[Larry Hickey]

Matti, Goren & Seaplanes:

Thanks for further info and details. Much appreciated.

1) Regarding Bönsch, Ulf Balke in Vol I of "Der Luftkrieg in Europa" lists him as the StaKap of Z. St./KG30 as of 10.05.40.

2) As of that date, the unit was authorized 15 Ju88Cs, but only had five on hand, of which one would have been 4D+FH, which crash landed and was written off in Norway that day. This bears on the issue of how many Ju88C-1s were produced, and if there was more than one or two. Since the C-2 didn't begin coming off the assembly lines until sometime in June, all Ju88Cs assigned to Z.St./KG30 prior to that period had to have been C-1s, which means a minimum of five and probably at least several more through the end of May and into early June, 1940, which would have been the earliest possible date that any C-2s could have arrived at the unit, assuming that German records on production of the subtype are correct.

Does anyone have any further strength reports for Z. St./KG30 after May 10th, especially on June 1st and July 1st, 1940. This info should exist.

I'm trying to get at a determination of whether the photo (4D+DH) that Goran posted above was a C-1 or could have been a C-2, as that is the second profile that I want to use for this unit for the EOE book series. It looks like it has the clipped wing of a C-1. Are we in agreement on this? This means I will use 4D+FH for the first one (representing the period for May, 1940), and 4D+DH for the period June, 1940, and displaying the later markings used by the unit. Does anyone disagree with that?

It would be nice to know how many total Cs served with the Zerstörer Staffel during its brief existence, and if any C-2s actually reached the unit before it became a nightfighter unit, but that isn't essential for the profile part of the EOE Project. However, that might help resolve the issue of how many Ju88s were actually produced in the C-1, short wing configuration. Do production records exist for the C subtype during April and May, 1940?