drgondog
Major
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/marshall/SUMMARY_OF_COMBAT_OPERATIONS.pdf
Could a moderator correct the spelling of 'Controversial' from 'Contoversial' in the title?
I recently posted results of about 20 years of research - post publish "Angels, Bulldogs and Dragons - History of the 355th FG WWII" . The Above Operational Summary contains both the 355th as well as all other 8th AF Fighter Command statistics.
I put it out because it will go in my follow on book "Our Might Always - History of 355th Fighter Group and Wing - WWII through Iraqi Freedom" and I WANT constructive criticism.
The sources are well described in the article. The Operations Losses are the result of reading some 2100 Macr's and I feel pretty comfortable with the relative judgement regarding 'cause' and where an 'Unknown cause' exists I usually assigned an "Air to Air loss" where the LW was present and a "Flak or Strafing loss" when a fighter went down near an airfield with flak present.
The ratios ARE high and for similar reasons perhaps to Korea - in that not enough details are available via conventional research of Luftwaffe records because so many were lost at the end of WWII. Some a/c legitimately claimed for example as 'shot down' and awarded a Destroyed, was in fact 'shot down' but repaired and returned to service.
Therefore, the USAAF awards must be considered overstated in that light.
One other thing to reflect on. The high ratios for the P-47 and P-51 were lower in 1943 through May 1944, than in the last six months of the war. The low P-38 ratio was not reflective of the extremely good results the P-38L achieved with the 479th FG before they converted to Mustangs.
I'm working on a month by month Ops Summary to show that trend - which clearly implies the increased experience and talent of the 8th AF FC pilots and the decreasing experience and talent of the LW pilots as the major attrition occurs in the Oct 43 through May 44 timeframe.
An illustration of this concept can be made by emphasizing that the 355th FG lost 3 pilots to Me 109s in August 1944 and did not lose another air to air until eight months later in April 45 with two lost in air combat plus two of 'Unknown' causes - which I believe was probably 'Air" and counted them so. Makes for very high 'air to air' ratios when the competition is getting worse every day - with occasional suprises.
The achievements in air to air ratios of the 339th and 479th FG's are reflective, in my opinion, of the late start in the air battles over Germany when so many of the experienced LW pilots were gone and the replacements not very good.
Fire away and I appreciate your comments.
Regards,
Bill
PS it has a couple of small errors, since corrected from last week, and Mike should have the update on-line in a day or so
Could a moderator correct the spelling of 'Controversial' from 'Contoversial' in the title?
I recently posted results of about 20 years of research - post publish "Angels, Bulldogs and Dragons - History of the 355th FG WWII" . The Above Operational Summary contains both the 355th as well as all other 8th AF Fighter Command statistics.
I put it out because it will go in my follow on book "Our Might Always - History of 355th Fighter Group and Wing - WWII through Iraqi Freedom" and I WANT constructive criticism.
The sources are well described in the article. The Operations Losses are the result of reading some 2100 Macr's and I feel pretty comfortable with the relative judgement regarding 'cause' and where an 'Unknown cause' exists I usually assigned an "Air to Air loss" where the LW was present and a "Flak or Strafing loss" when a fighter went down near an airfield with flak present.
The ratios ARE high and for similar reasons perhaps to Korea - in that not enough details are available via conventional research of Luftwaffe records because so many were lost at the end of WWII. Some a/c legitimately claimed for example as 'shot down' and awarded a Destroyed, was in fact 'shot down' but repaired and returned to service.
Therefore, the USAAF awards must be considered overstated in that light.
One other thing to reflect on. The high ratios for the P-47 and P-51 were lower in 1943 through May 1944, than in the last six months of the war. The low P-38 ratio was not reflective of the extremely good results the P-38L achieved with the 479th FG before they converted to Mustangs.
I'm working on a month by month Ops Summary to show that trend - which clearly implies the increased experience and talent of the 8th AF FC pilots and the decreasing experience and talent of the LW pilots as the major attrition occurs in the Oct 43 through May 44 timeframe.
An illustration of this concept can be made by emphasizing that the 355th FG lost 3 pilots to Me 109s in August 1944 and did not lose another air to air until eight months later in April 45 with two lost in air combat plus two of 'Unknown' causes - which I believe was probably 'Air" and counted them so. Makes for very high 'air to air' ratios when the competition is getting worse every day - with occasional suprises.
The achievements in air to air ratios of the 339th and 479th FG's are reflective, in my opinion, of the late start in the air battles over Germany when so many of the experienced LW pilots were gone and the replacements not very good.
Fire away and I appreciate your comments.
Regards,
Bill
PS it has a couple of small errors, since corrected from last week, and Mike should have the update on-line in a day or so