Chris Simmonds

Posting here probably for the last time with a very heavy heart as LEMB has been a 'home' for me as I learnt and grew in knowledge. So I have much gratitude to Peter for having the tenacity and guts to keep LEMB running for all these years through thick and thin. Wishing Peter all the very best for the future.

Morten I am certain you will be an asset

Pete, You have impacted the lives of all the regulars here with the creation of what is still one of the best Luftwaffe sites on the Internet. The huge mass of information is outstanding and is in no short measure directly attributable to your outstanding attention to detail, perseverance and dogged determination. Personal best wishes to you Pete for the future. Chris Simmonds AKA Hurricane

Yes Peter, either III or II./JG77 and here is a picture of a II./JG27 Bf109G with a capital D on the rumpfband: Source ex-internet auction believed eBay Could this be the remnant of the STKZ? Take look at page 1524 and 1529 of the above volume Teil 3. Cheers Chris

I know a Fokker when I see one, and those ain't no Fokkers

I should add I don't see tropical uniforms on the individuals, in fact they look pretty well dressed. I think the camouflage resembles the JG54 Fw190s in 3 colours in this case being browns and light greens over the basic 70-71 very suitable for Northern Norway. However the most compelling argument against my theory is the staffel code.........

Well I can see G2 so for my money it's AufKlGr.124 and that's a yellow theatre band not white. Cheers Chris

Hi Neil Thank you, again, you're spot on. There's just no catching you! If said you had no flies, some of our foreign friends might start to wonder Cheers Chris

Neil I think you're right, it is Wilhelm Balthasar but when he was with 7./JG27, as he wears his RK the photo must have been taken sometime between June and September 1940 or, at the outside, when with 1./JG1 between 14th June, when he was awarded the RK, and 5th July when 1./JG 1 became 7./JG27. Cheers Chris

Thank you Nick and James I just couldn't 'see' who it was. B'Regards Chris

Crolick Was he murdered or died as a result of his crash? Chris

Set #2 In photos 5, 6, 7 and 8 I believe the tall officer is Wilhelm Balthasar and the other officer is Gunther Lutzow.

In Set #3 is a Ju52 marked S2+N18. The code S2+N?? has been noted before but the identity of the unit is still unknown but as the other S??+??? codes belong to training units it probably is also. Does anybody able to tie a unit 2 S2+N?? ? Thanks Chris

On the vendors auction in Set #3 but missed off of Peter's post was this unknown RKT with what looks like a Bf109 in background with a tactical code White 12: http://cgi.ebay.de/Luftwaffe-Kampfflieger-Orden-120-Negative-1940-/320645463900?pt=Militaria&hash=item4aa7f57f5c Anybody got a clue who he is? Cheers Chris

Looking at the negatives in their paper wrapping, and at the edges of the vendors visuals there were a lot of other photos that we have not seen; for instance the photo of Oesau draped over the rear fuselage in conversation with another individual (often seen as a colour or colourised photo) was obviously part of a bracket or continuous sequence. Who knows what else is in those negative envelopes.......................

Interestingly the last set has been taken off.................

Hi Neil Thanks for putting me right. I hadn't clocked your post #6 It's funny you should make that ID as I thought it looked a lot like Lutzow whose mouth was his perhaps most recognisable feature but dismissed him because of the cuff title! Cheers Chris

Person 03 in post #5, a Major, had been awarded the Spanish Cross and RK and also has the 'Richthofen' honour band/cuff title of JG2. The following JG2 RKT's fought in Spain: Otto Bertram Wolfgang Schellmann Walter Oesau Wilhelm Balthazar Schellmann had a moustache and Oesau had a broad, round face ruling them out. I have never seen a photo of Balthazar with his Spanish Cross and so so therefore speculate that the person is Major Otto Bertram. Cheers Chris

Bf109 # 8 here is quite weird as it shows what looks like a newly marked 1./JG2 'Bonzo' emblem (Page 162 of Emblems of Jagdwaffe 1937-1945 A study Sinisa Sestanovic) yet the tactical markings are Yellow 5 of 9./JG2. Perhaps this was a transferred aircraft that was awaiting the tactical markings repaint? Thanks Peter! Chris

Brilliant detective work! So this photo builds on information already known.

Surely that Yellow 5 was Uffz/Oblt Werner Machold's machine when with 9./JG2? There are a sequence of colour shots of this a/c in Bernd Barbas' Aces books, I think, (not at my desk) as well as a number of b/ws. (Goran pips me to the post-GMTA)

Page 229 of Aufklarer Luftwaffe Reconnaissance Aircraft & Units 1935-1945 Hikoki Publications is devoted to the wrecked Me261 in 1945. The above photo must be part of the same sequence taken on the same day as the GI's are the same. Lets hope some more appear!

Hi Goran and Peter I had the middle one as Bf109K-4/R-3 White 16 of 9./JG53 found at Lechfeld in April 45. The wings are just seen in other photos, and in other photos the vertical white III Gruppe bar is just visible. Krzysztof W Wotowski in his new and highly recommended book 'Bf109 Late Versions Camouflage & markings' by MMP illustrates this machine on page 103. He attributes it to 9./JG53 he also sites Reichenback as the location. Prien in his JG53 book on page 1087 has two other photos which clearly show the III Gruppe bar. As far as I am aware four photos of this machine exist. Cheers Chris

Hi Tom It looks like almost a fairground attraction or a child's ride outside shopping centres, all that's missing is the tiny spinning rotor head, stubby tail and flashing light bulbs. Cheers Chris

Thanks for posting Pete, some nice images. With the gruppe bar forward of the number and balkankreutz this would indicates JG51. Then there is the Mediterranean scenery, complete with Ami GI which would match II./JG51's long tenure in Italy. It has to be a Yellow 13 as 5./JG51 used white-outlined black numbers and 6./JG51 used black outlined yellow numbers. So it's Bf109G-6/Trop, Yellow 13 of 6./JG51 either summer 1943 or 1944. The paint scheme is very familiar and is of a distinct manufacturer but this is not my forte, I am sure somebody else will chip in! Cheers Chris