Need help identifying pilot of 1940 Bf110 from 8./ZG76 with 7 victories

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Recently on eBay, a photo of Bf110C-2 W.Nr. 2083 2N+AN, sold to one of our EOE members. This a/c was probably not the a/c of the St.Kap., neither of whom from this period (circa 9.40), was known to have had a victory scoreboard totaling the seven tabs shown on the photo. This a/c his been published before, including with the pilot, on P. 40 of the Vasco/Cornwell book on the Bf110 during 1940. This plane code, 2N+AN, was reported lost on 25.08.40, with Ofw Manfred Dähne, but with a different W.Nr., 3532. This is almost certainly the replacement a/c for this one, and since Dähne was MIA, this couldn't have been him. One of our EOE members thinks that this was most likely the a/c of Herbert Kutscha. From the photo of this plane with the pilot, can anyone confirm the ID as Kutscha, who was a Knight's Cross winner, whose photo appears on P. 152 of Obermaier's RKT book (1966 edition). Because of the differences in the clothing, flight helmut, etc., I can't decide if they are the same person or not. Here is where some facial recognition software could really help the case. Perhaps some of you have other info/photos of this pilot or a/c that would help us nail this one. Who can help?

Regards,