Hellmut Nodinger collection

[Larry Hickey]

Dean,

I'm not a memorabilia collector, although I have acquired some very interesting items over the years, but for a price anything like what the seller here is asking, I'd certainly insist on a careful evaluation of what I was getting and authentication of it before shelling out that kind of money for the memorabilia of a pilot with a lot of undocumented claims for what he did. I have a hard time believing that the basic FBa would not be authentic, but that doesn't mean that what is claimed in them in terms of victories stands up to scrutiny. Very unusual for what seems like a very successful early-war pilot to drop off the radar for much of the rest of his career. There's a story there.

Regards,

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Larry,

On one of the documents can be seen, that Nödinger got his EK1 on 4th September 1940.

Best regards, 'eagle eye Marcel' / Venlo

[Larry Hickey]

Marcel,

Thanks for spotting this and letting us know.

Regards,

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Two of our EoE experts have reported back to me their opinions about the Nodinger FB, including comparisons with the FB of other veterans of the units that he served with during the same periods. Both feel that the overall claims of a dozen victories or so over his career are significantly exaggerated, possibly after the fact, to improve his war record. This may have been done for entirely understandable reasons at the time, but a number of his claims don't hold up well to historical scrutiny. It looks like perhaps a third to half of them are either documentable (the B-17) or could be supported as a "benefit of the doubt." The fact that he won the EK II and I by 04.09.40 and had been promoted to Feldwebel, indicates that he probably did accomplish some victories, perhaps several, during this period, and showed potential leadership qualities. We think that about three of the 1940 victories may have merit, possibly more, but there just isn't enough evidence one way or another to reach a valid conclusion. This in no way takes away from the value of the collection as documents, medals and materials from a Luftwaffe Zerstörer pilot. These materials, including the Flugbuch, all appear to be genuine. However, if the very high price being asked for the materials is based upon Nodinger's being a well known and accomplished "ace" during this time, that, without further information or support, simply does not stand up to historical scrutiny.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that his FB is going to add significantly to our information on victory claims by the units that he served with during 1940, although even three recognized claims during that period, if the could be further documented, would be welcome in helping to complete the record. I wish that it were otherwise. However, the great potential value of his FB is in documenting combat missions flown by 3./JGr101, II./ZG1 and III./ZG76 during the period of Nodinger's service with these units. Since by and large the records of these units have not survived the war, any documentation for these unit's activities during this period are historically valuable. It remains to be seen if these FB, especially the 4th one, will eventually become available to researchers in the field.

Regards,

[Dean M. Wick]

Hi All
Just going over a few of the legible flight log entries in the excerpts posted. Wondering if someone could confirm that "L-Speier" is short for Lachen-Speyerdorf ?. Secondly, are the entries shown take off points, or the destination of the flight? My suspicion is destination, as some of the L-Speier/ Frieberg flights seem of relatively short duration.
Any information much appreciated.

Dean

[Kapper]

Larry,

This is a theory but I believe Nodinger was a Bordfunker in 1940 not a pilot. Many Bf became pilots later in the war which may explain the pilots badge. I believe the additional notation is from someone adding his pilots victories at a later date. I believe the seller is deliberate trying to deceive that this is a pilots logbook (during B of B) to get more value in the sale because the pages of the logbooks only show one half of the page, the other half would have determined if he was a Bf and who his pilot was.

As to who his pilot is I believe there is 2 possibilities, Kaldrack or Tonne or even both? One of the victories noted was on 11 June 1940 but if you look at the pages closely there is no entry for 11 June – goes 10th then 12th. Furthermore the entry shown for the Hurricane victory has the date cut off but if you look at the hour tally at the end of the page it would make it after 18 June. I believe the write up is wrong and it should be 11 July where Kaldrack and Tonne both claimed Hurricanes. Since the Hurricane is noted at the time of entry (nota later entry) suggests that Nodinger as Bf was the true victor of this claim, though most list seem to credit the pilot. Also you have stated in previous posts that both Kaldrack and Tonne claimed swiss Bf109s on 8th June which matches. The 18 or 23 December comment suggests that this could have been Kaldrack, but Kaladrack was in 4/ZG1, 7/ZG76 and EK is 9/ZG76. Furthermore on 18 December 1939 the unit was JGr101 and I believe they were flying Bf109s, so he couldn’t have been flying with Kaldrack.

This is what I believed happened. Kaldracks Bf (Fw Hermanski) was WIA on 24 May 40 and Nodinger became Kaminski’s Bf thus the uncertainty of Kaldrack’s 18 or 23 Dec 39 claim that was noted at a later date. At some point Hermanski returned and Nodignger became Tonnes Bf. Kaminski became Gruppenkammandeur in August 1940 while Tonne became Staffelkapitan of 9/ZG76 in August 1940, so when Nodinger received the EKI it was while with 9/ZG76 on 4 Sep 1940. The write up also states that there was a Blenhiem on 23 June 1941, Tonne claimed a Blenhiem on 18 April 41 protecting a convoy, this may be another error but without seeing the logbook page I cannot tell.

Anyway, I believe the document to be real and would be beneficial to your project.

Regards,

Craig…

[Larry Hickey]

Craig,

Interesting theory. This all just goes to indicate that the buyer better know what he's doing if he acquires this FB. Could be a valuable historical resource document, but too many things just don't add up here about the claimed 1940 career.

Regards,