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

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

In order to support your helping us with the EoE profile project, I thought that I'd post these two photos that show examples of these white tactical markings on tails of KG26 aircraft.

http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-3pK...-3pKvNss-M.jpg

This shows 1H+A? of II./KG26. This may show 1H+AN that was later lost over England on 24.09.40.

http://ihra.smugmug.com/photos/i-NFC...-NFCHG2N-M.jpg

This one shows 1H+FK of 2./KG26. This came from the recently published KG26 history by Alex Steenbeck.

Counter-intuitively, I Gruppe used a double vertical bar, and II Gruppe used a single vertical bar. These types of markings were in use for only a very short time on all German bomber formations that participated in the big daylight raids on Britain during the first two weeks of Sept., including 7.9 and 15.9.40. After that they remained on the a/c for a while but by October there were pretty well gone as these were apparently done in either white or pink whitewash-type paint that didn't last long. And, yes, these bars on the a/c of some Geschwader were in pink.

Any help with documenting these markings in photos would be greatly appreciated, especially with the Staffeln for which I have no reference photos (see original post).

Regards,

Larry Hickey

EoE Project Coordinator