A very rare opportunity to acquire an original piece of World War II Eastern Front aviation history: a fragment from a Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2 of 7./Jagdgeschwader 54, finished in an exceptionally rare multicolored camouflage scheme and believed to have been flown in combat by fighter ace Werner Pichon Kalau von Hofe, credited with 21 aerial victories.
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Jagdgeschwader 54 was the highest-scoring German fighter wing of World War II and conducted most of its combat operations on the Eastern Front. During its 1942 deployment to Finland and the far north, 7./JG 54 became renowned for its exotic, field-applied camouflage. Only a small number of the unit’s Bf 109s carried this distinctive scheme. These aircraft had originally been camouflaged for operations in North Africa but were subsequently sent north to fight the Soviet Air Force in the region around Murmansk. Their desert finishes were modified in the field with additional colors, producing the unusual and highly recognizable multicolored camouflage represented by this surviving fragment.
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This early Bf 109 F-2 may have been flown by Werner Pichon Kalau von Hofe. The partially excavated remains display paint consistent with the aircraft’s distinctive camouflage and offer a tangible surviving example of one of JG 54’s rarest field-applied finishes.
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Werner Pichon Kalau von Hofe was later transferred from JG 54 and assigned to the personal staff of Adolf Galland, while his Bf 109 reportedly continued in combat service with the unit. The aircraft’s remains were recovered in East Prussia, outside present-day Kaliningrad, during the 1980s.
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Each included aluminum relic bears both green and brown original hand-applied camouflage paint. The artwork measures 11 × 17 inches, with an overall framed size of 13 × 19 inches. Each display is ready to hang, signed, and individually numbered - only 1 through 20!
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(ABOVE) Data plate from this aircraft's recovered wingtip from which the parts in these displays were cut.
