[INM@RLM]

A footnote to a footnote.

The internal Focke-Wulf company report 'Monatsmeldung für Juli 1940' dated 9-Aug-40 (from the VFW archives) adds some detail to my post #87 comment that "... the same process of remodelling a D-0/B into a purely fighter configuration was likely also applied to more than a few of the Bf 110s being delivered by Augsburg during the earlier part of that month."

Chronologically Focke-Wulf was the second of only three Bf 110 manufacturers to build the Bf 110 D-series (of the four active during 1940). This July report evidences that FoWu commenced D-series deliveries only on 27th, 28th and 31st July 1940 with WNr. 3301-3310 followed by WNr. 3799 - 3804. All except WNr. 3301 were reported as D-0 deliveries; WNr. 3301 delivered on 28-July being reported instead as a D-0/B variant. (So, Yes, WNr. 3301 was delivered as a D-0/B a day later than the deliveries of WNr. 3302-3306 as D-0s.)

Joining these dots logically, and echoing what was evidenced above at Mtt Augsburg with WNr. 3347, around the same time as Mtt had been notified by the RLM letter of 27th June, FoWu had also been instructed to deliver their D-series examples as the D-0/B variant rather than the D-0 sub-type specified in Lieferplan 18 that was otherwise coming into effect on 1st July 1940.
That changeover to the D-0/B was then reversed at a point in July when it had become too late at FoWu to apply this alteration to WNr. 3301 before it was delivered, but still sufficiently early for all the other D-series delivered by FoWu during late July to actually be recorded as D-0s.

FoWu delivered its last C-4, WNr. 3300, on 10-July, 1940. There was then an interval of over a fortnight before deliveries of the Bf 110 D began at FoWu. A reasonable and fair conclusion then is that the subsequent instruction to FoWu to revert their D-series deliveries to the D-0 sub-type, was notified to the company around 20-July-1940.

One further conclusion also follows logically: the new decision to also revert most of Mtt D-series deliveries to the D-0 variant was most probably notified to Augsburg at or around the same time. This likely timing then suggests that around two thirds of Mtt's July deliveries - so around 22 of the 34 D-series delivered by Augsburg that month - were probably reported delivered as D-0/Bs and only post-delivery were these stripped of their bomb racks and reverted to the D-0 subtype (the sub-type that was then rechristened as the D-2 later in July).
[Complicated? Indeed, but there lies the fascination. There is no 1940 loss record and of course no Lebenslaufakte cover to confirm whether FoWu's WNr.3301 was subsequently reverted to a D-0. However it can be deduced that this was indeed what happened since this aircraft was reported damaged in December 1941 with I./NJG 1 as a Bf 110 D-1. Also worth noting is that the cover of the Lebenslaufakte for FoWu's WNr. 3305 - a document also captured by the Allies in 1944 - identified this aircraft as a Bf 110 D-1 rather than a D-0. Whether the D-0 designation at the date of delivery had been noted earlier on this cover and then been struck through later is something that is now lost, but it would appear that this was probably the case.]

That July Bf 110 deliveries from FoWu continued to be reported up to the 9th of August date of this report as only either D-0s or D-0/Bs, also confirms that the newest decision to dramatically cut back the scale of Bf 110 D-0/B deliveries was taken separately from and at a date earlier than the decision recorded in the minutes of the GL meeting of 26-July, 1940 to entirely restyle all Bf 110 D-series sub-type designations.

To methodically correct some of the errors and the multiple internal contradictions published in Mankau+Petrick, later this year I'm planning on pulling together an Excel file titled something like "How to read a 1940 Bf 110 WNr.". I have no clue though as to whether this study might also be of interest to others (or even whether these posts are still being read). However, should anyone wish to see a copy this study once it is ready, please PM me here, with your email address and "How to read a 1940 Bf 110 WNr." in the message title. Sharing will be by scc on an email sent to myself, so the confidentiality of all distribution email addresses will be preserved.