Otto Hintze II./ZG 1

[John Vasco]

Originally Posted by ouidjat

Hello John,

And thank you very much; this clarifies the situation.

Nevertheless, it raises some questions.
- Do you confirm that the plane on the firing butts is Hintze’s one; that is WNr.2668 as written in Falcon’s site? (Normally yes since we can see the bullet’s hole)
- What is the “mysterious” (As described by Erik in Jagdwaffe) clear rectangle on cowling: an emblem, a patch or a girl friend’s name?
- Both Mombeeck and Prien didn’t have access to this information when they wrote their respective volume?
- Since we can see the bullet’s hole on all pictures I can suppose they have been taken AFTER the 1/09. But is Prien right when he does include this photo inside JGr. 101 history? In other words do you know the place and the date the pictures have been taken?
- last - Hmm I think so - how can we have two planes - Hintze and Bacsila machines - bearing a chevron during the same period?

Again, thank you for your comments.

Best regards, Franck.

PS: As for the Stuka story, it was obvious there was something wrong even without knowing the details; Thanks to have clarified that too.
PPS: Note that WNr.2668 is included in one of those Bf 109 D-1 production batches!!! That is … another question mark.

Franck,
I'll try to answer your questions as best I can. Bear in mind 2 things:
1. It's more than twenty years since I last met Hintze; and
2. My research papers now reside in a certain well-known archive, so I do not have to hand all that I gathered at that time.

Now, to your questions:
1. Hintze told me that the Bf 109 E with the single chevron having its guns adjusted was his;
2. The rectangle on the cowling - haven't clue what it is;
3. I can't speak for Erik or Jochen with regard to what information they held when writing their work;
4. I think it would be safe to assume that the photos of Hintze's 109 were taken on or after 1/9/39. If the aircraft were moved on to JGr. 101 during or following the end of the Polish campaign, one can only presume he is right; Hintze told me, and his album was so marked, that the photos were taken at Przasnysz.
5. I can't comment on Hintze's & Bacsila's aircraft both bearing a single chevron in the same unit at the same time. The service histories of both men would show whether they were together in II./ZG 1 in September 1939, or whether one left and the other arrived. In the absence of that information, we may never arrive at the answer.
6. W. Nr. 2668. I can't comment as I haven't seen photos of 109s with that W. Nr.

I wish I could have been more helpful, and I realise that several of the above answers are 'guarded', but I can only comment on what I know/have been told, and it would be unwise of me to speculate on things I do not know.

[ouidjat]

Thanks John,

Loaded in my memory!

Regards, Franck.