IIII./JG26 Officers signatures Christmas 1939

[Don Caldwell]

Hi Huib --

I too looked for Horten and also his replacement Bartels and found neither. From the number of signatures that remain unidentified (and also the number of III./JG 26 pilots who should have been there for Xmas, but whose names don't match the sigs) we can best conclude that the Jagdwaffe was in a state of flux during the Sitzkrieg, with experienced pilots transferring daily to newly-formed Gruppen.

Best regards,

Don

[Huib Ottens]

Hi again,

I recieved a personal message from Andy Pallot (reproduced below), a junior member of this board who is having problems with posting messages into threads.

Perhaps with his information we can identify another signature?


Hello Huib,
I have a signature of the person on the bottom right in a Soldbuch that I own. His title is Stabskompanie III/JG26, Oblt und Kompanie Chef.

Unfortunatley, I can post any messages at the present time and that is why I am contacting you directly. Any idea who this signature belongs too?

Regards,
Andy

[Don Caldwell]

Hi Huib --

The signature 12th from top, left side appears to be "Esser, Hptm. Stabskompanie". This matches the name and title in Priller's book.

Best regards,

Don

[Kapper]

Don/VtwinVince

In response to the query about Lt. Daig, I have no direct evidence that Ltn. Erwin Daig of 5./JG27 is the same Ltn. Daig who’s signature appears amongst the Christmas 1939 III./JG26 signatures.
However, aside from the three original Staffelkapitan of II./JG27 (Oblt. Herman Hollweg, Oblt. Hans-Christian Schafer and Oblt Werner Seffert) who in Prein’s II./JG27 history all came from JG26, there is also the following pilots of II/JG27 that have the same last names that are amongst the signatures

Ltn. Hermann Kugler 4./JG27 WIA 9 June 1940
Oblt Karl Prieser Stab II./JG27 injured 29 July 1940

Combined with Ltn. Daig this suggests to me that the formation of II./JG27 may have a close connection to JG26 with possibly several pilots coming from JG26 from which the unit was built around. Therefore there is a good chance that they are the same Ltn. Daig, but as I said earlier, I have no direct proof to confirm this.


Regards

Craig...

[Rob Romero]

Don, do you know Esser's first name???

Thanks