Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 by Floyd S. Werner Jr. (Hasegawa 1/48)

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6

by Floyd S. Werner Jr.

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6

Hasegawa's 1/48 scale Bf 109G-6 is available online from Squadron.com

Background

After seeing the Bf 109G-6 model by Andrew Dextras on Hyperscale in November 2003 http://hsgalleries.com/bf109g6ad_1.htm , I really wanted to do Horst Cagarnico’s aircraft.

The interesting thing about this aircraft is obviously the oversized Mickey Mouse character on the side of his aircraft. The Mickey Mouse had two shoes which represented the two times that Carganico was forced down behind Soviet lines and walked back to the German side.

There are very few photos of this airplane. As far as I know there are just two photos of the aircraft in the summer and two in the winter. The winter scheme was the one I wanted to depict so I used the EagleCals sheet, which included one of the photos of the winter paint scheme.

Horst Carganico

Horst Carganico was born on 27 September 1917 at Breslau. He was the son of General der Flieger, Victor Carganico.

Horst joined the Luftwaffe in 1937 as a Fahnenjunker. He learned to fly at pilot school at Berlin-Johannisthal.

At the outbreak of World War 2, Carganico was serving as Technical Officer on the staff of JG 1. From spring 1940, he served as Adjutant of II./JG 77. He served in Norway with this unit arriving there on 11 April 1940. He gained his first victory on 21 June 1940 when he claimed a RAF Hereford near Bergen. He had, in fact, shot down a RAF Beaufort attempting to bomb the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst near Bergen. Several victories followed before II./JG 77 was transferred to the Channel Coast on 9 November 1940. He claimed his fifth victory on 30 November, when he shot down a RAF Blenheim bomber.

A promotion to Oberleutnant occurred around this time. Carganico was appointed Staffelkapitän of 1./JG 77 on 1 January 1941 and joined the unit operating from Sola, Norway. He transferred with the unit to Kirkenes in May 1941. He then served as Staffelkapitän with JG zbV which was formed from 1., 14. and 15./JG 77. On 25 July, he claimed a Russian flying boat shot down. Carganico was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 25 September for achieving 27 victories: only the second fighter pilot in the north to do so (first was Hugo Dahmer). In January 1942 I./JG zbV was incorporated into JG 5 as I./JG 5. 1./JG 5 was renamed 6./JG 5 in March 1942. Carganico retained leadership of the Staffel through these changes. In spring 1942, he claimed 23 victories in the six weeks to the end of June.

Hauptmann Carganico was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 5 in April 1942. Carganico suffered engine failure in Bf 109 F-4 (W.Nr. 10 256) on 22 July necessitating a forced landing at Murovskij. He returned to his unit the next day.

On 12 August, Carganico was part of a Schwarm escorting a reconnaissance Fw 189 over the Liza front and Murmansk. The formation was intercepted by Russian fighters and in the ensuing combat Carganico’s aircraft received hits. The damage was sufficient to force an emergency landing in Bf 109 F-4 (W.Nr. 10 132) near Motovsk. He evaded capture and returned safely to his unit the next day.

On 26 March 1944 Hauptmann Carganico was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 5 participating in the Reichsverteidigung. Following aerial combat with USAAF B-17 four-engined bombers on 27 May 1944, he was killed when Bf 109 G-5 (W.Nr. 110 087) crashed into the ground after hitting high tension cables while Carganico was attempting to make a forced landing near Chevry, France.

Horst Carganico shot down 60 enemy aircraft in about 600 missions. He recorded six victories over the Western front.

Construction

This is the 1/48 scale Hasegawa Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 kit with a Cooper Detail interior upgraded with the Eduard Color Etch seatbelts.

There was nothing out of the ordinary with the build. Everything fit exceptionally well and everything worked as advertised. I did really like the spiral masks as they made that job so easy it isn’t funny.

Painting and Markings

I didn't get the pre-fade/post-shade that Andrew has mastered, but I still like the results of my model.

I painted it with Tamiya Dark Grey which when lightened looked great. By accident I discovered that the white with a little bit of the gray gave me the look I was looking for.

I used a lot of weathering on this model as the real thing was operating in the snow and mud. The exhaust was a mix of Tamiya Red Brown and Flat Black used liberally. Mud splatters were done with a toothbrush and some thinned Tamiya Dark Earth. The bristles were loaded with the thinned paint and flicked behind the wheels. I got a concentrated but random splatter pattern.