special marking on LW side cap 1940 (1940)

[Thomas H]

Hi all,

have you ever seen or heard of the bars some of these men wear on their side cap? do they indicate the number of missions flown?

The photo shows men of the II./KG53 in June 1940 receiving the EKII after the Battle of France.

Regards, Thomas

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Thomas,

An amazing picture indeed. Am not sure if those markins are indeed related to combat sorties (Feindflug), but a similar marking (star) was often used during the 70's-80's by Brazilian Air Force (FAB) fighter pilots and fighter instructors to denote the number of Total Hours on fighters.

Each Star on their Flight Suits represented 100 flying hours (on fighters). You can have an idea here (https://www.abra-pc.com.br/index.php...l?start=0),see picture 0001.

It is indeed the first time I ever see such a marking on the LW side cap...and being NO specialist on Uniforms, etc...can not say anything with property. Maybe acknowledged Historians on that field (LW Uniforms) can confirm or deny.

In my humble opinion it may either represent Feindflugs (as you suggest) or Total Combat Hours (rather like the FAB airmen).

An amazing picture indeed. Congratulations

A.

[Thomas H]

Hi Adriano,

Thank you for your reply and sharing your thoughts. Interesting to see those ‘stars’ on the uniforms of the BAF pilots. This could indeed have had the same function as the LW marks.

I asked the same question on another forum with experts on WWII LW uniforms but they also did not see this before and could only guess at the meaning of this.

It seems that this was not regular and maybe only used during the Battle of France by a small group of men. The first man on the right, with his eyes closed, is Karl Christmann, later Knight’s Cross recipient and at that time part of 4. Staffel. It could well be that all of them are 4. Staffel.

Regards, Thomas