Bf109F-2 W.Nr.6661 of Heinz Klöpper 11./JG 51 - Red or Black 12?

[Maciej Góralczyk]

Hello,

The profile of this aircraft in new Claes Sundin book shows a red number with a darker red outline. Most of the books with pictures of 11./JG 51 Bf 109 Fs simply describe the numbers as black.
A photo of Klöpper's mount in my possesion indeed shows a number with darker outline than its interior and the shade of colour of the interior of the number is different than the black areas of Balkenkreuz and IV Gruppe's cross aft to it. Of course, it could f.e. indicate a matt finish too.
Do any loss reports or other sources confirm red numbers on Bf 109 Fs of 11./JG 51 during Summer-Autumn 1942?

[John Beaman]

Of the 32 F-2 losses by 11./JG 51 in the QM records I have access to, 11 are listed as black, while others have no nummer farbe listed.

[thenelm]

Doing a db sort by color of code and date results in minimal returns for JG 51 109s. They seemed to use this color either very early (1939) or from July 44 for particular Staffel colors. The one instance I have is from a photo of what I recorded as 'red 1' from 41-42 which is most likely due to taking the Stipdonk/Meyer interpretation in the JG 51 photo book as stated - the loss data, as John mentioned, doesn't support that.

[Maciej Góralczyk]

Gentlemen,

thank you both for your replies.