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Old 01-14-2011, 02:50 PM
John Vasco John Vasco is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 4
Default That is a Bf 110 G-2...

Ltbear,

No question.

Go check the loss tables in my book, 'Sting of the Luftwaffe'. There, you will see all the RECORDED losses of aircraft forwarded to Luftwaffe HQ via two sources:
1. The Namentliche Verlustemeldungen, which reported the loss/wounding of crews, which also contained quite detailed aircraft information most of the time; and
2. The aircraft returns forwarded to the Lw Quartermaster for the purpose of acquiring replacement aircraft.

As I put in my first post, apart from a Bf 110 C, which I believe was a C-1 acquired from III./ZG 26 on the Med front, all the loss/damage information for aircraft was for Bf 110 G-2 aircraft. The sideways folding Bordfunker's canopy in the photos confirm it as a G-2, not an 'E'.

Unit codes on the fuselage of Bf 110s were re-used again and again in Luftwaffe Staffeln, so more than one Bf 110 would have carried the code S9+MP, not just one. Let me give you an example: Bf 110 D-0/B, S9+CK, shot down and belly-landed at Hawkhurst, Kent on 15th August 1940; Bf 110 E-1/N, S9+CK, shot down into the North Sea on 12th May 1941; Bf 110 E-1, S9+CK, damaged on combat mission, Propajak, Russian front, 12th August 1941; Me 210 A-1, S9+CK, crashed on training flight, Hörsching, near Linz, 12th December 1941; Bf 110 F-2, S9+CK, hit by Flak, 31st December 1942; Bf 110 G-2, S9+CK, hit by Flak and Russian fighter, east of Russkt-Brod, 10th May 1943.

So simpy because the Bf 110 carries the code S9+MP, you cannot ascribe its variant/sub-variant to the only known recorded code in Luftwaffe returns. Remember, if II./ZG 1 was suddenly forced to retreat and leave behind many aircraft that were u/s on Montecorvino, the last thing on their minds was probably hanging around to fill in some paperwork about the minute details of those damaged aircraft. They would simply have requisitioned replacements once they had reached their new base.

I hope this clarifies things to your satisfaction.
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