Bf110 scoreboard

[Dean M. Wick]

Greetings: On the subject of kill markings on bf110's. Is anyone familiar with the photo on pg.48 of Murawski's "Bf110 Vol.II", which is also in Nauroth and Held's "Bf110 on all fronts" on pg.94? I'm sorry, I don't have scanning capability, but perhaps someone else who is familiar with this could put it up. It shows a Bf110 tail fin with 9 Vic. markings and 3 balloon"kills" Dated around Sept. 40.The caption states a III/ZG26 A/C. The dates are very clear, easy to make out under enlargement. Although not stated, I believe this may be the score of Lt. Kuno-Adelbert Konopka of 7/ZG26. Can anyone offer anything further on this? Thanks Dean.

[Andre Stewart]

Hello Dean,

Since no one has responded to your post so far, I thought I might include my own "2-cents" bit on the topic:

I'm familiar with the Bf-110 scoreboard you refer to and yes, the dates are very clear. But in my opinion, this is not the aircraft of Lt Kuno-Adelbert Konopka; I believe it's that of Lt Boetho Sommer. For comparison, I've listed out the dates below:

Bf-110 fin victories: (1) 15.05, (2) 20.05, (3) 21.05, (4) 21.05, (5) 14.06, (6) 10.07, (7) 18.08, (8) 18.08, (9) 1?.0? [not clear]. 3 balloons - all 11.06

Konopka claims: (1) 21.05, (2) 14.06, (3) 22.06, (4) 10.07, (5) 18.08, (6) 18.08, (7) 26.08.
Konopka's Bf Eiberg made 2 claims, on 2.09 and 25.09

Sommer's claims: (1) 15.05, (2) 20.05, (3) 21.05, (4) 10.07, (5) 18.08, (6) 18.08, (7) 11.09, (8) 27.09, (9) 27.09
The Bf that Sommer was flying with when captured [Uffz Paul Preuler] did not make any known claims. Any other "regular" Bf is not known to me.

So it would seem that the photo was taken around mid-Sept, after Sommer's claim on 11.09. Except for the 2 additional claims (21.05 and 14.06) there is an exact match with all the rest, and it is likely that "no.9" on the a/c fin is most likely 11.09.

Regarding the additional claims, I believe the info we have on this unit's victories (from the microfilms and other sources) list only the CONFIRMED victories. I say this for 2 reasons:

1) In Edition #10 of the Luftwaffe in Focus magazine, the tail of Lt Kurt Sidow was identified, but it carried 12 victory bars, while Sidow is credited with 10 kills, and again his Bf made no claims. So there are also 2 "missing" claims here.

2) In the RAF Interrogation Report A.I.1.(k) 738/1940, there is mention of a diary kept by a crewman of III./ZG26, in which it is stated that as at 18 Aug, the Gruppe had achieved a total of 132 victories. The m/films and others list 120 kills until that date, so it is very likely that 12 claims were not confirmed, among them 2 for Sidow and 2 for Sommer.


Andre

P.S. - there is no known record of the balloon claims, so this must remain "open".

[Dean M. Wick]

Hi Andre: Nice to hear from you and thank you for your comments. I have looked over this Photo again,and would just like to confirm your opinion with you. First off, the first marking I had as a "13.5 poss. 15.5?" No matter,Konopka didn't score on either date. I may have misread Knop of II/ZG76, or...I just had to much scotch that night! I see how you justify the other claims, assuming that the one claim on the 21.5 and the claim on 14.6 were later disallowed. Regarding the last claim, enlarged as I can make it, I can see similarities in the numerals that are consistent with the "1" on some of the other markings,as well as differences in the month figure from the "8", so your speculation of "11.9" is a good one. So I must agree with your findings. Thank again for all the detail. Cheers. Dean

[Dean M. Wick]

Andre: sorry, should have added this. There is no evidence of attacks on barrage balloons over England by anyone on this date ( Blitz, Then and Now, Vol.1).Le Havre was being used to evac. troops to Cherbourg over the period of 11.6. Perhaps III/ZG26 operated over the ports or convoys involved in this operation? Cheers Dean.

[Andre Stewart]

Dean,

I did not expect there to be any evidence of balloon attacks over the UK on that date, yet the dates on the fin are very clearly "11.06", which poses a real "head-scratcher"... Most German units at that time were involved in "mopping-up" operations in France. And the fact that most units did not really treat balloon claims seriously make it worse.

So yet another ongoing "mystery"...

Cheers
Andre

[Andre Stewart]

Hello Dean,

I thought you might like to know -- from a copy of the logbook of Oblt Ernst Matthes, there is the following entry:

11.06.40 Start: 1710 hrs, Landung 1850 hrs. Fiendflug (Mission) - Le Havre. Starke Flak, 1 Ballonebeschuss.

So this apparently confirms that III./ZG26 was in action against the evac ships at Le Havre on that day, and Sommer was not the only one to file balloon claims.

All the best.
Andre

[Dean M. Wick]

Hi Andre: Thank you for this information! I had pretty much considered the thread closed, so this is a welcome surprise. Just out of curiousity... has Ernst Matthes passed away? I note that Peter Cornwell also has made reference to his diary in his new book. Cheers. Dean

[Andre Stewart]

Hello Dean,

Sorry to disappoint you, but apart from a small fragment of his FB I have nothing else on Matthes. Perhaps Peter might know more?

rgds
andre

[Dean M. Wick]

Hi Andre: I had meant to say his Log book, not his Diary, but I'm sure you figured that out. Thank you anyway. Cheers. Dean.