Oblt Hans-Joachim Jabs a/c during 1940

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Previously I've posted about Jabs flying Bf110C M8+KP during the BoB, and this a/c having made a forced-landing in good condition on a French Beach, probably in the Pas-de-Calais area, on or about 4 Sept. 1940. At that time the plane displayed 16 victory tabs on the fin. The recent acquisition by one of our EOE Working Group members of a photo of this same M8+KP, displaying 9 victory tabs, confirms that he was flying this same a/c around mid-August, 1940. From notes made by Vasco/Cornwell during an interview with Jabs years ago, we know that he claimed to have made more than one FL during the WC/BoB period, presumably of which this is one.

Following this FL we would have expected that Jabs would have changed aircraft, at least while M8+KP was being repaired, and we do know that he subsequently flew two different a/c marked M8+IP by about October, 1940, one with a solid dark uppersurface camouflage, and one with a mottled uppersurface camoufage. There is ample photo evidence of a/c with this code and his reported total of 19 victory claims by the time of his RK award on 01.10.40, and on into the winter of 40-41, still carrying 19 victory tabs.

One problem with putting an accurate date on the FL of his M8+KP, which he wasn't necessarily flying the day it FL on the French beach, is that no suitable incident in the 10% damage range can be found in the end-August, beginning of Sept., 1940, time frame. M8+KP did not have a white nose on the date it FL, so this couldn't have happened later than the first few days of Sept., 1940, when presumably II./ZG76 would have adopted this tactical marking.

I've also long pondered the problem that Jabs is credited with only 17 known victories (per a Winfried Bock victory list for II./ZG76 during 1940), while the RK reference sources say that he received the RK on 01.10.40 after having achieved 19 victories. From the aforementioned interview with Jabs, Peter Cornwell indicates that Jabs' BF during this period was usually Uffz. Erich Weissflog, who, in fact, had two victory claims during the WC (15.05.40) and BoB (15.08.40), which, with the claims reported via Bock from the surviving victory list microfilms, gives us the 19 required victories indicated at the award of the RK.

My question is was it common for the purposes of the award of the RK during the 1940 period to aggregate the claims of the pilot and bordfunker on a Bf110 crew to get the total number of victories attributed to the pilot at the time of a RK award?

Just in case someone knows something about the two "missing" victory claims by Jabs to get this total of 19 by 01.10.40, here are the victories reported by Bock (and other sources) from the mircofilms: 12.05.40, 13.05.40, 15.05.40, 29.05.40 x 2, 07.06.40, 15.08.40 x 2, 30.08.40, 31.08.40, 01.09.40 x 3, 04.09.40 x 2, 07.09.40 and 11.09.40, totaling 17. The addition of the two victories by Weissflog to this total would give us the 19 needed to explain the total reported for the RK award.

There is another implication if the BF's victory claims were added to the victory tabs on the fin of their Bf110. This means that the photo of "KP" down on the beach may represent only 14 claims by Jabs, and the other two by Weissflog, moving that possible date forward to around 1 or 2 Sept, when I'd previously concluded that the most likely date of this incident was around 4 Sept due to the number of victory tabs on the fin. There were several damage and FL incidents to a/c of II./ZG76 on 2 Sept., which, though not easily attributed to Jabs, could perhaps explain the photo of the Bf110 on the beach. Obviously, the unit was heavily engaged in combat on that day. If the a/c in this incident was recovered with minor damage and was repaired quickly at the unit level, it is also possible that it didn't make it into the Luftwaffe QM records. A date of 2 Sept. also doesn't push the date for the application of the white noses on II./ZG76 a/c as hard as a date of 4 Sept would.

Does anyone have any information and insight into this issue?

Regards,