Seeking info on Oblt Werner Thierfelder of Stab I./ZG26 during 1940

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

At the EoE we're working on a color profile for the Stab I./ZG26, a/c U8+BB during the fall of 1940 (White nose). This is long after Proske was lost in an a/c with that code on 18.08.40. This a/c was flown by the Gr Kdr, Hptm Makrocki on a trip back to Germany @ 10.40 for a funeral. His normal a/c would have been U8+AB. It's been suggested that Thierfelder was the possible pilot of that a/c, although U8+BB would have normally been the Gr ADj. However, this a/c in question carries a scoreboard consistent with Thierfelder's for the time (6 vict tabs). Does anyone know who the Gr Adj for I./ZG26 was after Proske went down in mid-August? I have an Oblt Fleckner from 3 Staffel as possibly in that position or also possibly Oblt Richard Schubert. Who can help sort this out? I'd like to put a regular pilot in this a/c during the fall of 1940.

[Evgeny Velichko]

This is all I have, Larry.

For this pilot, I have his 3U+HP with 18 abschusse, winter 1941-42.

[Evgeny Velichko]

Larry, have a look on this!
http://www.ebay.de/itm/289-Flugplatz...4AAOSwXj5XGlns

[Larry Hickey]

Evgeny,

Good to hear from you. I saw this earlier today in my daily list of new eBay offerings, and have been pondering this ever since. I noted in my original post that an a/c with this U8+BB code was flown by Hptm Makrocki, the I./ZG26 Gr Kdr, on a trip to a funeral in Germany circa October, 1940. Makrocki got his officially confirmed 9th victory on 9 September 1940, and I strongly suspect that this was either his original a/c for a time, or at a minimum, a backup while his normal U8+AB was being repaired or replaced. We do have a photo of his U8+AB that appears to also have nine victory tabs on the fin, but all in a single row. There seems to be some other markings in front of the rows of victory tabs, which may somehow refer to ground victories he's known to have scored, or perhaps represent barrage balloons shot down (?).

U8+BB would normally have been the Gr Adj a/c, but I'm not aware of anyone who could have held that job with the Gruppenstab during that period who could have had nine victory claims. One possible explanation is that the top row of six victories could represent those of the pilot, while the second row of three represent victories scored by the BF/gunner. Unfortunately, I./ZG26 is one of the units for which we don't have comprehensive victory claim information during 1940. At the EoE Project, we're working on that problem, but there are still many gaps to be filled.

Can anyone further sort this out?