[Larry deZeng]

Hi Kutscha -

As you can see below, Gölucke, a Luftwaffe document in T-321 roll 10, and the Caldwell/Muller book all have it at Hesepe. Why the conflict with the Michael Holm website? Because it may have been using both Hildesheim and Hesepe at that time. But its operational missions were clearly launched from Hesepe. The only source that advocates Hildesheim through at least 1 Jan 44 is Dierich in a book he wrote 50+ years ago.

II./ZG 26 (2nd Formation)

Formation. (Oct 43)
Formed 13 October 1943 at Hildesheim near Hannover (ex-III./ZG 1) with Me 410s. An Me 410 A-1 crash landing at Hesepe (25% with 2 injured) reported in the Loss Reports for 26 August 1943 suggests that an advance party of former III./ZG 1 pilots was already receiving conversion training from the Me 210 to the Me 410 and that the formation of II./ZG 26 was planned, although the official date of re-designation was not until 13 October.

Germany - Air Defense of the Reich
14 Oct 43: intercepted 8th AAF attack on ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt by some 230 4-engine bombers losing 2 Me 410s shot down by return fire in the target area and 3 aircrew KIA.
30 Oct 43: II. Gruppe based at Hesepe.
13 Nov 43: intercepted 8th AAF attack on the port of Bremen with 115 bombers and 47 P-38 fighter escorts losing 4 Me 410 A-1s shot down and another damaged in the Diepholz-Lohne area/SSW of Bremen plus 3 aircrew KIA and 5 WIA.
6 Dec 43: II. Gruppe still based at Hesepe.
20 Dec 43: intercepted another attack on Bremen by 8th AAF, this time with 470+ bombers and an escort force of some 80 P-51s and P-38s - II. Gruppe lost 1 Me 410 A-1 shot down and a Bf 110 G-2 damaged (80%) with 2 aircrew KIA.
31 Dec 43: II./ZG 26 based at Hesepe.
Jan 44: II. Gruppe based at Hildesheim.
11 Jan 44: intercepted 8th AAF attack on aircraft factories in Central Germany claiming 3 B-17 Fortresses while losing 2 Me 410 A-1s.
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…………………………..etc.

Footnotes
Dierich – Verbände der Luftwaffe; Kannapin - Die deutsche Feldpostübersicht 1939-1945; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs).
BA-MA Loss Reports; Carter/Mueller – Combat Chronology: USAAF in World War II.
Golücke, Friedhelm, Schweinfurt und der strategische Luftkrieg 1943 (Paderborn, 1980).
BA-MA Loss Reports; Carter/Mueller – op cit.
NARA WashDC: RG 242 Microcopy T-321 roll 10.
BA-MA Loss Reports; Carter/Mueller – op cit.
Caldwell/Muller – The Luftwaffe Over Germany: Defense of the Reich (London: Greenhill, 2007), p.317.
Dierich – op cit.
Prien/Rodeike - Jagdgeschwader 1 und 11: Einsatz in der Reichverteidigung von 1939 bis 1945, p.677.

L.