Henschel Hs 126B-1, 12/11/1942 Captured after being abandoned by the Luftwaffe in Libya (fuel blockage I believe) and pressed into service by 450 Sqn, RAAF (239 Wing, RAF) for operation as a squadron hack aircraft. It was used for communications, local reconnaissance and flights for the ground crew. This aircraft was located by Flt Lt "Nobby" Clarke (RAF) on 12 November 1942, returning from an operation in his P-40 Kittyhawk, he saw the Hs 126 stranded in the desert about 48 km south-east of Sollum.

The next day (13/11) Clarke along with some pilots and two ground crew proceeded in two trucks to where the Henschel was located. 450 Sqn was moving from LG76 to LG139 (Gambut) the next day so they needed to be quick if the airframe was going to be repaired and claimed for the Sqn. The 450 Sqn party swiftly repaired the Henshel and the aircraft was quickly retouched with RAF roundels and the Sqn’s code "OK" (ADF Serials claims that "Tripoli or Bust" was painted on the empennage but I have no photographic evidence of that).

On 14/02/43 the airframe was left at Castel Benito when the Sqn moved forward to El Assa.

The Henschel 126 shown after being initially repainted in the location where it was captured on 14/11/1942. Photo:Cec Cartwright

When found the Hs-126 appears to have been in an overall Sand scheme on the upper surfaces and likely RLM 65 Blue lower surfaces. The cowling was Yellow (common on Luftwaffe airframes in the desert) and it had a White fuselage band for I.D purposes (and very tips of the lower wing). Standard Luftwaffe crosses were carried in six positions with swastikas on the forward tail fin. Codes 5F+CK (indicating it's parent unit 2./(H)14) were carried in Black on either side with a 'C' under each wingtip (it does not appear to have carried that unit's 'Eidelweiss' flower badge). One point to note is that it did not have wheel spats.

The Henschel 126 shown after being initially repainted in the location where it was captured on 14/11/1942. Photo:Leon Henry.

The 450 Sqn personell overpainted the fuselage crosses with roundels that considered of Red/Blue with very rough Yellow outlines. The swastikas were obscured by what appears to be just Red/Blue circles. Under wing crosses were roughly overpainted with Red/Blue roundels (remnants of the original crosses still remained along with the 'C' under each wingtip). As far as I can see there were no upper wing roundels, the crosses just being painted out with paint similar to the original. Finally the 'CK' part of the original fuselage code with overpainted with thin Yellow paint to convert them to 450 Sqn's code 'OK', the '5F' of the original coding in Black remained at this stage. And finally the spinner was repainted Red.

Two images taken after the Henschel 126 had been transferred to the 450 Sqn airfield (note P-40s in background) still in it's initial repainted scheme. Photos:Leon Henry.

Interim Colour Scheme

The next stage in developement saw the cowling being repainted Red (Red spinners and sometime cowlings were typical on captured airframes in N.Africa and Italy) to indicate their Allied status and try to avoid trigger happy ground gunners and fighter pilots from shooting at oneself (which could really ruin our day).

The only photo I have showing the Port side in the early scheme, confirming the '5F' forward of the roundel and 'C' below the wingtip. This image shows well that the colour of the 'OK' code is not White. Photo:Laurie White

As part of my search for info I turned up a Pathe film on Youtube called 'To Benghazi and Beyond (1942)'. Starts off with Army stuff, but 2.45 mins in there is film of them pretending to paint the 'OK' markings on the Hs-126. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYc0tSoeyKk. I previously thought this was taken when it was being repainted in the desert but as we can see that one chap is painting the standard fin flash on the tail plane that is not there in my previous images, it is clear it was filmed later. The person who seems to be painting the fuselage roundel is no doubt faking it as that sort of thing was common in propaganda photos. This image gives a good look at the remnants of the cross below the wings and the White wingtip.