An 'unexpurgated' view of Fw. Kurt Knappe's rudder scoreboard on his Fw 190 A-4 WNr. 2413 from the ECPA-D file DAA 2693 - recently posted elsewhere without commentary. Knappe arrived in the West at III./JG 2 with 51 Eastern Front 'red star' victory markings on his rudder. This image was taken on the occasion of his first 'kill' in the West - his 52nd - marked with what appears to be an RAF 'roundel' visible here (bottom row) but which is in fact an American 'star'. This first victory with 7. Staffel was achieved on 30 December 1942 -a USAF B-17- shot down over the sea during a 1st Bomb Wing raid comprising some 40 B-17s on the U-boat pens at Lorient. B-17 'kills' were soon represented with a double-bar with US star superimposed on JG 2 rudder scoreboards. Knappe was posted to the West in late 1942 along with another JG 51 ace - Erich Hohagen - to 'beef up' 7./JG 2 who had lost Oblt. Egon Mayer following Mayer's appointment as Kommandeur of III./JG 2. Mayer replaced 'Assi' Hahn who departed for JG 54 in the East on 1 November 1942.
The 8th USAF's raid on the U-boat pens at Lorient on Wednesday 30 December 1942 - the 27th mission of this fledgling force- was significant in the story of the Fw 190-equipped III./ JG 2. Kommandeur Mayer and his Stab along with nine Fw 190s from 7. Staffel were airborne from Vannes to counter the incursion. Mayer was determined to carry out a new tactic that he had been considering over the previous weeks - the frontal attack, hitting the B-17s where their defensive fire was at its weakest. Flying alongside Knappe that morning was another ace encountering four-engine bombers for the first time - Lt. Georg-Peter Eder.
