Need help with eagle/hawk insignia of fuselage of Bf109Es for Jochen Prien book insignia artwork

[ChrisS]

Hi Ed

The photos that Larry has shared are from three different airframes. I believe the emblem is a simplfied version of the previous 3./JG52 more elaborate emblem of an eagle carrying a clutch of roundels over the sea inside a shield

[Larry Hickey]

Chris et.al.,

Good suggestion. However, I still think that we need a better resolution photo of this insignia to be able to accurately render a copy for Jochen's JFV book. I'm still hoping that someone has one.

Larry

[edwest]

Originally Posted by ChrisS

Hi Ed

The photos that Larry has shared are from three different airframes. I believe the emblem is a simplfied version of the previous 3./JG52 more elaborate emblem of an eagle carrying a clutch of roundels over the sea inside a shield

Hi Chris,


I can see that, but I'm still confused about the sharp highlighting given to the bird. My thought is that if a better image is not found, then print the best photo from the above and forgo with the illustration. Just as in Luftwaffe im Focus, it appears new information and new photos appear only after publication. If I understand right, aren't corrections added in subsequent books? I don't own a single one.


Ed

[Jochen Prien]

Dear ChrisS,

thank you for your input. I'm afraid however that your approach does not help to solve the problem as the emblems in question seen on images # 1 and 2 can be seen on a/c of 3./JG 52 in Rissia in May/June 1942 ( # 3 ) and on an a/c of 1./JG 52 in the Netherlands in mid 1941 ( # 2 ). Therefore it seems that the emblem you referred to as the "former emblem of 3./JG 52" is something rather different, albeit an unsolved issue of its own.

The problem I'm facing is that for the period between mid 1941 and summer 1942, when I./JG 52 was re-equipped with the Bf 109 G-2, there are five different emblems to be seen on the Bf 109 F-2s and F-4s, one being the Gruppe badge and another the former Gruppe badge which had become the Staffel badge of 2./JG 52 as per mid 1941, which are identified beyond reasonable doubt.

The same - to me - applies to the "shot through umbrella" emblem of 3./JG 52 which can be seen between autumn 1941 and May 1942 on at least eight Bf 109 F-2s and F-4s ( see JFV 12/II to come ).

This leaves us with two emblems which are pending a definitive allocation - the eagle without a shield we're dealing with in this thread and the eagle on a shield that you referred to.

Regards

Jochen Prien

P.S.: Thanks of course too to all the other contributors to this thread and to Larry for spending his precious time to solve my problems.