Question about Bf110C, M8+AK, with 2./ZG76 during 1940

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Don Pearson has just sent me an image of the port side tail on the same aircraft as Olve posted above, with a member of the ground staff painting an 8th victory tab on the fin. Standing next to him with his back to the camera is a tall officer wearing a life vest. Since we know that the 7th victory tab is dated 15.06.40, this has to be after that date, and probably is the first Lent victory while flying in a night fighter unit, almost certainly after 01.07.40. Does anyone have any information on Lent's 7th victory (not in 2./ZG76 records) or his 8th? Was he with I./NJG 1 at that time? Another interesting thing is that he appears to be flying "White D" although that is not certain as much of the plane letter is obscured. I believe that Lent flew M8+DH throughout his career with 2./ZG76, and this suggests that before he became StaKap of 6./NJG1, he may have continued to fly an a/c with that code or at least "White D." Perhaps he even took is aircraft from 2./ZG76 with him to his next unit. Does this shed any light on the dating of this aircraft and the unit to which it belonged? I don't have ready access to Lent's full scoreboard once he moved to the night fighters, assuming that is when this photo was taken.

Regards,