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

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

I'm trying to lay out profile packages for 2./ZG76, and I have two photos of Bf110C M8+A(K), which has the 2 Staffel Ladybird insignia applied below the cockpit, along with a long row of flags and symbols representing the countries where the pilot served or against whom he fought. The kicker is that there are 7 victory tabs on the fin. The only pilot with I./ZG76 that had seven victories that might match this is 1 Staffel pilot Lt. Helmut Lent, who always seems to have flown M8+DH from the Polish Campaign until he belly landed an a/c with this code at Fornebu, Oslo, Norway, on 09.04.40. Lent achieved his 7th victory on 02.06.40 while still a Lt with 1 Staffel, then his bio says he was was promoted to Oblt. and transfered to 4./NJG1 as StaKap on 01.07.40. So it doesn't appear that he could have been the pilot of M8+AK. The only known 2 Staffel pilot that achieved 7 victories during 1940 was Oblt. Helmut Wolterdorf, who got his 7th and 8th on 15.08.40, which would have had to have been in a D-0 in either a Dachelbauh or wing drop tank version. The a/c in the photo is definitely not a Dachelbauch, and probably didn't have wing drop tanks either. The StaKap after Hptm Falck, who is supposed to have flown M8+GK as StaKap until he left the unit to become Gr Kdr of I./ZG1, was Oblt. Heinz Gressens, who only had 2 victories to his credit by the end of 1940. So it probably wouldn't have been his a/c. Hptm Wolfgang Falck set the precedent in 2./ZG76 for not flying the "A" a/c, and Gressens may have continued that practice. In fact, with the first letter of his name starting with "G,' Gressens may well have taken over M8+GK when Falck departed, kept the 7 victory tabs that plane would have carried, but then had it repainted as M8+AK, which is what we see in the photos.

I've concluded that this photo of M8+AK has to be either Lent's replacement plane after he belly landed his M8+DH in mid-April, and somehow was briefly transferred to 2 Staffel after early-June and before the end of the month (very unlikely), Woltersdorf's, which doesn't fit with a double victory claim award on 15.08.40. Provided that everything was recorded correctly on his tail scoreboard, he would have only had six victories prior to that mission, and 8 afterwards, skipping 7. Or this could be Gressens's a/c still carrying Falk's old scoreboard. The only other pilot in 2 Staffel that seems possible is Lt. Helmut Fahlbusch, who achieved 6 victories by 17.04.40, but is not known to have achieved a 7th through the end of the Battle of Britain.

So what is the explanation of these photos of M8+AK with 7 victories dating from around mid-1940?

Comments? Opinions?

Regards,