Winter photo of a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3a (“a” for Ausland/Export) of the FliegerKompanie 21 (Fl.Kp. 21), Schweizer Flieger-und Fliegerabwehrtruppen (Swiss Air and Anti-aircraft Troops), dressed with a flashy shark mouth under the nose. Partially visible over the engine cowling the unit’s emblem and over the propeller’s blades the logo of VD, the German builder of the propeller. The Swiss employed 88 Bf 109E-3, 80 delivered directly by the Germany and 8 built in Switzerland, plus some Bf 109G. Victor Sierra

Shark mouth in the Alps

A Schweizerische Flugwaffe’s Morane D-3801, military registration J-198, flying over Switzerland. The red and white bands (Neutrality Bands) over the wings date this photo after 16 September 1944 when this bands was adopted to avoid errors by Allied planes after an incident occurred on 5 September 1944 when a Swiss Bf 109 was down by mistake by an USAAF’s P-51. The plane of the photo, delivered to Swiss Air Force on 10 September 1942, withdrawn 25 March 1958, is one of the Morane-Saulnier MS.406 built in Switzerland, Swiss Air Force military denomination Morane D-3800/D-3801, by EKW (Eidgenössische Konstruktions Werkstätte/Swiss Federal Construction Works) thanks to a license acquired on 1938. In Switzerland was built, by Adolph Saurer AG, also the engine Hispano-Suiza 12Y-31. Swiss made was also propeller, instruments and machine guns. The Swiss series production of the French fighter was split on two batches: 82 D-3800, registration J-1/J-84; 207 D-3801, registration J-191/J-297. The Swiss industries achieved also some indigenous derivate from the MS.406 built in few number or as prototypes. After the war the D-3800/D-3801 was used as fighter until, 1948, the arrival of the Mustang. Replaced in operational duties by the American fighter, the Morane remained in service as a trainer or target tug until 1959. Victor Sierra

Swiss Morane

A pilot of a Schweizerische Flugwaffe’s Messerschmitt Bf 109 ready for the flight inside the cockpit of his aircraft. The flight suite, oxygen mask included, is well different from that in use in the German Air Force. Victor Sierra