[DaveWest99]

I believe that Galland started the war as StaKap of 5.(S)/LG2 and took over as StaKap of 4 staffel when the GruppenKommodore was killed in mid September and Otto Weiss (the original StaKap of 4.(S)/LG2) took over. Photos from a private collection that I've seen, show Hs123s of 5.(S)/LG2 taken just before or at the very beginning of the Polish Camaign with 5.(S)/LG2's emblem and II.(S)/LG2's modified camouflage scheme. I would guess, therefore, that 4.(S)/LG2 (and 6.(S)/LG2) also had their emblems before the war started, ie before Galland joined 4 staffel. Galland took this with him when he went to JG26, but deleted the background shield and added a cigar. He also had a, different, Mickey Mouse emblem on his He51 in Spain.

The majority of photos of 4.(S)/LG2 Hs123s published in books or on the internet that I have, show a light shield colour, though a few show a darker colour. Unfortunately, most are from the starboard side and only 3 that show the port side also show the octane triangle (known to be yellow). Of these 3, one shows both the shield and the octane triangle as a dark shade (presumeably an orthchromatic file), one seems to show the shield as dark and the octane triangle lighter though the quality of the image is poor, and the third, a photo of crashed L2+BM, seems to show both with a light colour, but the scan I have is small. From this and the written description from the RAF report, I would suggest that the colour of the shield of 4.(S)/LG2's emblem was yellow and not blue as has been assumed in the past.

My first recollection of this emblem was in Volume 1 of Karl Ries's 4 part series in the mid to late 60's. In it, it is shown with a blue background and labelled II/SG1 with a note saying that it arose from 4.(S)/LG2. Soon after Airfix released their 1/72 Bf109E with the blue emblem (I think ESCI's 1/48 Hs123 also included the blue emblem) and everybody, including myself, assumed it to be so. When II(S)/LG2 became SchG.1, the 4.(S)/LG2 emblem was kept for the whole Gruppe, but with the shield in the staffel colours. The Hs123s were initially transfered to the 4th staffel in the Gruppe which would have had a blue shield. Maybe this could explain it.

One other point, the yellow used for the engine cowling(RLM 27) was a different yellow to that used on the emblem(RLM 4). RLM4 would appear darker than RLM27.

I would welcome other's thoughts/comments.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Larry. I will send you a personal e-mail in the next day or so regarding a photo of L2+AM.