[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

For many years, all the way back to the pioneering Karl Ries books (Vol 4 Markings and Cam., P.103), the reported insignia of 9./KG76 was a red and white shield with three upwardly pointed yellow arrows superimposed over it. This includes the current "bible" by Rolfe and Ketley. However, a couple of years ago, Chris Goss, in his excellent "Do17 in Focus" book by Red Kite, published two photos (P.50) of a battered Do17Z carrying the codes F1+HN, and the purported insignia of 9./KG76 after flying through an explosion on May 17, 1940. This could always by a formerly 9 Staffel a/c which transferred to 5 Staffel without changing or painting out the previous unit's insignia. However, I've done a quick search of the EOE DB, including recently acquired photos of F1+CT that crashed on May 16, 1940, and it clearly carried no insignia, at least on the starboard nose. The DB does not have any example of the purported 9 Staffel insignia associated definitely with a 9 Staffel-coded a/c. Since it has recently become evident that the long-reported insignia of 3./KG76 was probably, in fact, the insignia of 4./KG76, it makes me suspicious that conventional wisdom and reporting about the 9 Staffel insignia may be wrong and that this really was the insignia of 5./KG76. Does anyone have any info or photos, other than the reference book illustrations, that might prove one way or another which conclusion is correct? II./KG76 had a complicated history during the spring of 1940, and it's possible that markings anomalies existed in the aircraft flown by the unit, but so far I've seen no proof to support the conventional wisdom on this subject. Unfortunately, examples from 9./KG76 shot down on the famous Kenley raid of August 18, 1940, don't show any examples of this insignia that I've been able to find. Who knows something about this?

Thanks in advance,