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BUILT
WNr. 500698, Lt. Günter Seyd, 7./JG 26, Uetersen, Germany, May 1945
JG 26 was established on November 1, 1938,
(originally as JG 132) with Eduard von Schleich, an
ace with 35 kills in WWI as its first Kommodore.
JG 26 entered the war under the command of
Hans Hugo Witt but stayed in Germany during
the invasion of Poland. It than operated on the
Western Front until 1943, with its most famous
Kommodore, Adolf Galland, taking command on
August 22, 1940. Galland was leading JG 26 for
the rest of the Battle of Britain and well beyond
until December 5, 1941. In early 1943, JG 26 was to
replace JG 54 in the Luftflotte 1 formation on the
Eastern Front, but in the end, it was only a brief
episode of I./JG 26. The group continued to operate
in France and then as a part of the defense of
the Reich system. From late 1941 onwards all
Gruppe except III./JG 26 started their conversion
to Fw 190As, the first to receive Fw 190D-9s were
I. Gruppe and II. Gruppe starting from mid-October
1944. Lt. Günter Seyd of 5./JG 26 took off with this
aircraft from Uetersen on May 5, 1945, but due to
an engine failure he made an emergency landing
in Schleswig. In the only known photograph, the
lower engine cowling appears slightly darker and
it is likely it was painted RLM 76 early (probably
taken from another aircraft), but a yellow color
cannot be completely ruled out. The brown color
of the fuselage numbers was unusual, with
only a few Staffeln within the Luftwaffe using it.
However, 7./JG 26 kept this habit throughout the
war. Günter Seyd scored a single kill during the
war when he shot down a Lancaster from No.
405 (or No. 582) Sqn. RAF west of Cologne on
December 23, 1944. It was not only his first kill,
but also the first kill of II./JG 26 after conversion
to Fw 190D-9.
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