
