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Re: Seeking info/photos concerning Lt. Hans Schmid, of 2./ZG52 & 5./ZG2 during 1940
Johannes/Theo,
Thanx for taking the time to respond about this pilot. Schmid is the most mysterious high-scoring Zerstörer pilot during 1940. I know that he had an extensive career in night fighters, but that is beyond the scope of the Eagles Over Europe Project, which only covers Schmid's day Zerstörer operations during 1940. Johannes, your willing to share your research on his purported claims against British losses is helpful. As serious researchers know, I and II./ZG2 (including I./ZG52) are relatively "black holes" as far as photos and information is concerned for 1940, especially regarding victory claims. As stated in my post my info on that comes from the Ring/Bock victory lists, and, though fragmentary, seem to come from some kind of specific source. Even the "estimated" (turk) listings are specific enough that they had to come from somewhere, although the info was still considered "unconfirmed." I was hoping that now knowing the Staffel he was assigned to (which even Ring/Bock apparently did not know), at least for the Western Campaign (2./ZG52) with him presumably transferring to 5./ZG2 in June, 1940, that this would lead to an identifiable tail scoreboard or something that could then lead to an ID of one of his a/c. Obviously, other serious researchers have the same problem that I have, although I'm still hopeful that someone has the photographic or info key to unlock this door.
Johannes, like you I've long hoped that either through later night fighter unit records (extending back historically to their predecessor units) or a photo of a unit scoreboard, or just a lucky photo or two, info would surface that fills in the gaps in the missing "official" information on these units or at least some of their pilots from 1940, which was apparently destroyed during the war.
Since Schmid did survive the war, I was hoping that someone tracked him down, or possibly some of his descendants, and conceivably his FB could still exist somewhere. I'm still hopeful someone with more information will respond.
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