Luftwaffe im Focus, N°18 ; Photos 16 & 17, P.14. I./Sch.G 1 pictures.

[ouidjat]

The two pictures are captioned like this:
“After heavy losses during the fighting before Moscow during the winter of 1941-42, In April 1942 I./Sch.G 1 returned to the Reich and underwent a period of rest and refitting at Werl.”
Following Holm’s page here all Sch.G 1 components – i.e. Stab, I & II Gr., 4 & 8 Sta. and Erg.Sta. - where created 13/1/1942. Therefore, I do not understand the sentence’s part “… before Moscow during the winter 41-42”…. Or is it just a short cut meaning II./LG2 (II Gr. and 4th Staffel excluded)?
Note: Both Stab Sch.G 1 and Stab I./Sch.G 1 were created from Stab II.(S)/LG 2!! (Sic)

The caption continue like that:
“Having lost many aircraft in Russia, the Gruppe was issued new Bf109E-7s. Our photos show aircraft of Oblt. Heinz Frank’s 3.Staffel preparing for a training sortie on 26 April.”
E-7/U1 actually (Thanks to Holm’s site) and Fl.Pl. Werl where Stab and I.Gruppe where based in April.

Then:
“+M, The Bf 109 E-7 of Lt. Lehmann may be seen in both photos … The aircraft letter “M” is outlined in white”.
Hmmmm… It seems that it is the only Bf 109 E-7 in the row having an early style canopy…
Concerning the letter color: what was the color for each Staffel? Stab? “D” in the background seems to be Black which is normal for a 3.Staffel.

LAST:
It happens that a full batch of pictures where put in auction on eBay, long time ago. The lady with a black hat is well documented including her (girl) friend wearing a furr coat. (We can see both women on pic N°17); that – and background - does confirm that these eBay pictures have been taken the same day on same place – same unit of course; Werl, 26 April 1942; 3./Sch.G 1.
Here are the said eBay pictures (Still with my own wrong captions).
I’m sorry for who hasn’t the said review (LiF N°18) but I’m not going to put scans of the pictures I’m talking about here…

Tschüss, Franck.

VERY IMPORTANT: Don’t shout at me! I use to put E-7/B on those E-7 pictures when wearing a bomb and/or bomb rack; it’s just a question of classification and an easy way to get them back when necessary ... OK??