EK1 with a Surprise!

[chris235]

Hello,

I recently found this EK1 here in Germany.

I never made anything of it as they are common finds here during house clearances etc...

Then I noticed a few days ago that there was a engraving on the back. It took two of us to work out what was written there!

Oblt

Kaufmann

23.3.40

(Under the hook)

II/ KG 26

So after a bit of digging around I found him on the Luftwaffe Officer Summaries!

He was called Henner Kaufmann, here is the entry for him in the Luftwaffe Summeries!

KAUFMANN, Henner. 07.05.41 Oblt., Stab II./KG 26 WIA - He 111H hit by AA vic Suez Canal.

What I thought was a normal EK1 with a lost history! Well in fact it was anything but! It goes to show we should look closer at our items even the standard ones!

I have tried to play with the light so you can see it, it is nearly impossible to see in some places. Moreover if not closely inspected it would have been missed!


Enjoy the pictures...

[chris235]

[chris235]

[Ron Weinand]

[Brian R]

Love it, Chris. Interesting award date for an EK1. It's likely related to torpedo bombing operations in the North Sea. Please let me know if you'd ever like to part with it.

It's a shame that so many of these EKs come from house clearings and become EKs with no indication of who won them and why. This is a nice save.

[blitzkrieg gsd]

Very nice find and will be a lot of fun figuring out the history behind the piece.

[juoneen]

Maybe you can locate his residence or a relatives...anyway...good find. I believe in this one more than the usual fancy type engraved fakes more frequently encountered. I once found a family that had one very similar to this where the name was personalized by its owner in a similar way, And upon researching it found the man was in the SS, was listed at a death camp, and during the war was missing...went back to score, and they had sold it ....but their father had brought that one back himself....this one needs a photo of the pilot to go with it...maybe one of the death card collectors or photo buffs can assist you in getting one or possibly something else of his....I would be heading back there to see if anything else turned up....great story too....as the stories ARE important , not as many would think.

[chris235]

Thanks Everyone for your replies...

It sure was a special item, unfortunatley it was a lone item... There was nothing else..

It may be possible to find out more maybe someone in the Lufty thread would know more

Would be amazing to find a picture although he is not listed as KIA but MIA on the summaries.

He is also not on the Volksbund website...

Crazy to think this cross was on his tunic when his He 111 was hit by flak and crashed, he most likely jumped out before impact or maybe it crash landed. But again to know more we need to ask the Lufty Profis!

[slayer]

cool nice find.

[Thundahbolt]

Yeah. Cool

[ironcross13]

nice find there, good history with it

[jager100]

Hi Chris,
Good Catch not something you see everyday, it's still out there (as they say)

Kind Regards

Phil

[SSamir]

They don't get better than this. My compliments on your find.

Regards
Samir

[Flemming]

Nice surprise your found on the back of that EK 1

/Flemming

[cesky67]

Chris

In the book "Achtung - Torpedos los!" written by Rudi Schmidt, the names of all from KG 26 who were wounded, missing or killed are listed and there is no mention of Kaufmann in any of the lists for 1941 anyway as wounded ,missing or killed. Maybe he was only slightly wounded and it didn't rate a mention.

There is however a mention of him in the book(Seite 104) which I quote below

Nachdem alle Flugzeuge weg waren (von Suez), stellte Baum* fest, daß sein Stabsartz fehlte. Er hatte vom Kommandeur ausdrücklich Startverbot erhalten. Sein Tatendrang war bekannt. Er sollte für ärtzliche Hilfe verfügbar sein und nicht etwa als "Gast" mitfliegen. Trotzdem flog er mit, in der Besatzung Oberleutnant Kaufmann saß er!
Henner Kaufmann wußte davon,er konnte nie "nein" sagen.

* Oberleutnant Baum

Hope it is of some use for your research.