Problems with established 2. and 3./StG77 insignia supposedly used during the WC of 1940?

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

All of the St.G. 77 emblems were first published in Karl Ries, Jr's pathfinding book from 1963, "Markings and Camouflage Systems of Luftwaffe Aircraft in World War II, Vol. I, now long out of print. These show the various unit level emblems pretty much as shown in the Black and White Photo posted above, which is also from one of Ries' books from the period and shows a wartime image. These original Karl Ries-illustrated emblems are identical to what was published by Ketley and Rolfe in their "Luftwaffe Emblems, 1939-1945," which is the reference book most people use today.

This post kind of wandered away from my original question about whether there are good, close-up photos showing some alternative early versions for the emblems of 2. and 3. Staffel, St.G.77, that were possibly used during the Western Campaign of 1940. The standard versions of these emblems don't appear to fit some of the fuzzy photos out there for insignia for these two units. I don't even recall ever seeing a good, close-up photo for the strange bird-head cartoon character indicated for 3 Staffel, on a Ju87B from the mid-1940 period. That's what I'm trying to determine, and is necessary to resolve before we can plan accurate color profiles for those two Staffeln.

Regards,