redcoat said:
Well at least they weren't as bad as the Luftwaffe claims during the BoB, they were even worse
Incorrect.
I seem to recall the Germans being very meticulous in their claims. Luftwaffe records show their claims being much closer to actual numbers than RAF records.
Between August 11 and August 24, Fighter Command claimed to have shot down 636 Enemy A/C. A mere 113 of those were seen to crash on land. Fighter Command's explanation was that the remainder had come down in the sea.
Also note that the armament of German fighters was much better suited to killing aircraft than that of British fighters. The 20mm MG FF cannons carried by the 109 and 110 were capable of delivering catastrophic damage with a single hit, whereas German bombers would return to base with an excess of 500 .303 bullet holes found in them. It's also unrealistic to say that the majority of German bombers were shot down because of dead pilots, regardless of the exposed glass noses, because the majority of RAF attacks came in from the stern or beam.
British aircraft, attacking in vic formation, all hammering away at the same bomber, would all and claim the same kill as theirs - all being in complete honesty. It's just the aggresive and swirling nature of air combat.
To the close of the battle, the German assessment of the RAF being down to 100 fighters was more due to an underestimation of the British ability to construct fighters, and an overestimation of the German bombing damage.
Had British fighters been armed with the 20mm guns found in later models of Spitfires and Hurricans (especially the 4 20mm of the Hurrican II, what a wallop!) then their number of claims might have been realistic. The reality is that bringing down a sodding great dirty Heinkel with .303 is as much luck as skill.