Red Diamond badge of KG 1

[Chris Goss]

Some records say this was on aircraft from I and II/KG 1, some say just II/KG 1 (which confused further with II/KG 1 using IV/KG 1 markings). Can anyone confirm one way or the other?

[Larry Hickey]

Chris,

This was originally the insignia of 5./KG1, and was on many or most of their aircraft. Then, according to Gerhard Stemmer, in June or July, 1940, the crews and apparently some aircraft transferred to 2./KG1, where photos later show at least one a/c from that unit carrying the old 5 St insignia. However, on 30 August, 1940, half of 5 Staffel was shot to pieces over Britain and some a/c that crashed or FL are shown carrying this insignia. So either the unit kept using this on their a/c for a while, or not all the aircraft transferred to 2 Staffel when the 5 Staffel crews transferred to 2 Staffel. This makes it very confusing, but I've studied this carefully and think that this has all been sorted out. So you can find photos from both 5 and later 2 Staffel carrying this insignia from mid-1940.

The old IV Gruppe coding just further confuses this in regards to 5 Staffel a/c, which carried the Stafffel letter "V". A/c from 2 Staffel used the standard Staffel letter "K" although some a/c may have flown for a while in their old Staffel codes.

Have you found some new photos that might help clarify this further?

[Chris Goss]

Larry: I have a photo of a He 111 coded V4 with said badge taken at Brest presumably when I/KG 1 became III/KG 40 at the end of March 1941. II/KG 1 by this time was Ju 88s

Chris