[Andre Stewart]

Hi Larry and all,

There are 2 points which I would like to add --

The 1st concerns Herbert Kutscha -- in the Luftwaffe in Focus magazine #6 there is a photo of Kutscha's Bf-110 rudder. His initial claims are listed as: 1st & 2nd - roundels (Br), 3rd & 4th - orange triangles (Dutch), 5th - white cross (Swiss), 6th to 8th - roundels, and 9th onwards - red stars.

Kutscha's 1st 2 claims in 1939-40 while with 5./JG77 are well known. During the Western Campaign he scored a further 2 victories (before the Swiss claim in June). These are the Dutch a/c, which most likely occurred on 10 May itself. However, there are only 3 claims over British a/c. This is far less than the 7 mentioned in Larry's post. Furthermore, the text in LwiF #6 mentions a 4th that was not confirmed, but I do not know the source of this. If anyone has additional information (especially the specific dates of his claims) it would greatly help in piecing together this puzzle.

The 2nd point concerns a photo on p.166 of the book "The Luftwaffe: From Training School to the Front" by Meyer / Stipdonk. Again it is of a Bf-110 rudder taken in 1941 with the claims listed thus: 1st - roundel (Br), 2nd - roundel (Fr - see the shade difference), 3rd - no info but with a diagonal black line (unlikely to be a night victory, but could indicate an unconfirmed one), 4th - white cross (Swiss), and 5th to 11th - Br roundels. Although the text mentions Schenk as a likely pilot (not correct) I've always had a "hunch" this is Kaldrack's scoreboard, because of the initial Br claim (at Helgoland Bight, 18 Dec '39) and the total of 11. Once again, hoping someone can validate or disprove this, or add any information.

I tried to attach scans but my file size was too big...

Regards,
Andre Stewart