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Perhaps, but OTOH if you don't split up 109 or Spitfire by model or period, you're not only talking a range of pretty different a/c technically within each general subheadings ('Spitfire' or '109'), but you are also equating claims by Spits in say 1941 over France that were perhaps 5:1 overstatements of actual German losses, with claims in 1944-45 that were much closer to the truth. Similarly for 109 you'd be equating relatively accurate 1941 East Front claims with several:1 overstatements ca. 1944-45. There is or might be some official ratio for that whole series of a/c as a trivia fact, but it has hardly any real world meaning. Of course the same factors (varying claim accuracy, varying type of opponents etc) make comparison of claimed kill ratio's between types questionable in many cases, but the longer period of time and wider variation of circumstances you cover for one 'type', the more those factors make the numbers *internally* inconsistent even for that one 'type'.
Joe
I bet nightfighters such as the Beaufighter, Uhu and Black Widow got some pretty impressive ratios; I don't believe any P-61 was lost to enemy aircraft. Also the RAF Thunderbolts never suffered an air to air loss, but fighter oppositoin was limited
You sure about that???he 162, killed one lost none, therefore 1:0 kill:death ratio
A He-162 was shot down, so it's a 1:1 ratio. But that doesn't say squat about the capabilities of the a/c.
The Ta-152 had a 11:0 kill ratio, so it tops the list for WW2 a/c.
Eleven to one for the TA 152 is the same as the Corsair's. The Hellcat had fifteen to one. How come the TA152 which barely got into the war gets to be the champ?
¨imho it's useleess compare claims, but soren writed eleven to zero
Date Unit Aircraft Type Cause Location Rank Name Fate
14 Apr 45 St./301 Ta152 air combat-Tempest Ludwigslust Ofw. Sepp Sattler KIA
24 Apr 45 St./301 Ta152 air combat-Yak9 E. of Berlin Olt. Hermann Stahl MIA
¨
In Willi Reschke's book there is a loss list. It shows 2 Ta-152's as shot down:
According to Shores the victorious Tempest pilot was Wt. Off. W.J. Shaw. He was one of the 4 Tempest pilots of 486 squadron who met Reschke, Sattler and Auffhammer.PHP:Date Unit Aircraft Type Cause Location Rank Name Fate 14 Apr 45 St./301 Ta152 air combat-Tempest Ludwigslust Ofw. Sepp Sattler KIA 24 Apr 45 St./301 Ta152 air combat-Yak9 E. of Berlin Olt. Hermann Stahl MIA
And remember that almost 50% of pilots that flown her were German aces, so it's not a great achievement at all ...
How so? Could you have done better? Its pretty easy to judge sitting in a comfy recliner.
It's not a great achievement for the plane, not for that German aces: they already proved to be good.
It's the plane that (used at low and medium altitudes, where it wasn't designed for) never proved to be as nearly as good as is often said.
2:1 ratio, having been flown by a lot of aces, is a really poor result even in a difficult TO as war-end ETO (difficult TO doesn't prevent good pilots to have the better to enemies at least in kill ratio, even when overwhelmed in number and in some cases even riding inferior planes, think about Finnish Winter War).