[Jochen Prien]

Gentlemen,

back to the question Den raised - what colour was the Staffelzeichen of 7./JG 26 during the Staffel's service from Sicily in 1941 ?

We have shown a colour photo of a line up of 7./JG 26 a/c at Gela in February 1941 in JFV Vol. 9/I, p. 381, where the colour of the Staffel badge appears to be black rather than red, whereas on another photo from the same neagtive-film - Vol. 9/I, page 382 - the victory bars on the rudder are shown in a bright red. This together with the very dark appearance of the Heart-emblem on many of the numerous b/w photos of 7./JG 26 from this period led to the conclusion, that the colour of the heart was black rather than red.

As we made absolutely clear, this is an assumption, a more or less educated guess, based on the interpretation of contemporary colour photos.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Jochen Prien