[John Vasco]

The information in my earlier post is the entry I gave in my book, Sting of the Luftwaffe.

That information was drawn from two sources: the Nam Ver & the Gen.Qu.

In Petrick/Mankau, 4356 is in the block 4213 to 4380 which was allocated to the 'D-3' series, and were built between September 1940 and March 1941 by FW.

4381 to 4400 (E series) were also built by FW in April 1941.

The D-3 batch mentioned above was the last D-3 batch to be built. The 'E' series was already on the production lines in August 1940, and so D-3 production would have been running parallel with 'E' series production in the FW factory.

So, where do the last 3 paragraphs take us? They take us to a scenario not uncommon for the Bf 110 - that of a cross-over during production resulting in the finished aircraft not having the original designation given by the RLM. The following is an example of what happened during the 'C' series production.
W. Nr. Sub-variant during production Sub-variant from loss list Remarks
2065 C-2 C-4 3M+EK air collision during combat 3/9/40
2095 C-2 C-4 2N+GM damaged in combat 2/9/40
2104 C-2 C-4 2N+KP shot down 4/9/40
2116 C-2 C-4 3M+AA shot down 4/9/40
2123 C-2 C-4 3M+CH shot down 25/8/40
2130 C-2 C-4 3U+JR damaged in combat 25/9/40
2133 C-2 C-4 3M+HL air collision during combat 3/9/40
2137 C-2 C-4 2N+FM shot down 9/9/40
2145 C-2 C-4 3U+CA abandoned over Channel 6/9/40
2146 C-2 C-4 3M+BK shot down 3/9/40 (duplicate W. Nr)
2146 C-2 C-4 U8+CL shot down 6/9/40 (duplicate W. Nr.)
3004 C-2 C-4 2./NJG 1 damaged in combat 16/11/40
3028 C-2 C-4 U8+HH shot down 26/9/40
3045 C-2 C-4 3U+BN damaged in combat 2/9/40
3094 C-2 C-4 3U+AR shot down 26/9/40
3098 C-2 C-4 III./ZG 26 damaged in combat 27/9/40
3101 C-2 C-4 2N+CN shot down 4/9/40
3102 C-2 C-4 U8+BB shot down 18/8/40
3113 C-2 C-4 3M+EL shot down 3/9/40
3117 C-2 C-4 3M+FL shot down 7/9/40
3120 C-2 C-4 3M+CB shot down 3/9/40
3123 C-2 C-4 3M+LL shot down 11/8/40
3208 C-2 C-4 3M+KH shot down 25/8/40
3231 C-2 C-4 3U+LT shot down 11/9/40
3532 C-2 C-4 8./ZG 76 shot down 25/8/40
3534 C-2 C-4 2N+DN shot down 24/9/40
3536 C-2 C-4 3U+GN shot down 2/9/40
3545 C-2 C-4 2N+AC shot down 4/9/40
3551 C-2 C-4 2N+EP shot down 11/7/40
3563 C-2 C-4 2N+HM shot down 4/9/40

So, for the above table, the headings speak for themselves. But what happened? The 'C-2' was equipped with the MG-FF 20 mm cannon; the 'C-4' was equipped with the MG-FF/M improved 20 mm. cannon. So what we see from the above table is that during the production run, the improved MG-FF/M became available for the airframes under construction, thereby upgrading them to 'C-4' specification. The final paperwork leaving the factory with the individual aircraft would should the up-to-date information concerning the aircraft (C-4). So, an initial allocation within the 'C-2' W. Nr. batch allocation became a 'C-4' upon final issue out of the factory. The above table is not comprehensive - it is simply what I discovered, and published in the book I did with Fernando Estanislau on the Bf 110 C, D & E. There are probably other examples.

What has this got to do with the present matter under discussion?

As stated earlier, the 'D-3' and 'E' would have been in parallel production at the FW factory with allocated W. Nr. batches, which we see as 4213 to 4380 for the D-3, and 4381 to 4400 for the E. As 4356 was towards the end of the last D-3 batch to be produced, it is possible that it was ultimately built as an 'E-2', and issued from the factory as such. The difference being the fitment of the cabin heating equipment in the 'E' series, evidenced by the air inlet between the central MGs on the nose cowling, and the inlet on the starboard fuselage aft of the cockpit, as well as tyres of different dimensions and a strengthened undercarriage. Given that that specification was available from August 1940, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that it was fitted to some in the 'D-3' last batch. If that was the case, and I'm saying here it is only a possibility, then when S9+TN was lost in action, the paperwork at unit level would show the loss of an 'E-2' variant, not a 'D'. That, I submit, is the likely scenario.

There are other examples of parts cross-over. Photos exist of Bf 110 Cs with the earlier 'B' series canopy, and 'C' aircraft with the 'B' rounded wingtips.

Please forgive this long post, but I felt it necessary to look at matters in more depth, particularly with regard to the factory and the field, having previously identified the differences as outlined above.

As for the matter of an 'F' series, there is nothing in Petrick/Mankau that shows the W. Nr. batch 43XX as being allocated to that variant.


Edit: Re the list of C-2/C-4 aircraft. I set everything up manually OK, but on posting, it was jumbled up! I hope you can read across OK.