J Temple-West

Reverse.

First up... Single parade mount.

Gary, Your 5th point regarding the level of the medals. As can be seen in this little compilation, and as Rick has said, "there are no hard and fast rules" when it comes to medal bars.

Hi Luftmensch, It could be either...The difference between the two is that the auto club dirk has a brass horn device on the crossguard , the aero culb has a brass propeller on the crossguard.

Hi Doug, Luftwaffe Flak-Scheinwerfer (searchlight unit) abteilung. 310 and Luftwaffe leichte (light flak unit) Flak abteilung 985 were part of the 25th Flak Div based in Italy 43-45. I haven?t been able to find anything on his earlier ?Ersatz? (replacement) units but will keep looking.

And the fashion for this year is to wear one?s EM metal cockade on one?s ski cap! I bet these three were a hand-full. Great pictures!

A very nice set. Having the urkunde for both silver and gold wound badge is quite rare. Congrat's

Rich. Congratulations on acquiring such a superb piece of history. I take it that you'll be on the hunt for his documents? I'll certainly be keeping an eye open for you.

An excellent piece of detective work, jacques.

Rick, you are probably right, but? I?m entering a world that I know little about, so this may be a silly question. Could this badge be one of the bronze examples that Tim Tezer mentions on his site? And I quote; ?Private purchase badges can be found in silver, white metal, silvered bronze, bronze, and even aluminum, with a variety of pin attachments, screw back attachments, or rings at the top for wear on a medal bar.? Having looked at this badge very closely, I can see no signs of it having being polished. If it had I would expect to see remnants of plating in the inaccessible areas and some sign of wear/damage where the metal meets the enamelling. Looking at the badge, the star and crescent are made of bronze with only the crescent having being plated in brass. To have polished the plating up to the brass, but leaving this thin layer of brass plating intact, would have been some feat! The reverse shows a cooling crack at the 4 o clock position, in which I would also expect to find evidence of plating, if plating was used. The sheer marks/die cracks are all clean and how I would expect to see them, going on TR die characteristics, with no sign of excessive polishing. Anyway, back to the original question. Could this be the bronze type? If not, what would the bronze type look like? Does anyone have one they could show this novice?

Very nice, guys! Ize been looking for one of these.

Reverse.

Well, how about this one...Private purchase-original finish variant (absolutely no sign that a silver finish was ever applied) or smiply that the plating has disappeared?

I would agree that it?s most likely a private purchase item. The use of non regulation garments by Luftwaffe crews was not unheard of and quite a few period photos even show the wear of the favoured British leather flight jacket. The thing I find interesting, something that I feel helps confirm its use by a member of a flight crew, are the marks left by the removal of the insignia. The measurements you've given corresponds to the measurements of the rank insignia (Doppelschwingen) worn by Officers and NCO's which were in the form of wings and stripes sewn on to a backing material and then fixed to the jacket. By no means 100% proof but a start in finding out the jackets history. The logo on the zips may help if you can find the maker and match it to the period. All in all, I think it has a good chance of being an original wartime piece and worth the research. Let us know how you get on.

Not a complete listing for the members of J/88 but it'll take a few more names off the total needed to complete the task. Oblt. Kraft Eberhardt J/88 Oblt. Hannes Trautloft J/88 Oblt. Herwig Kn?ppel J/88 Lt. Otto-Heinrich von Houwald J/88 Oblt. Ekkehard Hefter J/88 Oblt. Alfons Klein J/88 Lt. Eberhard Henrici J/88 Uffz. Erwin Sawallisch J/88 Uffz. Ernst Mratzek J/88 Oblt. Hennig Str?mpel J/88 Lt. Dietrich von Bothmer J/88 Lt. Paul Rehahn 4.J/88 Oblt. Hannes Trautloft J/88 Lt. Kurt von Gilsa J/88 Uffz. Willi G?decke J/88 Hptm. Werner Palm 1.J/88 Oblt. Harro Harder 1.J/88 Uffz. Hans-J?rgen Hepe 1.J/88 Oblt. G?nther L?tzow 2.J/88 Lt. G?nther Radusch 2.J/88 Fw. Franz Heimayer 2.J/88 Fw. Heinz Braunschweiger 1.J/88 Uffz. Guido H?ness 2.J/88 Lt. Rolf Pingel 2.J/88 Fw. Peter Boddem 2.J/88 Ofw. Fritz Hillmann 2.J/88 Lt. Edgar Rempel 2.J/88 Fw. Norbert Flegel 2.J/88 Ofw. Reinhard Seiler 2.J/88 Uffz. Max Schulz 2.J/88 Lt. Eduard Neumann 3.J/88 Lt. Heinrich Brucker 2.J/88 Oblt. Joachim Schlichting 2.J/88 Lt. Erich Woitke 1.J/88 Ofw. Leo Sigmund 1.J/88 Uffz. Kurt Rochel 2.J/88 Lt. Karl-Heinz Greisert 2.J/88 Uffz. Hermann Stange 2.J/88 Uffz. Wilhelm Staege 2.J/88 Lt. Walter Adolph 1.J/88 Ofw. Ignatz Prestele 1.J/88 Uffz. Ernst Terry 1.J/88 Uffz. Ignatz Prestele 1.J/88 Oblt. Wolfgang Schellmann 1.J/88 Oblt. Wilhelm Balthasar 1.J/88 Uffz. Kurt Rochel 2.J/88 Uffz. ? Lohrer 2.J/88 Lt. Hans-Karl Mayer 1.J/88 Uffz. Ernst Quasinowski 1.J/88 Lt. Fritz Awe 1.J/88 Uffz. Herbert Ihlefeld 2.J/88 Uffz. Alfred Stark 1.J/88 Lt. Eckehardt Priebe 1.J/88 Hptm. Gotthard Handrick Stab.J/88 Uffz. Willi Meyer 2.J/88 Uffz. Bernhard Seufert 2.J/88 Lt. Wolfgang Ewald 2.J/88 Lt. Lothar Keller 1.J/88 Uffz. Erich Kuhlmann 1.J/88 Lt. Wilhelm Keidel 2.J/88 Lt. Walter Oesau Stab.J/88 Lt. Wolfgang Lippert 3.J/88 Oblt. Werner M?lders 3.J/88 Uffz. Josef Bauer 3.J/88 Lt. Rudolf Resch 2.J/88 Lt. Horst Tietzen 3.J/88 Uffz. Willibald Hein 3.J/88 Lt. Karl Ebbighausen 3.J/88 Uffz. Helmut Brucks 1.J/88 Fw. Robert Menge 1.J/88 Uffz. Franz Jaenisch 3.J/88 Oblt. Hubert Kroeck 2.J/88 Lt. Otto Bertram 1.J/88 Uffz. Willi Szuggar 1.J/88 Uffz. Willibald Hein 3.J/88 Uffz. Gustav K?ll 2.J/88 Lt. G?nther Scholz 3.J/88 Lt. Wilhelm Ensslen 2.J/88 Hptm. Walter Grabmann Stab.J/88 Uffz. M?rz 3.J/88 Uffz. Georg Braunshirn 2.J/88 Lt. Rudolf Goy 3.J/88 Uffz. Herbert Schob 2.J/88 Oblt. Rudolf Unger 1.J/88 Lt. Horst Tietzen 1.J/88 Lt. Hans-J?rgen Ehrig 1.J/88 Oblt. Johann Gamringer 3.J/88 Lt. Josef F?z? 3.J/88 Fw. Fleischmann 3.J/88 Lt. Martin Lutz 2.J/88 Lt. August-Wilhelm Schumann 2.J/88 Uffz. Keining 3.J/88 Uffz. Freund 2.J/88 Lt. Heinz Bretn?tz 2.J/88 Uffz. Karl Kolb 1.J/88 Uffz. Norbert Fischer 1.J/88 Lt. Theodor Rossiwall 3.J/88 Lt. Karl-Wolfgang Redlich 2.J/88 Oblt. Hubertus von Bonin 3.J/88 Oblt. Alfred von Lojewski 2.J/88 Fhr. Heinz Tornow 3.J/88 Ofw. M?ller 3.J/88 Oblt. Helmut-Felix Bolz 3.J/88 Hptm. Siebelt Reents 1.J/88 Uffz. Hans Nirminger 1.J/88 Uffz. Gerhard Halupczek 1.J/88 Uffz. Heinrich Windemuth J/88 Ofw. Walter Grimmling J/88 Uffz. Boer 3.J/88 Fw. Heinz Braunschweiger 2.J/88 Uffz. Georg Braunshirn 2.J/88 Oblt. Kraft Eberhardt J/88 Fw. Norbert Flegel 2.J/88 Hptm. Gotthard Handrick Stab.J/88 Lt. Eberhard Henrici J/88 Lt. Wilhelm Keidel 2.J/88 Oblt. Herwig Kn?ppel J/88 Hptm. Walter Rubensd?rffer Stab.J/88 Hptm. Lothar von Janson 2.J/88

Rick, Many thanks for the info.... Much appreciated!

2. Urkunde for the 4 year service medal. The search continues!

Inner page.

1. Promotion document. From Oberf?hnrich to Leutnant, to take effect from 1st January 1938.

An update on the quest to reunite the document group to Hauptmann Hans Rehfus. I?ve managed to locate two more documents for this Pilot Observer. The first group of documents were found in England, the second in Germany and the latest in the USA.

That is a very nice display, byf.

Nice board, Paul...But I have to say that I would never tempt fate and post an item until I'd received it. But that's just me!

+2.

+1

A few bars...