[Larry Hickey]

Hello,
What we know is that Galland's first 14 victories were scored in E-4 W.Nr. 936, which he flew both with the Stab of JG 27 and later, to July 20, 1940, as the Gr Kdr of III./JG26. When III./JG26 returned to the Channel front from Germany on July 21st, he was flying another Bf09E-4, W.Nr. 2764, presumably the one with the Hellhound insignia on 9./JG26 on the fuselage under the cockpit. It was in this a/c that he scored his 15th through 17th victories, and is the one for which I'm seeking a photo of his scoreboard depicting 16 or 17 victories. The aircraft "mmoustaf" posted was his next a/c, an E-1, W.Nr. 4820, with which he scored his 18th and 19th victories. He then got another E-4 which he flew into early Sept. However, W.Nr. 4820 must have continued to serve as his back up machine after he got his next E-4, because it has been shown in a number of photos with 22 victory tabs on the rudder. So his ground crew must have been updating the scoreboard on this aircraft, even though he didn't fly it again. The new E-4, and the rest of his planes through the end of 1940 and into 1941, are known from photography. It seems strange to me that an early Knights Cross winner's a/c scoreboard would not have been well photographed, but to my knowledge (reaching back over 50 years), this has never been published anywhere. So where are the photos of this a/c and it's scoreboard? The aircraft of other very early KC winners, such as Mölders and Balthasar are well documented photographically, but not Galland. I would also be most interested in any photos of Galland's 109 with Stab/JG27 or Stab III./JG26 displaying any of his first through 14th victories. Does anyone have such, or can refer me to where these have been previously published? I know that a photo has appeared in an IPMS Germany publication of W.Nr.929 showing three victory tabs from a pilot on the Stab of JG27 during the French Campaign. In the captioning, this was purported to be Galland's machine, but it was not. He didn't fly this a/c during the FC, and scored all of his victories during that campaign in 936.

I hope someone can help me fill this gap in the photographic record of Galland's early Bf109s. If you don't want to post your info here, send me a P.M.

Regards,