Dear Jochen,
Thanks for your precisions; though from 3./JG 77, you are correct about this plane not being Kaulard’s one.
The photo published by Erik Mombeek in his LuGa 4 does show a 3./JG 77 “Gelbe 7” identified by the JG 77 emblem clearly to be seen on the engine cowling still in place atop the engine. A careful comparison with the two other photos mentioned does show the exact same pattern and size for the fuselage camouflage dots. I’m thus confident all three photos do represent a 3./JG 77 machine with the same tactical markings as the plane in which Kaulard was found dead.
This obviously does not solve the issue of the location: the district of the former village Weidenbach near Niederhenckenbach is 150 km away from Hotton
http://www.hammer-eifel.de/Hammer-We...g1939-1945.htm and this former area was overrun only after 8 March 1945 by the US 3d Army.
A quick comparison of landscape features to be seen on one of the photos published on
www.usmilitariaforum.com helps us out: the relatively flat farmland with a poplar alley and farm buildings seen in the background do absolutely not fit the hills with dense forest surrounding Niderheckenbach. It thus confirms this "Gelbe 7" can't be Kaulard's plane. The three photos we know thus show another "cold case"...
Sincerely
Marc