Here's a good example of the potential difficulties of determining the origins of, or claiming ownership or 'copyright' on, Luftwaffe photos. Images of this particular subject - the Do 217 Es used for daylight raids over England - can be found in numerous albums and collections. There are no doubt many many similar photo 'themes' that feature in archives and private collections.
Finished in an overall RLM 76 scheme, KG 2 flew a (presumably) small number of Do 217 Es on low-level daylight so-called 'pirate' raids over the UK during 1942. Photos appear in a number of locations/collections; obviously you can find a series in the Bundesarchiv, but there's a similar album at the ECPA-D. A selection of them feature in a large private photo album collected to illustrate a published two volume history of KG 2 and from where I scanned them a few weeks ago! And no doubt in other photo albums too. Some of these images have been published, others not. Needless to say, some of these - or similar- also appear in, among others, the Classic (Bomber colours) and Do 217 volumes by Chris Goss, especially the Osprey Combat units and the recent Classic Pubs book on the type.
Im Westen.- Auf einem Flugplatz. Wartung, Betanken (?) eines Flugzeug Dornier Do 217 mit weißem / hellgrauem Tarnanstrich
As usual Bundesarchiv photos may be used on a non-commercial basis under a Wiki Commons license.
The next four images were scanned from a private album by this blogger. The first two have not been 'enhanced' and the fact that they appear on a negative strip is evident.
Several views of Oblt. Ernst Schneiderbauer's 3./KG 2 Do 217 E-4 (WNr. 5441) and his crew..the aircraft is coded 'U5+BL' and camouflaged for low-level daylight 'pinpoint' attacks, so -called Pirateneinsätze....
Note the inscription under the cockpit reads 'Sturmvogel'. In the first image below the 'U5' code is just visible on the rear fuselage, although the Hakenkreuz is not...
Previously with I./KG 40, Schneiderbauer was downed on March 12, 1943 during a night raid on Newcastle and taken captive along with his crew. Bailing out he landed safely and subsequently had an encounter with Lady Beatrice Scrope ('.. fur coat over her long underwear..') as related by Chris Goss in his Classic Do 217 tome (p78).
A close-up of the name 'Sturmvogel' painted under the cockpit of this specially camouflaged Do 217 E-4 used on daylight nuisance raids by - among others - the crew of Oblt. Sengschmitt. According to Balke the second name was 'die weisse Taube' ('the white dove'). Perhaps this was just a 'generic' name as such. Although in his history of KG 2 ('Luftkreig in Europa',Vol I) the caption for pics 19 and 20 states, " Two of the Do 217 E-4s deployed on 'pirate' raids against the UK..."
Above; a crew member seen alongside the tail of 'U5+BL'
The next two images are from an ECPA-D file, DAA 2559, and were taken by this blogger on my phone. They are simply photos of photos, again from an actual album. Captioned as " a Do 217 arrives at an airfield of KG 2, Eindhoven or Soesterberg.." The photographer is listed as 'unknown' and there is no date on these either..
