[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

In doing research for EoE profile packages of Bf110s from NJG1 during the second half of 1940, essentially the period of the initial organization of the Luftwaffe night fighter forces, I've found several photos with undetermined dates of aircraft with black night fighter finishes with these Dackelbauch tanks affixed, sometimes with tanks that haven't been repainted from their blue undersurface color, but others painted solid black to match the finish of the rest of the aircraft. I know that these probably originated with I./ZG76, which used these in Norway from about May to August, 1940, with many of that unit's aircraft and crews then transferring to II and III./NJG1 during the latter part of 1940. Some a/c with W.Nr. for the D-0 subtype are known from photos and loss reports, but I've found no examples from this period from which reliable profiles can be created, especially since the tanks were removable, and aircraft conducting operations during late 1940 may well have not been using them on operational missions during this period. I'd like to show at least one example of a Dackelbauch from this period, and hesitate to show the fuel tank on a Bf110D-0 in the right serial number range without photographic evidence to support it. It is obvious from photography that at least some of these a/c were in use later in the war, which gave the aircraft longer airborne loiter times during their hunts for Allied bombes in their assigned interception zones, but I have no proof of the use of these for operational missions as early as 1940.

Can anyone help me with this?