Colour of KG 26 shield?

[atckyrre]

Originally Posted by Hohentwiel

The shield of KG 26 "Vestigium Leonis" was
- white with black lion for the I. group
- yellow with black lion for the II. group
- red with black lion for the III. group.
The letter "D" of your 1H+DN must have been red, the shield yellow.
Maybe the He 111 had red spinners too.

It seems you got this nailed pretty accurately so I'm going to trust your information over Primoz' over. Coincidentaly it also fits in with the decals for the shield that comes with one of the Hasegawa model kit issues (Though the model kit companies can rarely be trusted). Also of note is that the yellow shield has a red outline, something that can perhaps be either for II gruppe or 5. staffel.
It does seem strange they've changed the colour sequence for the II and III Gruppe, while normally they'd be red for II and yellow for III gruppe.

One thing I am not entirely convinced about is the individual letter, since both black and red was used as 2. and 5. staffel colours. Red was the most common, but I have seen a b/w pictures with what appears to be black lettering on a 5. staffel machine, albeit from 1942.

Regards,
Kyrre