Me 262 Aufklärer & tactical numbers (NAG 1 & 6, III/EJG 2)

[Harold Lake]

It is my belief such high tactical numbers had some relationship to command or staff aircraft. Usually these comprised four consecutive numbers starting within blocks of "20", "30", "40" or "50." The He 162s at leck were a good example. Such numbers were in place of chevrons or other well-known symbols. I'm not sure color had that much to do with it, but maybe. Similarily, repacement a/c often carried numbers in the "60" block. It is possible even higher numbers had some specal siqnificance, but what? Of course, many unit commands continued to use traditional identifying symbols, so it appears the two systems existed simultaneously.