Japanese Versus American Victory Claims (5 Viewers)

[GrauGeist]

If you want to see an indepth validation of Allied and Axis claims, look for research by Jerry Crandall (who recently passed). His research into claims of both sides is exhaustive and some of the most accurate to be found anywhere.

 

[Squish]

This is very helpful info!

Is the comparison of luftwaffe claims to USAAF B-17/24 losses looking at total USAAF B-17/24 combat/operational losses or only those that the Americans specifically noted were lost to enemy fighters?

Because if total combat/operational losses, we run into the problem of effectively assuming, e.g., flak was completely ineffective. Which we know was far from the truth.

The US SBS has a table that quantities the ratio of bombers lost to fighters for the 8th Air Force. Off the top of my head, the percent of losses to fighters peaked around August (was basically 100% of attributed losses) and then significantly declined starting in Dec. 1943.

One could probably extrapolate those figures and determine total losses attributed to Flak vs Fighters but the ratio is probably 60-65% in favor of Flak; mainly due to the impact of escort fighters, and the fact that the 8th AF in 1944 was exponentially larger in 1944 than in 1943.