Bf-109
E-7 "White 1"

About This Build

The Subject

Werner Machold was one of the Luftwaffe's foremost aces of the early war years, a Staffelkapitän of 7./JG 2 Richthofen whose score climbed to 32 confirmed victories during the ferocious Channel Front fighting of 1940 and 1941. Flying from bases along the Pas de Calais, Machold participated in operations across the Battle of Britain and the subsequent sweeps over southern England, earning the Knight's Cross and the Oak Leaves in recognition of his exceptional tally. His career over the Channel came to an abrupt end on 9 June 1941, when he was shot down and taken prisoner — one of the most experienced German fighter pilots to fall into Allied hands during the entire western campaign.

The Kit

The kit is the classic Airfix Bf-109 E in 1/72 scale, an old but still very buildable moulding with acceptable surface detail at this scale. Two aftermarket upgrades lift the model above the baseline: an ICM spinner (the solid version, without the opening, which suits the E-7 variant's cowling arrangement) and an Eduard photo-etched cockpit set that replaces the kit's basic interior with properly detailed instrument panel, side consoles, and harness. The combination transforms the cockpit from a blank cavity into something that reads convincingly under any reasonable lighting. A 1/48 scale figure was added purely for photographic staging — it does not represent a specific person and was not part of the permanent model display.

Colours & Markings

The winter 1940/41 scheme called for RLM 65 Hellblau on the lower surfaces, and the colour-matching debate for this particular shade is a persistent one among modellers working in smaller scales. For this build Italeri's acrylic RLM 65 was chosen over the Mr. Hobby equivalent — the Italeri tone reads as slightly warmer and less saturated under artificial light, which better captures the faded, chalky quality visible in wartime photographs of Channel-front Emils. Markings are from the Aero-Master decal sheet profile 48-644, providing the "White 1" fuselage numeral and the JG 2 Geschwaderkennung, with Machold's distinctive personal markings applied from the same sheet.