1:48 Bf 109K-4

A standard that was to replace all the others

The K series arose out of the need to simplify manufacture, which by the end of 1944 had broken up into dozens of partial modifications. The K-4 sub-version had a pressurized cockpit, a cannon firing through the propeller axis and a drive for a short-term increase in engine power. It reached the units in the last months of the fighting, when experienced pilots and fuel were both lacking, so only a minority of crews made use of its potential. The canopy without a transverse frame was fitted to this sub-version as standard and the view from it was the best of the whole family.

Arrows and bars of command machines

Anyone who pays attention to markings recognizes a commander at first glance. A horizontal arrow pointing forward belonged to a group commander, a double arrow with a bar to the commander of the whole wing, a triangle and a circle to lower posts. Ordinary aircraft instead carried a numeral whose color corresponded to the squadron: white the first, black or red the second, yellow the third. On the rear fuselage behind the cross a wavy line, a bar or a circle was added according to the group within the wing. The system was clear enough that from a single photograph one can determine who sat in the cockpit and what his position was.

Working with the inner set

The inner stencils are applied before the cockpit is assembled, while access to the glazing is still comfortable. They are sprayed in the interior shade, and only then is the canopy fitted and masked from outside. The procedure is one step longer, but the result looks more convincing than a transparent frame seen from inside the cockpit. The cockpit shade on late examples tends to be light gray, though on machines from substitute production darker variants also appear.