help deciphering hand writing
 

Can someone decipher what the name of the Kanal is mentioned in the attachment? If it helps any, this was written on the back of a picture of 3./706 He 59

TIA

Adam

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Possibly a misspelling of Wimereux north of Boulogne?

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Hi...

I believe this may be a modernised version of Suetterlinschrift, and that there are seven characters here, most likely: W?inere.

The word 'flugzeug' above it has a curved accent above the third and seventh charachters, denoting a 'u'. 'N's looked similar, so were denoted by a straight bar above them, hence I think the fourth character in this placename is an 'n'. The second character is smudged, but possibly was a vowel, perhaps an 'a' or 'e'...? There is an outside chance, however, that the dot above the second and third characters relates to the second, in which case it would be an 'i' and possibly leaving he third character as a 'c', although I think this is a long shot.

So, it could be either 'Wainere/Weinere' or I think less likely 'Wicnere', and quite possibly as mentioned before by Chris, a misspelling or a German verson of a particular placename.

And finally, yes, I know... I've mentioned it before, but it really is worth repeating, that the following is an excellent link for understanding Suetterlin, and you can try your hand with the exercises, then set about deciphering all the previously undeciphered writing on the back of photos... :D

http://www.suetterlinschrift.de/

Regards...

Paul

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

"Wasserflugzeug bei Winiere Kanal"

This is not a Sütterlin Schrift, it is a very normal german writing

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Many thanks for the help. It was the place name I was stuck on. The next question is, were is this kanal? I did a quick google search and came up empty.

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Hi Adam

Because the word 'Kanal' is below the others I believe this could refer to the English Channel.

Regards

Chris

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

The English Channel.

To the Germans it's the «Ärmelkanal» or «Kanal» for short. («Ärmel» = "sleeve" which I guess is a reference to its shape).

The next question is whether there's any such place as Winière or Wimère or even Wissère (if it's a French/Belgian name then you'd expect the accent on the first "e"). Google Maps doesn't give a hit on any of those, so either we're misinterpreting or the original is misspelled.

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

A slight spanner in the works is that according to Holm, 3./Ku.Fl.Gr. 706 redesignated on 22.10.39 to 1./Ku.Fl.Gr. 906 so could not have been anywhere near the English Channel. Therefore the 'Wasserflugzeug bei Winiere Kanal' must be somewhere in Germany. Back to square one.

Cheers

Chris

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Further issues to all this:

I took "IX/31" to note 'September 31' [as in 31st September] but September doesn't have 31 days... so maybe it means IX/39, as in September 1939. In either case, it has to be KFlGr 706 because KFlGr 906 was activated until late October '39. This means 3./706 is the only candidate and during September 1939 the unit was based at Norderney until it's redesignation as 3./906 on 22.10.39. So the English Channel is still a candidate, but looking at the picture it looks like a channel coastline. The attached is the second version of the notation. Next picture will be a cropped version of the coastline


[edit] for some reason I can't upload a refined picture of the coastline so only the eBay pic will do: http://cgi.ebay.de/FOTO-FLUGZEUG-WAS...item5637ad2354

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

... not IX but XI

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

... or XI/31 was an internal sign of the photo shop and had nothing to do with an date (was used another pencil) ...

Best wishes
Rasmussen

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Hi Adam and happy new year to you.
Could you read the markings for the He 59 and post it on the forum.
It should read 8L+ - L for 3./706.
I have the following locations for 3./706 before it became 3./906 on 25.10.39:
01.09.39 Dievenow
03.09.39 Pillau
04.09.39 Norderney
29.09.39 List (where the unit remained until re-designated)

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

Hi Seaplanes and happy new year to you as well.

The aircraft letter as stenciled on the nose is 'D'. This is odd, as the KTB for 3./906 only mentions late-end alaphabet lettered aircraft (listed for November 1939 are: N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z) There is nothing visible under the wing. Also there does not seem any obvious signs of damage to the aircraft.

As for the 'IX' and 'XI' foul up, must be the dyslexia kicking in and if this then stands for November 39, the unit must therefore be 3./906.

Re: help deciphering hand writing
 

If it's November 1939 it cannot be the English Channel as the Western Campaign had not begun, besides the second picture is classic Northern German coastline.