unknown Staffelabzeichen from Geschwader "Horst Wessel"

[sidney]

David,

As far as I can remember since I don't have the access to my books now, rendition of the 3./ZG26 emblem appeared in his first book on the LW emblems entitled Markings and camouflage systems of Luftwaffe aircraft in World War II from 1961*, and it was without the cross-hair.

In one of his later books on the subject, he published a close up photo of this emblem sported on a Bf110, with the cross-hair.

Probably because of a poor quality of the photo of a Bf109D-1 with this emblem, where he could not see the cross-hair, I believe that he was of the opinion that there were two variants of this emblem - with and without the cross-hair.

Regards,
Sinisa

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

This is a well-known emblem used by 3./ZG26 back to the beginning of the war. It was apparently on all the unit's Bf109D-1s as of that time, and photos are known of Y9+, Y10+, Y11+ and Y12+, carrying this insignia. The insignia published on P. 558 of Prien's JFV is incomplete, and should contain the cross hair as part of the emblem.

The evidence is that it continued to be applied to all the unit's Bf110Cs when the unit converted to that type during Oct-Nov, 1939. Many photos exist of that insignia on both sides of the noses of unit Bf110Cs over the next several months.

The unit's a/c continued to carry this insignia until July, 1940, when the new I Gruppe "Ringelpitz" emblem was introduced at the beginning of the Battle of Britain. There is at least one photo known of a Bf110 carrying both the old insignia and the new emblem at the same time, apparently taken when the unit's emblems were being revised during July 1940.

A very well known example of a 3 Staffel Bf110C carrying this insignia was U8+DL, WNr3011, of Fw Hans Reimann, who was SD and PoW in France on 10.05.40. Many photos exist of that a/c. Another example in the EoE Photo Collection is that of U8+KL, which was probably taken sometime in 1940.

Regards,

Larry Hickey
EoE Project Coordinator

[ChrisS]

Post #5 Franck, super sleuth! Thank you for the ID of Yellow 12.

[Ruediger Kaufmann]

Hello Falke, Hello all,

great work many thanks !

Ruediger