[F19Gladiator]

Originally Posted by Peter Cornwell

Goran,

The exact details of the 1./JG26 emblem are attached. I cannot offer you any photos but the form is taken from the Staffel stick-pin of Gustav Kemen who was captured on 14 August 1940.

Thank you for the picture Peter, very much appreciated!

Studying this variant I find that it shows some differences to the versions seen on the photos I have posted on this thread:

• The shape of the wings is different. The aircraft versions have more elongated wings with markedly more pointed tips.

• The position the wings are shown is different. The needle has an obvious U-shaped area between the wings which is different on the aircraft versions and more V-shaped.

• The position of the head differs as the aircraft versions tend to show a head, or what ought to be intended to be a head at least, above an imaginary horizontal line where the body ends.

The pin version showing a head turned down below the above mentioned line.

When the emblem is painted on the fuselage it seems that a white background has been added to make the emblem stand out, this giving the aircraft version bird wings look as they have white wing primaries and secondaries tips.

The drawing based on the pin is an interesting addition to understanding the emblem.

Another conclusion is that the actual emblem as seen on the 109s or as per the pin are quite different from the version commonly seen in print, for example in "Luftwaffen Embleme 1939-1945" by Ketley and Rolfe, p.49. This "litterature version" is also posted further back on this thread for comparison.

There is also a small (very small?) chance that the eagle pin found on the pilot was coincidential and had nothing to do with the unit emblem, even if most Luftwaffe afficienados would turn that objection down, though I believe a skilled attorney could achieve it receiving "Circumstantial evidence" status at most in front of a court!

Thanks again Peter!
Cheers!
Goran