2.(F)/126
2./Aufkl.Gr. 126
(Unit Code D1+)
Formation. (April 1941)
Formed 1 April 1941 at Travemünde/Schleswig-Holstein (new) with Heinkel He 60 floatplanes.[1]
Greece and the Aegean Sea. (May 1941 - May 1943)
8 May 1941: transferred from Travemünde via Varna/Bulgaria and Kavala/Greece to Skaramanga (Salamis) near Athens.
17 May 1941: He 60 (D1+EK) operating from Scaramanga failed to return from an operational sortie over the Aegean, 100%, 2 MIA.
29 May 1941: Staffel being temporarily used to ferry troops in its He 60s from the Greek mainland to Suda Bay/Crete. It is difficult to see how this little double-decker floatplane could carry more than one passenger, however.
September 1941: began re-equipping with Dutch Fokker T-VIII-W twin-engine seaplanes and Arado Ar 196 floatplanes at Skaramanga, but plans for the Fokker did not come to pass and by the end of 1941 the Staffel was exclusively equipped with the Arados. A few Heinkel He 114 floatplanes were also in use.
November 1941: Staffel transferred to Kavala/north-east Greece toward the end of 1941 and from there flew convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols over the northern Aegean.
17 March 1942: He 114 crash landed at Kavala, 40%.
17 April 1942: Ar 196 crashed into the sea near Brindisi/Italy, 100%, 1 killed and 1 injured.
20 September 1942: Staffel renamed 8./KG 100 at Kavala - see Stab/126 for details.
20 January 1943: redesignation cancelled and once again as 2./Aufkl.Gr. 126.
May 1943: renamed 2./Seeaufklärungsgruppe 126 at Kavala, however the order formalizing this change in designation (Gen.St.d.Lw.-Gen.Qu.2.Abt.Nr.9281/43g.Kdos.) was not issued until 13 July 1943.
FpN:2./126 (L 08546, L 55146).
Staffelkapitän:
Hptm. Erich-Konrad Pich (1 April 1941 - ? )
Hptm. Otto Hornig (?) ( ? - May 1943) 1942-43
Also see:
PENDER, Sebastian von, Lt.
© by Henry L. deZeng IV (Work in Progress).
(1st Draft 2022)
References
- ↑ J.-P.Défieux - Répertoire des Unités Aériennes de la Luftwaffe 1935-1945: Reconnaissance Aéronavale (Nanterre, privately published, n.d. (c 1988-90?); W.Dierich - Die Verbände der Luftwaffe 1935-1945: Gliederungen und Kurzchroniken – Eine Dokumentation; G.Tessin - Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939-1945, Teil 14: Die Luftstreitkräfte (Osnabrück, 1980); N.Kannapin - Die deutsche Feldpostübersicht 1939-1945. 3 Bde (I – III) (Osnabrück, 1980-82); F.Kurowski - Seekrieg aus der Luft: Die deutsche Seeluftwaffe im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Herford, 1979), pp.91, 93, 249, 261, 298; K.Gundelach - Die deutsche Luftwaffe im Mittelmeer 1940-1945, 2 Bde (Frankfurt/M., 1981), p.269; C.Shores et al - Air War For Yugoslavia, Greece, and Crete 1940-41 (Carrollton (TX), 1987), p.393; U.Balke - Kampfgeschwader 100 “Wiking”: Eine Geschichte aus Kriegstagebüchern, Dokumenten und Berichten 1934-1945 (Stuttgart, 1981), pp.230-35; BA-MA Freiburg: RL 2 III Meldungen über Flugzeugunfälle…..(Loss Reports – LRs); AFHRA Maxwell: decimal K113 Karlsruhe Collection; Jet & Prop magazine, Heft 2/1992; M.Holm-website ww2.dk.