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Most of Steinhoff's experience against Mustangs were P-51A/Mk I and A-36 which flew almost exclusively in armed Recce and fighter bomber role. The P-38J should be slightly better than the P-51A, particularly at altitudes above 15,000 feetI'm not arguing that Steinhoff is correct. I'm just interested in what the members of the Luftwaffe experten thought.
That aside, the fact that Steinhoff participated in the Battle of France, BoB, commanded JG 77 in the MTO during '43 (Where both the RAF and USAAF operated Mustangs), and later flew jets against the 8th AF, seems to indicate that he had experience fighting against a wide array of Allied fighters. Seems like pretty 'serious flying' to me...
JL
One thing that in my opinion should be taken in consideration is that potentially during the last days of the war when he was flying the Me-262, he never had a taste of the P-51B/D Mustang in a one-on-one combat given the fact that Me-262s used their superior speed to go through escort fighters, hit the bombers and then get away.
That was a myth created by the author Martin Cadini guess there was a reason why the germand called the P-38 the forktailed devil
Yes it was............