When exactly did I/KG 77 become I/KG 6?

[Chris Goss]

It has been said that I/KG 77 became I/KG 6 1 Sep 42 but speaking to a former KG 6 pilot, he seems to think that it was before that even though NVMs for Aug 42 still say I/KG 77 & the Gr Kdr was Maj Von Scheliha and that they used 3Z codes as opposed to 3E. Can anyone comment on this?

[Sylvester Stadler]

The following is from Jan Horn's Wir Flogen gen Westen: Die Chronik des KG 6:

I./KG 77 received orders at the beginning of June 1942 to transfer from Kharkov, Russia to Creil, France and simultaneously changed its unit designation to I./KG 6. The first mission under the new designation was on 27 July 1942 for a raid on Birmingham, England. One Ju 88A-4 is damaged and two crew members were killed on crash-landing and the pilot and the navigator were severely injured. The aircraft markings were 3Z+NH, WNr. 5694, although this loss is not registered in the appendix of the book. Another contradiction in the book is that the First Gruppe Kommandeur, Major Ernst-Gunther von Scheliha as commanding from 1.9.42 to 9.1.43. The same as the operations officer (1a) and the first Staffel Kapitan.

The first loss for I./KG 6 is registered under the date 15.1.42 which is a Ju 88A-4 (30% damaged) at Flugplatz Dno (Russia?) which doesn't make sense. The next loss listed is on 30.7.42 when a Ju 88A-4 came into contact with the ground with the pilot being killed. No markings are listed for either aircraft.