According to research done by the blog A history of military equipment of Modern Greece (1821 - today), the
Bloch MB.151 was the most modern fighter of the Greek Airforce in 1940;
clearly superior to the Italian G.50s and at least equal to the
MC.200s.
However, out of the 25 ordered before the German invasion of
France, only 9 were received and even fewer were operational in Oct.
1940.
Due to lack of spares after the fall of France and the fact that
they were initially reserved for the defence of Athens, the MB.151s did
not see as much action as they should.
The Italians and Germans seemed
unaware of their existence in Greece, and would always report them as
British Hurricanes and Spitfires, although these were not operating
there at the time.
While
not massively inferior to any contemporary fighter, the fact that its
engine was optimised for the relatively low altitude of 3km, placed it
at a disadvantage, especially against German BF109Es. It's also worth
pointing out that all 9 MB.151s were delivered with second-hand engines
that were not in good shape and would easily overheat.
According to research by the blog A history of military equipment of Modern Greece (1821 - today)
The photo most probably shows the D 174 (Δ 174) which was strafed by Messerschmitts at Amfikleia airfield, 19 Apr. 1941.
Greek artist Markos Danezis recoloured the rare photograph of the strafed and destroyed MB 151, despite the fact that the quality of the original photo did not make it an easy task.
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