Seeking photos of Stab I & II./KG26 He111s with white formation tail markings 09.40

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

For profiling purposes, I'm trying to locate photo of Stab, I and II./KG26 He111Hs carrying very thick vertical tail bands that were only used during Sept., 1940, as formation markings when the unit was participating in massed daylight raids on Britain. Thereafter, these were painted out with black paint for night operations, but you can still see where they were over-painted black in some photos.

For the Sept., 1940 profiles for these two Gruppen, I've found profile subjects for 1 Staffel, probably 1H+AH, and certainly 1H+KH, and 2 Staffel: 1H+FK and 1H+CK. These all had two large and very thick white vertical stripes on the tail. For II Gruppe, I have examples (painted out with black) of 1H+AC and 1H+KN. Surprisingly, II Gruppe only used a single very wide stripe.

It does not appear the III./KG26 would have had these, as they didn't return to the French coast from Germany until late in September, and then began working up as night pathfinders, so a/c of that unit probably never carried these tactical markings.

So what I'm needing are examples from the KG26 Geschwaderstab (if they even used them), Stab I./KG26, 3./KG26, 4./KG26 and 6./KG26.

Most of the known examples can be found in Alexander Steenbeck's excellent book on KG26, "Die Spur des Löwen."

Who can help fill these profile gaps for Sept., 1940?

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator