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Re: Seeking photos of Stab and 5./StG77 Ju87Bs showing the rabbit insignia during or after the Polish Campaign
Hello,
It is now apparent that the date info in markings reference publications about the 5./StG77 running Polish rabbit insignia is incorrect in both Ries and K & R. This is reported as being used only during 1939, with the black panther insignia then presumably replacing it. However, I've noted that S2+JN of that unit, which FL on the Ham Manor Golf Course in Sussex, England, on 18 August 1940, was still carrying the rabbit insignia. It had a W.Nr. and tail-center swastica that dates the a/c as being in service with that unit during the Polish Campaign period almost a year earlier. What this apparently means is that a/c of the unit serving when the insignia was originally applied at Radom AF during the PC, continued to carry this insignia until they were lost or transferred out.
This raises the question of when the second version of the unit insignia, the crouching black panther, was first used. Was it only applied to new aircraft being assigned to the unit after a certain date, but never retroactively applied to a/c with the previous rabbit insignia? This will have to be resolved before we can hope to do accurate color profile artwork for the 1940 period.
Does anyone have any dated photos or info that would confirm the date this changeover began? Do any photos exist of confirmed 5./StG77 aircraft operating with the new black panther version of the insignia during the Western Campaign of May-June, 1940?
Regards,
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