[Andreas Brekken]

Hi

Is 176xxx series the most likely one for this aircraft?

Did 2. Staffel of JG 2 use blue numerals?? Or black as would be 'standard' and also seem to be indicated by Nick's records?

In my opinion this seems to be a classical error made by translating german radio transmissions or other communications. I have often seen the following errors (this is just one example):

Original text:

Lt xxxxxxxxx röm.2 Geschwader Richthofen gefallen

Translation:

Lt xxxxxxxx of 2. JG 2 killed in action

By omitting the crucial röm. which translates to römisches 2 = II the resulting unit designation will be wrong, and the fact that we are really looking for an aircraft from a Staffel using blue numerals in the II. Gruppe, which probably then translate to 8. Staffel, is lost in translation.

II./JG 2 had two accidents on this date, no personnel injuries, so a NVM does not exist for any of these.

But as we have indications from earlier postings, as far as I can recall, that the dates from Alain's source can be a day off, it is probably wise to check the losses for 2.3.1944, when II. Gruppe had incidents involving 3 aircraft, and the pilot sustained injuries in all of them.

Also - the unit REPORTED incidents involving three aircraft in the loss report of 3.3.1944, with two pilots sustaining injuries, and it is of course possible that a mixup between loss and report date have occured. The loss date in this context was 24.2.1944.

I think all of these possible solutions to Alain's little mystery are plausible, and think we should explore them all.

Regards,
Andreas B