Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Oberfeldwebel Artur Dau of 7./JG 51 was shot down twice during the Battle of Britain, on 29 August he was flying in Bf 109E-4 (1523) White 14. Does anyone know the werk number and call sign for the Bf 109E-4 in which he was shot down on 10 July 1940? A photo in Alarmstart shows the crashed aicraft but the call sign can't be read.

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Call sign or fuselage code? If it is the same photo which shows him standing behind the port wing and a burnt out front section, code is not visible and Jochen Prien doesn't identify it. I was in touch with Dau but did not ask about this

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Hi Chris,

I don't know what the official term is, but I meant the Staffel number, e.g White 14 on his later aircraft. Could this earlier one have carried the same number?

Peter

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Kennzeichen or stammkennzeichen? Probably best to call it tactical code as it identifies Staffel and Gruppe but not unit. As opposed to factory code i.e GC+CG. Whether white 14 was his preferred number I cannot say

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

July 10 is pre-BoB, or?

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

July 10th was the first 'official day of the BOB.

Peter

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

So how did the Luftwaffe pilots communicate with each other in the air?

Fighters: Verbandskennzeichen ie weiss 1 and so on? But what about those with a specific task
as <, <I, << etc?

Bombers and other units using long VKZN?

Cheers
Stig

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

E.g. Adler 1 to Adler 2. Each squadron got his codename before takeoff.

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Shades of the film Battle of Britain with He 111s using the call sign Tomato!

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Thanks Robert
Can you explain it a bit more in detail please?

Were these code names permanent or issued for each mission?
If the latter, they would need the German dictionary to comply.....

Cheers
Stig

PS: I remember that film, but not the vegetable bit.... :)
I and many others from the Swedish Aviation Historical Society were there with an exhibition
with models, photos etc
Jesus, where did time evapaorate.....

Cheers
Stig

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

On the RAF side "Rabbit Squadron airborne!", from the Luftwaffe »Tomate Eins an alle!«

My impression (largely from Pow interrogations and signals monitoring in Italy) was that the callsigns were used for more than one op, though for how long, I don't know. Examples:

ALTVATER ("Patriarch") was III./JG 53 in Summer 1944.

From the body of a pilot thought to be from I./JG 77, Allied Intelligence retrieved a list of callsigns which “confirm the presence in Italy of I./JG 2.” These were Trommelfell (ear drum), Mansarde (attic) and Pilatus (Pilate) and were thought to be used at different times of the month. The fighter control station in the south was Bleistift (pencil)

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Thanks Nick

But all aeroplanes in the Gruppe could not have been Altvater (or whatever).
Since a Gruppe had by that time three or four staffeln I assume they then called out their
colour and Verbandkennzeichen, such as "Altvater weisse ein" and so on....
....which does not explain how our <,<I, << etc made their calls.

And what about bombers/recce and so on what did they use?

Training units where only Stammkennzeichen was used, did they use the German alphabet
for each letter, such as Dora, or whatever names they used?

Cheers
Stig

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

I think name and number would be used. My call sign at 4 FTS was always Alpha 63

Re: Artur Dau 7/JG51 - Bf 109 Call Sign - 10 July 1940
 

Makes only part sense Chris

Just calling "Altvater sieben" for example would mean that applied for all the aircraft with the
digit 7 in the Gruppe unless you added a Staffel colour.

Cheers
Stig