IL2

Messerschmitt Bf-109E JG27.2 (B3+) El Gazala, North Africa June 1941 00

Messerschmitt Bf-109E.7 Trop Black 3 of 2./JG27, Gazala, 1941 The camouflage colours and the pattern on this aircraft are unusual. Apart from the fading on the wing uppersurfaces as remarked in the caption to the photographs, the 02/71 has been greatly modified. Areas of 02 around the fuselage number show where a previous identity has been overpainted and a large area under the cockpit has also been repainted in a colour resembling Blue 76, over which have been sprayed Green 70 stripes. The spinner was Green 70 with a white segment.

Messerschmitt Bf-109E JG27.2 (B3+) El Gazala, North Africa June 1941 01-03

Photo’s 01-03: Two views of the same Bf-109E-7Trop, Black 3 of 2./JG27, believed to have been taken at Gazala. The aircraft has retained its European colour scheme of 02 and 71 on the uppersurfaces and Blue 65 undersurfaces, but, as the marked contrast between the tone of the black Balkenkreuz and the Green 71 on the wing shows, the 71, normally a very dark colour, has bleached to a medium green.