On the 21st of September 1939 the Morane Saulnier 406 of sub-lieutenant Marius Baizé engages with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 over the skies of Lorraine. As this is a true story I didn't make up any stupid name for where this event really happened.
The ME-109 E-3 was one of the best fighters in the world by then, together with the Spitfire. Well armed and fast, the ME-199 of the experient Erich Mix (I./JG 53) destroys 3 MS 406 on the 21st of September over Sarreguemines and 4 others on the 22nd November, over Saarbrücken.
This is a text from Wikipedia about Erich Mix, a surprising and dangerous one and a bit the reflex of the world we are living today:
"In his first term as mayor of Wiesbaden, most of the Jewish community of Wiesbaden, some 2,700 people in 1933, were murdered and their synagogues were burned, under Mix's leadership. However, he was again elected mayor in 1954, and he is buried in the honorary section of the Wiesbaden graveyard."
Well...
The model is a converted KP Avia S-199. The camouflage breaks with the Dark Green// Green pattern used in Poland introducing some grey in the top fuselage.
The MS 406 alone are credited with 187 kills from the 3rd of September 1939 up to 25th June 1940 even if it was outclassed by the ME 109. This particular plane is of Marius Baizé (I/3 Fighter Group), the first French pilot KIA after having its plane shot down by Erich Mix on the 21st September 1939. Marius Baizé bailed out too late with his parachute on fire and fell into a river.
The model is Hasegawa.
Next: Recovery Scammels for the 1st AD in France 1940.
A real"dogfight double", great painting JP.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. Glad you liked it.
ReplyDeletenice work mate!
ReplyDeletecheers
Matt
Thanks Matt. Cheers
ReplyDeleteGermany is a serious country and it takes its heroes seriously. All denizification was fiction. To this day, almost every German claims that his grandfather was a musician in the regimental orchestra during the war - these orchestras were very large. :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat text Robert. We have the same issue here with political police from Salazer, the PIDE. Our orchestra people used to have their fingers broken if playing anything out of tune.
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