KG26 A/C Codes 15 Aug 1940, Shield Colour

[BoiseBlade]

I am looking for some possible clarification on the aircraft of III/KG26 that participated on the 15 Aug 1940 raid on England. I am currently building a HE111 H4 which I have read that some or most of III/KG26 was flying at this time. (Hope it is accurate) It seems the only confirmed A/C code lost was FS of the 6 A/C lost from the Staffel. Wouldn’t that have been all but 2 or 3 L? What I would like to try and find out is if it is known what colour the A/C letter was and the KG shield for this staffel. I would think from my readings that Letter would be RED and Shield RED with Black Lion. But I see there is a lot of information out there including “atckyrre” Post on 1 Jan 06 about this, So I am still confused.
I wonder if all 8/KG26 aircraft A-H/I participated this day.
I also have a question on if A/C code outlines were used at this time or were they used later with this KG? the image attached is just from the web of A/C 1H+EK that appears to be maybe a H4 variant but no time frame found.
As an FYI, I choose this KG because of it’s participation in the North of England. My wife’s family 3 generations back came from outside of Middlesbrough in a place/town called Eston. She has copies of pages of a journal from distant uncle or cousin with dates 30 May 40 stating days ago we were bombed by the Germans but not close. Also just Aug 40 that said we have had many raids including a big one some days back. Not much detail I know….
Thank You

[obdl3945]

Hi,

Information from the publication Kampfflieger Volume 2 by Smith & Creek (Classic Colours) states that on 15 August Luftflotten 2 & 3 co-ordinated attacks with Norwegian based machines from Luftflotte 5, the latter comprising a force of some 72 Heinkel He111s from both I. and III.Gruppe/KG26. They set out from Stavanger/Sola airfield heading for RAF airfields in the north of England, particularly Dishforth and Usworth. The incoming German aircraft were intercepted by RAF fighters and eight of these bombers were downed. There is no confirmation in that book which Gruppe the machines were lost from.

Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe Volume 1 by de Zeng & Stankey (Midland) advises that III.Gruppe/KG26 had some 26 machines available on 13 August, comprising Heinkels of both H-3 and H-4 sub-types, and confirms the Gruppe's attempted raid on north east England on 15 August, stating that the Germans lost seven of their number from this Gruppe, the force having been intercepted before reaching the English coast. This publication says that III.Gruppe's targets were Dishforth and Linton-on-Ouse; I.Gruppe had 29 machines out of 30 available on 13 August and its (main?) target on 15 August also appears to have been Dishforth. The information merely says machines from I.Gruppe were turned back by RAF fighters - no losses are mentioned.

I would suggest that you are correct in your thinking that if it was the case that the machines lost were from one particular Staffel, then there would likely only be a handful of aircraft remaining to that Staffel. If indeed 1H+FS was one of the aircraft lost, then being an 8.Staffel machine, its I/D letter 'F' would, in normal practice, be coloured red, and possibly accompanied with a white outline to mark it out against the dark green colour scheme.

Rolfe & Ketley's Luftwaffe Emblems 1939-1945 (Hikoki Publications) seems also to suggest that the III.Gruppe's unit emblem would have been black detail set against a red background, although personally I find that a little strange, as III.Gruppe's I/D colour was yellow; consequently, because I would have expected the background to the shield to have reflected the Gruppe I/D colour (yellow), I'm inclined to think that the captions to these emblems in that book are perhaps transposed wrongly, one against the other.

It is my belief that more often than not, the propellor spinners would - either completely or partially - match the Staffel I/D colour, in this case red, and the background to the unit emblem would more likely have reflected the Gruppe I/D colour, in this instance yellow. This was what would probably be accepted as standard practice, but often there were anomalies, so proceed with caution.

If you require some additional guidance regarding codes and colour I/Ds, this site www.luftarchiv.de is very helpful. It is in German, but once you see the coding grids, most things should perhaps become clearer for you. Once you're on the site, follow these selections below from the left-side menu to reach the appropriate page, then scroll down on the last page and you'll see the charts: Luftfahrtindusrtie, Kennzeichen, Motorflugzeuge, 1939-1945.

Hope this is useful, but feel free to come back and ask if you have further questions.

Regards,

Paul

[Doug Stankey]

The subject of the KG 26 insignia has been confusing over the years, so I made a determined effort to develop a theory about this. My "best guess" is:

I./KG 26 = white shield, black details
II./KG 26 = white shield, red details - observed in colour picture.
III./KG 26 = yellow shield, black details
IV./KG 26 - blue shield, white details - a guess
Gesch.Stab/KG 26 = blue shield, white details - a guess
Stab I./KG 26 = green shield, white details - seen in black and white pics
Stab II./KG 26 = green shield, red details outlined in white. - a guess
Stab III./KG 26 = green shield, yellow details. - aguess
Stab IV./KG 26 = green shield, blue details outlined in white - a guess

I suspect that most staff aircraft merely had the normal Gruppe insignia.
Judging by inconsistencies, the policy for insignias apparently changed over time.

[jim norton]

hi,

the attached photo is 6n+ek of 2./kg100.

all the best
jim

[obdl3945]

Hi, Doug...

With reference to your posting, I would agree about the likelihood of the Gruppe badges being as you state.

The Staff flights for Geschwader and Gruppe I am less well acquainted with myself, but I can say that early on in the war - October 1939 - an He111H-2 coded 1H+JA from Stabskette/KG26, was brought down near Edinburgh and as can be seen from the attached, the unit emblem is clearly a light-coloured (white?) shield with dark, presumably black, detail. I hope so, as I don't want to have to rework my model of this aircraft a second time...

Thumbnails courtesy of www.flightglobal.com (from the 'Flight' publication of 02.11.1939)

Regards,

Paul

[BoiseBlade]

Thank you all for the replys. It is much appreciated.

Hope you do not mind a little rambling brain session for a bit of discussion as I would really like to know your thoughts on this.
There are 2 different Pics of 111’s from 5/KG26 where the lighting and development are very different. (image 1 & 2) I am by NO means any photo expert, but I can not help wondering if the one on the ground has a different colour Lion on the shield. If so I would think it would be RED since that is the only one with photographic history (HE-111 of KG26 ww2incolor). Even with the angle of this image wouldn’t you think it would be much darker if the Lion was black?
Image 3 shows another KG26 AC with the crest next to the 87 Triangle. Weren’t these triangles mostly Yellow or Red outline and labeled in the opposite or black? I know this is all very speculative but if so doesn’t the shade of the shield and the background of triangle look similar? There also seems to be a brigther band on the Engine cowl (White?)

On this other image of a KG26 in the Night Scheme it shows what appears to be a non-black shield with a white Lion. Again would this be a RED shield?
Lastly, I now they are RC and Sim sites (as with Decals or Model manufacturers not claims to accuracy) although he has a large disclaimer for accuracy the folloing on http://www.rc-network.de/magazin/artikel_07/art_07-043/art_043-01.html by Eckart Muller and http://www.simmerspaintshop.com/forums/downloads/markings/3/lw-kampfgeschwader-154/ Bith have III/KG26 as Red Shield Black Details. I wonder what they may have used as references.
Images provided from Luchtoorlog.be

[BoiseBlade]

Paul,
BTW, thank you for the information on www.luftarchiv.de I’ll use a translator program for the site, yes it does consumes time and is not always accurate in sentence structure but sure helps
1H+JA is the one with double crosses on each wing correct? One out at the tip, if this is correct could you tell me why that was?
Maybe I should just say what the Heck and do a I/KG26 J Any one have documented history of a HE111 H-4 from I/KG26 for Jul-Aug 1940 time frame? (AEN-What, me worry?) But I sure do want to do one that was lost on the 15th raid from III/KG26 but for the life of me do not know why………
Regards
Jeff D.

[Doug Stankey]

While this is a bit "off-topic", it may amuse the membership that I have a copy of an issue of "Aircraft Engineering" magazine from the 1940s which has an extensive article about that He 111 H (1H+JA). Apart from some photos, it is mainly about the electronic devices and includes circuit diagrams of the various gadgets complete with component values!

[obdl3945]

Jeff,

Sorry, but I can't find anything (!) at present about III./KG26 on the day in question that might give you some information for your model. Reading back on your original posting, you mention that 1H+FS was the only confirmed loss. Are you able to advise the source of that piece of information?

In answer to your query about the double crosses on the upper wings of 1H+JA, the smaller crosses are in the usual position for national markings at that time - October 1939. The lower wing crosses were apparently located in the same area and were of the same size.

The large upper wing markings were apparently the result of recognition difficulties during the Polish campaign, and some varying interpretation of increasing the size of the upperwing crosses to overcome this problem. They were not exculsive to the Heinkel He111... Junkers Ju87s, Dornier Do17s and even at least one Dornier Do18 seaplane are known to have carried larger crosses of varying size, position and appearance on the upper wing.

I'd be interested n seeing how your kit is progressing too, in exchange for a couple from my model collection, of 1H+JA...

Regards,

Paul

[BoiseBlade]

OK...Let me Tap Dance backwards a bit...........
Mayeb not confirmed

The following sites have it listed as being one lost on 15 Aug 40
http://www.rafandluftwaffe.info/luftwaffe1.html, http://www.pastscape.org/, http://www.baaa-acro.com/Immatriculations/D%20-%20Deutsche%20Luftwaffe.htm, http://www.luftwaffe.no
I also recieved information from one of my friends who has 2 books called Broken Eagles which he said had information that one of the A/C lost that day was 1H+FS with a pilot of Oblt Hermann Riedel and when a reply to a earlier psit of mine from Chris Goss stated he had Riedel's AC as 1H+FS which was diffrent then my post I guess I just ran with that.......So actually maybe the answer is it may not be "Verified"