wtf am i watching

Strike Witches is back! Time to be a dork about historical trivia again...

Yoshika takes off from some Helvetian airbase to investigate a Neuroi sighting (Helvetia being this universe’s version of Switzerland) and the only striker unit available is a dusty BF109 variant - because in 1938 the Swiss Air Force ordered a batch of 109s from Germany (after failing to procure Spitfires from Britain) for civil defense. They were neutral, but you need to be able to protect your borders to remain neutral. The planes were originally green with white crosses on red roundels and some red tail striping, but after being shot at too many times by Allied forces they added large red and white “neutrality stripes” to better distinguish them from the Luftwaffe 109s. I can’t find any photos or reference images that match this episodes detailing exactly, but I think the inspiration is definitely there.

Edit: I found the artist’s page for the above image, they sell prints.