A possible 1940 Bf110 victory claim for a 6./ZG26 crew

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

The slow and difficult process of filling in the large numbers of missing victory claims for many ZG units during 1940 continues. Today, I acquired a photo of Bf110C 3U+IP, from 6./ZG26. We have almost no information on victory claims for this staffel during 1940. This aircraft was shot down on 18.8.40 with a crew of Ofw. Adolf Kiefel & Uffz.Josef Hammersbach, both killed. This a/c carried a single white victory tab on the port fin. Assuming this crew was flying their normally assigned a/c, one of these two men, most likely Kiefel, probably made one or more victory claims sometime between 10.5.40 and 17.8.40. I know that it's a very long shot, but does anyone know something that would provide support to one or more victory claims by either of these men? I note that the Hans Ring "Turks" list for II./ZG26 reports victories by Kiefel on 18.5.40 and 3.6.40. Unfortunately, these "Turks" (estimated) lists were compiled more than 20 years ago and the few cases where we've been able to compare more recent documentation against these "Turks" indicates that these estimates are not very reliable. This is a hell of a way to try and build victory claims info for the missing ZG data, but it's better than nothing.

Any comments? Does anyone have any information on 1940 victories by II./ZG 26 that would help us fill in the large number of gaps in the data, especially for Stab, 5. and 6. Staffel? Most of the data that we have for victory claims for this Gruppe during 1940 are from 4 Staffel, and these are incomplete.

Regards,