Seeking ID of Officer Pilots in ZG26 Bf110 photo on BA Website

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Can anyone ID the three people in this photo, and the full code and W.Nr. of the Bf110C in the background (3U+A?, W.Nr. XX97)? The men are from left to right: a Lt, Maj, and Oblt. I think it likely that the Maj. could be a Gr Kdr. This can't be the ZG26 Gesch Kde, Huth, as I think that he was an Obstlt by about the time of this photo.

Either the Maj or the Oblt. could be the pilot of a/c "A" in the background with 4 victory tabs. Could this be either von Rethberg (II./ZG26 Gr.Kdr.-- doesn't look like him) or Hans Schalk (III./ZG26 Gr Kdr). The 4 victory tabs and style of the code letters is similar to photos at the ECPA-D showing Schalk's 3U+AD with 6 victory tabs. The code is wrong for I./ZG26 (U8 code vice 3U seen here). The XX97 W.Nr. is wrong for 6./ZG26, which is known to have been W.Nr. 3044. However, this could be Oblt. Montag, the 9./ZG26 StaKap. I'm hoping that there are other photos in this BA series showing the complete code and the rest of the W.Nr.

http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/cros...285099/?search[view]=detail&search[focus]=7

Can anyone help?

Regards,

[udf_00]

This one : ?
Signature:Bild 101I-341-0496-31
Archive title:Frankreich-West.- Zerstörergeschwader 26, Mitte Major Johann Schalk, rechts: Oberleutnant Theodor Rossiwal vor Messerschmitt Me 110; PK KBK Lw 3
Dating:1940 Sommer

[Larry Hickey]

udf_00,

I should have look this caption up on the BA website. Thanx for pointing this out. I strongly suspected that this was Johann Schalk. If the man on the right is Theodor Rossiwall, I'm not sure what he's doing in a photo with Schalk, unless this was after Schalk moved up to ZG26 Gesch Kde sometime in October, 1940, taking command from Huth. Rossiwall moved from StaKap of 6./ZG26 to StaKap of 5./ZG26 on the morning of 19 May 1940, and was supposed to have brought his Bf110C, W.Nr.3044 with him. To me, the plane in the background looks like Schalk's, 3U+AD, when he was GrKdr of III./ZG26, with the scoreboard appropriate for late WC (FC) or early BoB. But this dosn't explain why the III. Gr Kdr would be talking with a II. Gr pilot.

This is important because I want to do a color profile of Schalk's a/c during this period, and I don't have its W.Nr. If XX97 is Schalk's aircraft, this photo will fill an important gap for me if we can determine the full W.Nr., and confirm that this was his a/c. Often these PK photos were part of a series of photos, and it is likely that other frames from this film strip may show the full a/c code and W.Nr. At least, that's what I'm hoping. Someone may have other photos taken from this film strip, providing the missing info/confirmation needed.

I also want to identify the man on the left, if possible.

Regards,

[John Vasco]

Larry,
Whereas individual Staffeln usually kept to themselves, officers, particularly post-holding officers, would frequently be in contact with others in similar positions to themselves, and to senior officers. That, I think, was a necessary prerequisite in the planning of combat missions in the early part of the war, at least. No surprise, therefore, that the Staka of one Gruppe would be seen with the Gr. Kdr. of another.