[Stig Jarlevik]

All

Since no one seems to bother about the aircraft vs pilot problem, I did my own little research among the published sources.

Donald Caldwell states on page 196 in his The JG 26 war diary vol 1, that Oblt Paul Steindl, a professional Luftwaffe officer and pilot, transferred into the Geschwader on 11 December 1941.

That of course puts the text under Steindl in the Luftwaffe aces biographies and victory claims in a different light. In that book we can only read he first flew with I./JG 26 in the west in late 1942....

Since in 1941 Steindl is already 26 years old and by normal standards would have been a pilot already by 1939-40 or earlier (he also had a promoted rank of Oblt when reaching JG 26) the question arises, what did he do up to December 1941.

Moving one step further, I stick out my neck and claim (unless we have two Paul Steindl) that this pilot was the Geschwader Adj in JG 54 during the initial eastern campaign and may also have been with JG 54 already in 1940, perhaps even his first unit.

Cheers
Stig