Date, Place and Circumstances of force-landing of He111 9K+JT of 9./KG51 1939-40

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

I'm trying to determine the subtype, date, place, circumstances and crew of this He111 force landed sometime in the 1939-40 period. Swastica position suggests after the Polish Campaign, but fuselage cross-style suggests before the Western Campaign of 1940. This looks like a landing field, and the plane looks like it could have been badly shot up in combat.

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...#ht_2544wt_938

Anybody got a fix on this one?

Regards,

[obdl3945]

Hi, Larry...

This is an He111H. There is no large intake on left side of the engine cowling, which would make it a 'P' subtype, so I'd suggest an H-1 or H-2. However, I think the fuselage cross suggests Polish campaign, but the swastika is probably on the fin, and not overlapping the fin/rudder hinge line, otherwise we would probably be able to see a corner of it on the rudder. This would perhaps suggest post-Polish campaign.

Doug Stankey and Larry de Zeng's Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945 Vol1 (Midland Publishing) states that III.Gruppe/KG51 did not take part in the Polish campaign, being held in reserve in Germany and training for operations between October 1939 and April 1940 and only undertaking leaflet raids from time to time over France.

As you infer, I think it's likely that this machine was photographed between the Polish and Western campaigns, at a time when markings were generally in a period of transition.

Regards,

Paul