Unknown He 111

[obdl3945]

Hi, folks...

Robert and I have been involved in a little Polish/Scottish cross-border collaboration on this one, discussing the attached pictures of a Heinkel He111. They come from part of an original US military 35mm reel of footage, taken following an air raid on Bone, Algeria, sometime after 7 December, 1942 (date provided by narrator on film).

We have both been trying to find the answer to the question: what unit does this machine belong to? As you may be able to see from the picture of the aircraft (and I have used the best one available), the only clear fuselage code is a large letter 'F'. It seems as though the machine may have been 'blacked over' for night operations, and indeed, part of the footage records a night raid on Bone. All of the above can be viewed at http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/852.cfm?sd=55

The appropriate section of the film is about three quarters of the way through the first of the three portions of footage available.

By virtue of the fact that it carries a white rear fuselage band and yellow lower engine cowling covers, I believe it may perhaps be from an unidentified Staffel of KG26, as their machines in other pictures that I have seen, have both these sets of markings in those areas. Additionally, when reading through Luftwaffe Aerial Torpedo Aircraft and Operations in World War Two, by Harold Thiele (Hikoki Publications), the majority of references from the date given above, onwards into early 1943, refer to both KG26 and KG30. However, the unit emblem is rather unusual, and I certainly have never seen it before, and am aware of only one other emblem possibly attributable to KG26, which does not look like this one, besides the well known Vestigium Leonis badge. The emblem shown here does not seem to be present either in Luftwaffe Emblems 1939-1945 by Barry Ketley & Mark Rolfe (Hikoki Publications). Given the colour of the individual aircraft letter, I would perhaps suggest a 1, 4 or 7.Staffel machine.

Can anyone else perhaps assist us with this query? Did KG26 have any other unit emblems similar to this, official or unofficial? Is it perhaps another unit altogether? And can anyone provide a clearer rendition of what the badge should look like?

Thanks in advance for any additional input.

Regards...