| The Red Band of JG 53
The information below is taken from "Jagdwaffe The battle of Britain phase one" by E Mombeek, d Wadman & EJ Creek.
For a short period during 1940, all three Gruppen of JG53 displayed two distinct anomalies in their markings, the purposes of which have yet to be fully resolved.
the first anomaly concerns the replacement of the 'Pik As' (Ace of Spades) emblem.
According to RAF Air ministry weekly intelligence summary no 60. Hermann Goring ordered the emblem be removed and replaced with a red band and the geschwader renamed the "Red Ring Geschwader".
While there is some evidence to suggest that it may have stemmed from some personal antipathy on the part of Goring, or possibly from some idealogical difference with the leadership of the Geschwader, (H-J von Cramon-Taubadel is understood to have had a jewish wife), the actual reason for the order has yet to be determined. In the past, several valid theories for this change have been examined in depth, but most have been subsequently disproven although one, containing some merit, submits that it may have been nothing more than a temporary identification feature.
However, there was one event which transpired at this time and another which may have been of some significance.
During early August, at around the time of the appearance of these red bands, Goring replaced the majority of the Jagdwaffe Kommodore with younger men, although two units serving with Luftflotte 3, JG27 and JG53, retained their existing kommodore until October. Then at the beginning of that month, after Oblt. Gunther von Maltzahn took command of the geschwader from Oblt. Hans-Jurgen von Cramon-Taubadel, the 'Pik As' emblem began to reappear on JG53's aircraft in a somewhat newer and larger format than previously seen.
As a matter of interest, the first recorded incident of a Bf 109E being brought down over England where the red band replaced the 'Pik As' emblem occurred on 16 August. on that date, the aircraft of Fw. Christian Hansen of 2./JG 53 force landed at godshill on the isle of Wight and when examined was reported in crashed enemy aircraft report no.11 as having a "...red band around nose 6 in wide".
the second anomaly, and one frequently recorded as a political gesture on the part of the Geschwader, occurred almost concurrently with the re-introduction of the 'Pik As' emblem. Many aircraft from II. and III Gruppen had the Hakenkreuz on their fins overpainted, with several pilots using these areas to display their individual Abschuss tallies rather than the more usual location of the rudder. (e.g. Lt. Schmidt, Adjutant of III./JG 53). How long this lasted is not known for certain but some aircraft of III. Gruppe were recorded as still being without their Hakenkreuz in late November.
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. The punishing order was from end of July until the 20. November 1940.
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