[Nick Beale]

I've never been convinced that those white outlined numbers were tactical unit markings rather than ones applied by a factory, depot or ferry unit.

Also, if you look at the (excellent) JaPo book from page 66 onward, the reasoning is so full of "must have", "presumably", "may possibly have been" that I would at least be cautious in finally attributing these aircraft to III./EJG 2. The authors acknowledge that the outline marking would be at variance with other known aircraft of the Gruppe. I do think they've identified a good possibility but that we can't be certain.

If the operational Staffeln had very few reconnaissance variants on strength, it would be insane (even by Luftwaffe standards) to hand those over to a training unit as the JaPo book suggests was the case, unless they were no longer fit for operations or something better was available.