Me 410 SI+KW - night fighter?

[ChristianK]

Gentlemen,

some time ago a friend of mine sent me this photo from an expired online auction. It shows Me 410 SI+KW, Werknummer 10015 from an unknown unit. What's odd about this plane is that it seems to carry the all-black-style of markings that were usually applied to night fighters. Also the camo looks very light, although in many parts it seems to be just faded paint.
The last entry in Petrick/Stockers work on the Me 410 for this plane (from August 1943) notes it at being in service with I./ZG 101. By comparison of photos I could identify the location of the captured "SI+KW" as Schleißheim airfield. Hideki Noro's "LO+ST" has it from another angle on page 88.
I already asked at LEMB whether someone knows more about this plane, it's last unit, some more photos etc., but sadly to no avail. Now, is there any more to know about this Me 410?

Cheers,
Christian

[Marcel Hogenhuis]

Hello Christian,

Good observation and a most interesting one:
- first of all, this Me410 is a A-1
- secondly, when this Me410 had belonged to KG 51, one of the units operating Me410's at night, it is more likely that it had the unit code of KG 51
- so far I never could have traced any pictures of Me410's from the Erprobungskommando 410, a detachment operating Me410's from Venlo airfield in WW-2. As EKdo 410 was an alias for the Me410 in the 1./NJG 1, we know from Flugzeugbestand- und Bewegungsmeldungen of the I./NJG 1 that this nightfighter Gruppe had also some Me410's, according to logbooks however with the unit codes of the 1./NJG 1: G9+_H, not any Stammkennzeichen recorded.

Therefore, one could suspect that this SI+KW belonged to a Luftbeobachterstaffel 7 for instance which operated in southern Germany.

All the best, Marcel Hogenhuis
www.fliegerhorst-venlo.net

[ChristianK]

Hello Marcel,

Luftbeobachterstaffel 7 is an interesting thought. After a quick search I found out that this unit was in existence during the first half of 1944 as kind of a special recon flight for NJG 6. In July 1944 it was disbanded and every Gruppe of NJG 6 received a separate "Führungsschwarm". As SI+KW was found at Schleißheim together with many aircraft from NJG 6 there is indeed a possibility that our Me 410 was attached to this unit for recon or pathfinder duties. This could at least explain its night fighter style camo...

Cheers,
Christian