Hi Guys, I need some help with source information of a Luftwaffe nature and I know there are individuals with the knowledge here to help me.
Two tail fins from Schnaufer's Bf 110Gs survive, one in Australia, one in London. Different source information give different aircraft for where these came from. A long held belief is that Schnaufer's last Bf 110G was G-4/R8 WNr 180560, coded 3C+BA and was captured at Eggebeck and decorated in British markings post war and the tail fins are from that aircraft. See thread from WW2aircraft.net forum here:

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/air...c-ba-5807.html

In Phil Butler's War Prizes and Jerry Scutts' German Night Fighter Aces of WW2, both authors assert that contrary to popular belief 3C+BA was not Schnaufer's aircraft. Scutts makes the assertion that his last Bf 110 was G-4 G9+BA, which had its tail fins painted up especially by NJG4 ground crew, but in which Schnaufer never claimed any 'kills'. I have also found an image of 462 Sqn personnel standing next to a left hand tail fin of what is claimed to be G9+BA and that it is this aircraft's fins that survive. Take a look here;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R...aufer_1945.jpg

My questions are as follows; what is the primary source information that states that 3C+BA is actually Schnaufer's aircraft? Also, if 3C+BA is not Schnaufer's aircraft as Butler and Scutts asserts, then where did they get their information from? Authors who make assertions that a widely held point of view is incorrect must do it for a good reason, so, what is these guys' reason? Does anyone have access to Schnaufer's Flugbuch that can confirm any of this?

I have been in contact with AWM in Canberra who advise me that their fin is from the same aircraft as the IWM one, based on the style of the 'kill' markings, which were hand painted, but they did not confirm which aircraft it was from; interesting since the above image is an AWM one.

Can anyone assist as to which aircraft the surviving fins are from?