Looking for picture : Bf 109G-14/AS Croatian AF

[Von Alles]

Hi Gents,
I am looking for a picture of Bf 109G-14/AS (?) 2105 black 5 Croatian AF, surrendered on April 20th, 1945 in Mostar.
Thank you in advance.

[Richard Aigner]

Boris Ciglic, author of "Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Yugoslav Story", published by jeroplan books may be able to help. (book(at)wingsofserbia.com) or www.wingsofserbia.com
Regards, Richard

[Von Alles]

Thank you Richard, I shall try.

[Rémi Baudru]

Hello,
I have been also looking for a photo of this plane.
Can any one tell me the title of a book including a photo ?
Regards.
Rémi

[Richard Aigner]

Boris Ciglic,"Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Yugoslav Story", Vol. 2, p.127 has a photo captioned "..one of the two Gustavs which defected to Jasenica aerodrome on 20 April 1945.."
It shows a parked, intact Bf 109 from 12 o'clock, 3 partisans standing in front of the fuselage. No code visible. There is a 50% chance it is the plane you are looking for....
Richard
P.S.: the other one was "black 3"

[Rémi Baudru]

Thanks you for your answer.
To my knowledge, it is in "Yugoslav Gustavs", an article written by Drags Brasnovic and published in 1982 in "Scale Models" (Warplane special) that was the first (?) color profile of the G-14 coded black "5" with the number "2105" on the fuselage (in fact the last four numbers of the Werknummer).
The author of this nice profile was Danijel Frka.
This article was also illustrated by the same photo you have described (a front view of a 109 with three guys under the propeller).
The author gave an other interesting information : the second 109 was 2103.
So without any photo, this profile is probably only a pure invention.
Regards.
RB

[Von Alles]

2105 was the aircraft registration in the Kroatian AF.
So to this date, only a picture taken from the front is known...
Thank you gents !

[Boris Ciglic]

Sorry for being late in the tread. Unfortunately, so far no photos of 'Black 3' or 'Black 5' have emerged - except the one mentioned previously by Richard. This photo was first discovered by Danijel Frka in the 'Museum of Revolution of the People of Herzegovina' in Mostar. By the time when Josip Helebrant and Vinko Tatarević switched sides and defected to Mostar with these planes in April 1945, the old Croat AF serials ('2103' and '2105') have been overpainted (they should have been - there were orders for their removal and existing photos of Croat AF Bf 109s from that time prove that the orders were carried out).

Regarding the profiles of both aircraft which appeared in some publications, including the one which I co-authored back in 2002, they were not based on photographs but rather on presumptions. At that time, when I provided instructions to John Weal, I was told that Danijel found a second, side shot of 'Black 3' and that his drawing was mainly based on it. However, I learned some time later from Danijel that this wasn't the case.



Cheers,

Boris

[Rémi Baudru]

Hallo,
Thanks for this answer.
Regards
RB