History:

The third Gruppe(Group) of ZestorerGeschwader 26 was the longest-serving Zestorer(Destroyer, or heavy fighter) unit assigned to the Mediteranean theater of operations, the Gruppe arriving in Sicily in December of 1940, and finally being withdrawn in July of 1943. The 3 Staffeln of III/JG 26 operated independently, with the 8th Staffel (squadron) of ZG 26 spending much of its time in North Africa. 3U+KS served with the 8th Staffel its duties including convoy escort over Rommel's vital (and vulnerable) supply lines across the Mediteranean, and ground attack in support of the Afrika Korps.

3U+KS and SB+GD, somewhere over the Mediteranean.

Colors:

3U+KS appears to have been finished at the factory in Sand (RLM 79) upper surfaces and azure (RLM 78) lower surfaces. This is borne out by the fact that all factory stencilling, including frame numbers for the fuselage, are clearly present on the airframe; these were generally not re-applied when aircraft were repainted in the field. The many color photos of this subject corroborate this. This aircraft shows all the signs of heavy use, from sun-fading of the paint to the heavy exhaust staining from the engines. The aircraft letter and tips of the spinners were applied in the Staffel color of red. The "Horst Wessel" insignia of ZG 26 appeared on both sides of the nose, and the white band common to aircraft serving in the Mediteranean area appeared on the rear fuselage.

References:
John Weal, Messerschmitt Bf 110 Zestorer Aces of WW 2 (Osprey Aviation/1999)
W Held & E Obermaier, Die Deutsche Luftwaffe im Afrika-Feldzug, 1941-1943 (Motorbuch Verlag/1981)

Thanks to James Grimes for permission to do repaints for his excellent Messerschmitt bf-110C Zestorer. The original model can be downloaded from: Virtual RLM for Combat Flight Simulator 2.

Copyright Info: This repaint is released as freeware, for all to use and enjoy. The repainted textures may not be used in any commercial package or project, nor may they be sold or altered for any purpose without the express permission of the author. This is my blood and sweat, if I'm not going to make any money off it, nobody else is either!

This notice does not supercede the original copyright of James Grimes for his creation! Please respect both my rights as an authorized repainter, and his as the creator of this virtual aircraft!

I do not guarantee that this plane will work on your system. It works on mine, sorry but everyone else has to figure it out for themselves. I had no problems with it, but I offer no warrantees. Your computer blows up, you are on your own.