Heavy maintenance work the open air with tools somewhat rough – watch the empty fuel drum used as support for an disassembled wing – of the Messerschmitt Me 210 F6+WK of the Aufklärungsgruppe 122, a Luftwaffe’s reconnaissance Group at Trapani, on the border of Milo airfield, Sicily. The plane is surely a Me 210A-1 of the 2.(F)/122, the Staffel of the Aufklärungsgruppe 122 equipped with this Messerschmitt twin-engines and based at Trapani from January 1942 to June 1943. Therefore the photo was taken likely between this two date. Notice also in background the fuselage of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (impossible establish his unit) and the sheer size of the Mount Erice. Victor Sierra

Heavy maintenance open air

Ground operations around a Messerschmitt Bf 109E of the Luftwaffe’s Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG27) during his brief operational cycle in the Balkans, April 1941, against Yugoslavia and Greece. The airplane has still the original JG27’s emblem used prior to move in North Africa. But a “109” in background seem to have a North African camouflage. Victor Sierra

On a Balkan airfield

Inspection and maintenance of a German fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 with 20 mm cannons in under wing gunpods, at Trapani-Milo airfield, at the foot of Mount Erice, Sicily. Impossible specify exactly the Luftwaffe’s unit of this aircraft: perhaps the JG53 which was deployed in Sicily for many times. Date likely Summer 1942 or Spring 1943. A propeller’s blade has the number 16600. Victor Sierra