Bf109E-4 flown by Franz von Werra

[Cpt_Farrel]

So I finished Franz von Werras Bf109E-4, made famous when he bellylanded it at Winchet Hill, Kent, on September 5, 1940. So many depict this aircraft with white enginecowling except for the camoflage top but it's in fact RLM65 although cleaner than the gundeck cowling. By the way, looking closely at the pictures it's not the enginecowling that has been replaced, it's the gundeckcowling behind it.

I've decided to post each update in a new thread from now on, I'm hoping it will cause more discussion that way.

http://www.cptfarrels.com/Prevs/120220/Bf109E-4_von_Werra_JG3.jpg

[JG52Krupi]

I was under the impression it had a red and white spinner as well!

[kristorf]

Is nice, yessss

[LcSummers]

Thanks Cpt,

beautiful! Great to have now "all" aces for my part.

Thanks a lot:-P

[JG52Krupi]

http://www.cptfarrels.com/Bf-109E-4/Bf109E-4_vonWerra_JG3s.jpg

:D

[acred99]

Hi Anders
Another brilliant skin..
I honestly don't understand why IL2 doesn't hire you.
I went over your blank skins and got the text file Balkenkreuz to match your skin.
I also believe though that the cross side markings are too big for the games 3d model. I copied over the Swass sticker and was wondering in future if you could upload a skin with just the swass sticker and emblems then can just use the games text files.

[Markings]
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_A 0.221913 0.7071732 0.09447055 0.09447055 0 LOCKED
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_A 0.7854398 0.696499 0.09447055 0.09447055 0 LOCKED
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_B 0.548514 0.7048299 0.09933122 0.09933122 0 LOCKED
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_B 0.3658668 0.738389 0.09933122 0.09933122 0 LOCKED
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_A 0.3236505 0.1427099 0.08842197 0.08842197 0 LOCKED
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_A 0.3236505 0.4391748 0.08842197 0.08842197 0 LOCKED

this is a reduced version for the early markings.
I used one of your blank skins to show what I mean.
http://www.asisbiz.com/COD/COD-Bf-109E4-text-coding-example-01.jpg
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_A 0.3036505 0.1427099 0.08842197 0.08842197 0 LOCKED
DE_Balkenkreuz_Type_A 0.3036505 0.4391748 0.08842197 0.08842197 0 LOCKED
Also on this image you can see the overlapping numbers to show how close they are in alinement to your skin. You can see how the Balkenkreuz is also alined to your original skin.
I reduced the number to match but not the Staffel bar but you can do this easily enough. Also the emblem code can be dropped but have shown this is also nearly alined.
http://www.asisbiz.com/COD/COD-Bf-109E4-text-coding-example-02.jpg
DE_Num_Tactical_Fore_RH 0.4177868 0.1427441 0.1011637 0.0758728 0 LOCKED
DE_Num_Tactical_Fore_LH 0.4179033 0.4398254 0.1011637 0.0758728 3.141593 LOCKED

[Cpt_Farrel]

Ha! I got more discussionn, just as I wished! :)

First off, the red backplate on the spinner is propably wrong although not illogical as it would make the spinner look very much like the unit shield. The spinner backplate is very dirty in the photos but the clean parts do look like RLM70 although most of it looks lighter due to dust and mud thrown up in the crash.

Regarding the size of the fuselagecrosses, some units used smaller crosses than others, I./JG52 sometimes did and III./JG26 always did. The standard size though would fit perfectly over two of the fuselagepanels. If the panellines are too far apart in the game then the cross becomes too large. The panellines are dictated by the hardcoded defaultskins so there's nothing to do about them and I've painted the cross accordingly, too large or not.

It's looking great with the game markings combined with mine but I don't understand half of that myself :)

I do get lots of requests to release semi-marked skins with this and that marking left on so it's hard to know what is needed - and it costs bandwidth to have more versions so I've decided to release fully marked and totally blank skins, anyone who wants something in between will have to do a little cut and paste between the two. It's easier for me that way.

[jamesdietz]

A chance for art to imitate life...or is it the other way round?

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d116/jamesdietz/Me109a2.jpg

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d116/jamesdietz/2012-02-21_00002.jpg

[Cpt_Farrel]

That's really cool! Thanks for posting!

[Friendly_flyer]

Very nice skin there, Captain! I really like how you have done the dirt along the flanks behind the engine! It is quite a break for your normally nice and well polished skins.

The camo-line on the gundeckcowling isn't quite a match for the original photo though (your screenshot of the plane in the same position is wonderful, it really lets one get down to the nitpicking details!). It seems the line is not only a tad higher, but also less well defined, as if the paint had been sprayed on with the nozzle held a bit further off from the plane. I'd perhaps go over the gundeckcowling with the smidge tool get the right feel.

[Cpt_Farrel]

You feel free to do that on your skin! ;)

[JG26_EZ]

Nice Skin... Couldn't resist.. S~

Check your pm please Cpt_Farrel.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/JG26_EZ/PSFEBEZ.jpg

[OutlawBlues]

Stunning........a real work of art.

[JG26_EZ]

I came across this today and remembered your skin..

I re-read what you posted about the red nose, but thought I'd show this to you anyways..
Looks very much the same, but with a different pilot. Hard to tell if it's the artist just "adding
some colour", or wether it was actually like that.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/JG26_EZ/ClODskins/E3.jpg


***Edit.. Just found this further down the list.. :/


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/JG26_EZ/FvW.jpg

Please don't take this as discrediting your work.... You've done an excellent job on the skin,
and if I want a red spinner for myself, bad enough, I'll just pop it in there :)

[Cpt_Farrel]

No worries, It's always good when someone else chimes in with alternative information! Keeps me in my toes. :)

Those profiles are older and perhaps based on lower quality photos. I can understand that the cleaner enginecowling could have been interpreted as white, specially as the aircraft had white wingtips.

The spinner just can not be right in those profiles. A quick look at the photos shows the backplate to be in a single color and that the darker of the color on the main cone is darker than the one on the backplate. That makes me certain that the main cone was black and white with an RLM70 backplate.

Some have believed the backplate to be red and that's at least possible given the color differences on the main cone and the backplate.

[Plt Off JRB Meaker]

Just study the B/W photo of his downed plane,that's definatley black and white,that ain't red,yeah sure it's a b/w pic,but match the darkness of the spinner to the darkness of the group markings,they match.

The Capt's skin is correct,IMO.;)..........BTW Capt,superb work,again mate,superb quality,thank you very much.

[JG26_EZ]

Yeah, like I said, it was in no way meant to discredit the artist's work, but merely to point out documentation that could have been missed while researching the skin (I do it all the time heh).

But maybe the results are conflicting because (somewhere along the line) they've mixed one pilot's paintjob with another's? The two pics I posted are of two different pilots (as per the book's description).

For the record, I agree that it looks black aswell. I just thought I'd bring it up politely, before someone did the opposite. :)

S~

PS.. looks like it was a great photo op for the enemy, but looks like it's been stripped since the last photo.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v315/JG26_EZ/IMG_4160.jpg

[Plt Off JRB Meaker]

Hehe........yup those soldiers standing guard over it are as guilty as a puppy standing next to a pile of poo!...........I bet their pockets are bulging with,altemeters,directional gyros,joysticks,and other little finds that have found there way onto their persons.

[JG26_EZ]

I think the two (hiding) behind the 109 are the guilty ones, and probably long gone before this last photo, aswell as those trinkets you mentioned heh :). (top photo on this page of the thread)

[Plt Off JRB Meaker]

Oh yeah,I see them,just peering over the top of the canopy.............'It was'nt me guvnor',lol.

[FS~Lewis]

I suppose you fellas know about the book.....and the film.....Bothworth the time to read and watch..

http://eu.movieposter.com/posters/archive/main/80/MPW-40396

[Matze81]

@FS~Lewis

Cool! I didn't know about either.
I think I'm gonna check out the movie.

Thanks for the hint m8!

[FS~Lewis]

Glad that info was of some use....I have been aware of the film and of the book since a child.....and have personal interest in the story as Hucknall aerodrome (where Von Werra tried to take off in the 'experimental' Hurricane) and also Codnor Park (where Von Werra stopped to chat in the guard room with the railway chaps) are very local to me....

Another point worth mentioning is that 'The One That Got Away' (1957) Movie was made on location in UK using all the original locations even down to the specific wall that Von Werra jumped over to get away across fields....so in some ways it is like a documentary.....its also a GREAT FILM which I have seen a number of times...

Also it is common knowledge that Von Werra fabricated a lot of information both to the british and to the germans at the time of his exploits as a pilot and so the book and film is not only based on Von Werras account of the events but is also coupled with first-hand accounts from many of those involved "First published in 1953 it was probably the first book about WWII that gave an objective and fair view to both sides, and as such, was an immediate sensation. It was filmed in 1956 with Hardy Kruger starring as von Werra."