Kampfgeschwader 55 collection

[jim murray]

Thanks for the nice comments guys, its always nice to know that people like what you show. Wilhelm, I agree with you, its one of my favourite KG55 pieces.

[Paul Woodbyrne]

photo

Looks great Jim talk to you later. Paul

[Ian Jewison]

Very nice Jim!!!

You should cut the head off your dummy and turn it to the right
Or have Paul come round and model Wolff's jacket

/Ian

[jim murray]

PK photo of Oberst Dr Ernst Kuhl Geschwaderkommodore of KG55 from 27/8/1942 to 7/8/1943. Ernst Kuhl was the geschwaderstab Ia officer in 1940, and planned most of KG55 missions during the Battle for France and the Battle of Britain, and flew on many of them. He was even shot down and crashed in the channel just off Cherbourg on the 30th of September. He was acting as observer on HE111 G1+JA, KG55 were on a mission to attack the Westland aircraft factory near Yeovil in Somerset. They lost four aircraft that day and four returned to France with wounded aircrew on board. He was made gruppenkommandeure of II gruppe in 31/3/1941 until 26/8/1942 when he was appointed Geschwaderkommodore. He was awarded the Knightscross on the 17/10/42 and the Oakleaves on the 18/12/43. He survived the war and was a prominent member of the KG55 veterans association, he died on the 2/2/1972.

[Ian Jewison]

Interesting Jim, I have some photos of him in the Dietrich group however not really researched who he was..........the cap is what gave it away!

Ian

[Andy F-P]

A nice show Jim. An interesting observation by Bill regarding the possible leather flight jacket.
Regards,
Andy

[TrondK]

Beautiful collection!

[Ian Jewison]

Here you go Jim,

Dr Ernst Kühl RKT and Gerhard Dietrich RKT (on the right with his back to the camera).

/Ian

[jim murray]

Super photo Ian, thank you for posting

[jim murray]

As I said when I started this thread that Wilhelm Borges’s tunic and documents were the first KG55 items I acquired for my collection, the second group I picked up came from the estate of Obfw. Otto Lichtinger of 1<SUP>st</SUP> and 2<SUP>nd</SUP> staffel KG55.<O</O
The group consists of a navigators case, a wrist compass, a navigators dividers and set square, 18 maps, his medical records, a two piece belt buckle, a DRL badge, a ski pin, some collar patch gulls, about 200 post war photos, 20 wartime photos and 18 wartime negatives {which I’ve had developed} which are most lightly per war training as his flieger blouse does not have a breast eagle. <O</O
Otto Lichtinger was born on the 23<SUP>rd</SUP> of November 1918, he did his RAD service from the 1/4/1937 to the 23/9/1937 and entered the Luftwaffe on the 1<SUP>st</SUP> of October 1937, and in October 1941 did his pilot training in Flugzeugfuhrer schule C/15. By September 1942 he was serving with Kampf Gruppn z b v 1 and in September 1943 he transferred to IV Gruppe KG55, by early 1944 he had transferred to 2<SUP>nd</SUP> Staffel and by mid 44 to<O</O
1<SUP>st</SUP> Staffel. According to his medical records he spent some time in hospital in late 44 recovering from injuries. Otto Litchtinger saw a lot action as he was awarded the EKII and EKI and on the 28<SUP>th</SUP> of February 1944 he was awarded the Honour goblet. Otto survived the war. At first I thought that he must have been a Beobachter {navigator} because of his case and maps etc. But according to his medical records and his Honour Goblet entry which lists him as a pilot. It’s possible that he started out as a navigator, but later changed to be a pilot. His maps are all marked in pencil with early dates, four are of areas in Poland and are dated October 39 and two are of Holland, one has Rotterdam heavily underlined. If he was involved on the raid on Rotterdam he would have been serving with KG54, it’s interesting. But the most interesting map of them all in my opinion is a 23th of March 1940 dated map of Ireland, that’s something you don’t come across every day. The date in marked in pencil and it also has degrees marked also in pencil along the side of the map, did he fly over Ireland??? <O</O

[jim murray]

A closer look at some of his items and medical records.

[jim murray]

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[jim murray]

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[jim murray]

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[jim murray]

Otto Lichtinger Post war. Otto seems to have been what you would call a sportsman, the majority of the post war photos show him either with women or nice cars or both for that matter, not to mention playing football and skiing.