[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

I'm pondering a mystery. I recently acquired a photo of a Bf110, probably a "D" model, that was very likely taken on the airfield at Cherbourg, France, most likely during the summer or early fall of 1940. It was probably from 1. Staffel. The remarkable thing about the photo, since it was known to have been taken in the west, is that it carries at least six white victory tabs on the fin. According to John Vasco, who has worked closely with me on this, a photo of the unit scoreboard after the Battle of Britain indicates the unit scored a total of 12 victories to the end of 1940. Only a couple of these are by known pilots. No one in EGr210 is known to have scored this kind of total. Besides someone in the unit claiming this many victories, it could have been a pilot who transferred in with some victories already to his credit. The other possibility is that the plane was transferred in from another unit (mostly likely 1./ZG1) already carrying several victory tabs, which were perhaps added to by the pilot while he was in EGr210. This does not appear to be the aircraft of Victor Mölders, whose Bf110 with 7 victory tabs while with 1./ZG1 is known. His a/c carried the old, solid uppersurface camouflage, and this one has the later, mottle-sided finish typical of early Ds.

John immediately thought of Wolfgang Schenck, who joined 1./EGr210 on 4.9.40, and soon became the Staffel Kap, and later the Gr. Kdr. Schenck is known to have had two earlier victories to his credit with 1./ZG1 during the FC, but his RKT bio says that he scored only two of his 18 victories in the west. Either this bio is wrong, or this can't be Wolfgang Schenck's aircraft. It wouldn't be the only error in the RKT bios (Eduard Tratt comes to mind), but is seems somewhat unlikely.

So that leaves us with an aircraft whose pilot was a relatively high Bf110 scorer for the period, especially since his unit specialized in fighter bomber tactics. It seems unlikely that one pilot would score half the unit's victories in 1940, and to this day go unrecognized, especially given the intense research John Vasco has done on that unit. Schenck seems unlikely. So who could be the pilot of this aircraft? Does anyone have a good candidate? I reiterate that this was definitely not taken in the east, where such a scoreboard would have been much more plausible.

Regards,