Oblt. Emil-Rudolf Schnoor

[Dean M. Wick]

Good afternoon: I am looking for assistance in establishing some clarity to Emil Schnoor's early career, especially his time with bf110 units. To the best of my knowledge Schnoor made 5 claims on Bf109D/ Bf110's, his 6th being a B-17 claimed as St/Kpt. of 8/JG1 on 4.3.43. He had been assigned to that post in November.42. I have Schnoor as St./Kpt. of 3/JGr.152 from the start of the war up until 30.4.40, by which time that unit had been redesignated I/ZG52. He made one claim during this time on 24.9.39. On 30.4.40 he was transferred to 15(Z)/LG1 as St./Kpt., making claims with that unit on 16.5.40, 13.8.40, and 15.8.40. The clarification I am looking for involves the following points: 1) Schnoor apparently made a claim on 8.8.40 while with 4/ZG2. This is during the period, both before and after, that he was with 15(Z)/LG1. Could he have been temporarily "seconded" to that unit? It is believed that Oblt. Dietrich von Bothmer was the St./Kpt. of 4/ZG2 before being grabbed ( against the wishes of II/ZG2's Kdr.) by Wolfgang Falck at the end of June/early July.40 for service in the new nightfighter arm. Could Schnoor have been temporarily posted back to II/ZG2 during this time? 2) Eimansberger's excellent book on V(Z)/LG1 states that Schnoor secured a transfer to nightfighters on 7.8.40. However, the Woods listing, as well as Taghon's book on LG1 both show Schnoor making claims past this date with 15(Z)/LG1. Could someone clarify his actual date of transfer, and if possible, to which nightfighter unit he went to? My apologies for the lenghthy post, as always, any comments welcomed. Regards. Dean.