[Larry Hickey]

Hello Craig, Jim and Matti:

Since I don't know how common these names were in Germany at the time, it is hard to know if Uffz Siegfried Lebsanft and Fw Franz Blaszyk are the people referred to. Definitely could be. It seems strange that someone (Lebsanft) who would be an Uffz in probably early, 1940, would still be one in the fall of 1942, unless he had a major setback in his career, either due to an injury or poor performance. Fw Karl Bubenhofer of 3./JG51 looks like a very strong candidate, although it seems somewhat unusual that he would be not only transferred from his Staffel (4./JG51), but to another Gruppe entirely (3./JG51) within the Geschwader. Certainly not unprecedented, however.

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I hope that we'll get some further inputs on the careers of these three people that might allow us to trace them to service with 4./JG51 sometime during the late-winter or spring of 1940.

Regards,