Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules
Knowing that the USAAF didn't divide confirmed kills into ground or air victories I'd be interested to know just how many of the kills scored by the Allied escorts were infact shooting down a/c that were about to land or already sitting on the ground.
By 1944 the Allies had a habbit of catching German a/c trying to land, shooting them down in the process. The Allies also managed to carry out hundreds of strafing runs on German airfields, knocking out a lot of German a/c.
It would affect kill ratio comparisons though.
But wouldn't aircraft shot down while coming in for landing count as Air-to-Air kills. (particularly important in the case of the jets)
I agree with Bill's comments, downed is downed in terms of military result. For that matter even destruction on the ground is the same for the a/c, but as he said those statistics were not mixed together.But wouldn't aircraft shot down while coming in for landing count as Air-to-Air kills. (particularly important in the case of the jets)
For credited USAAF shoot downs, you might want to look at USAF Credits for the Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, WWII by Wesley P. Newton, Jr., Calvin F. Senning, et al, published by the Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1978
http://afhra.maxwell.af.mil/numbered_studies/1039707.pdf
This Is USAF 85 which is foundation for both my own research but also the American Fighter Aces Association membership.
United States Army Air Forces in World War II
If you're interested and have the patience to deal with the clunky interface, you can also look at
Air Force Historical Research Agency - Aerial Victory Credits
This is pretty clunky and I have never found a way to fully correlate with USAF 85 - from which it is supposed to extract. I have talked to Lynn Gamma about this - they 'are working on it'
Rich
It would affect kill ratio comparisons though.
But wouldn't aircraft shot down while coming in for landing count as Air-to-Air kills. (particularly important in the case of the jets)
The whole ground kill thing was something of a scam, thought up by 8th Air Force Fighter Command, in keeping with the change in mission that occured when Doolittle came in and the emphasis went from Bomber Support to Destruction of the Luftwaffe. At that point, 8th Bomber Command also took on the unwitting but effective job of being bait for the German Fighters. Not sure that made anyone happy in 8th Bomber Groups.
After the Big Week and similar air battles in the earlier part of 1944, the Luftwaffe started picking it's fight, taking advantage of the initiative that derived from a somewhat predictable enemy. 8th Fighter was less effective at destroying the Luftwaffe when the Luftwaffe didn't come up to fight all the time.
The solution, awarding kills for ground attacks, was more an administrative act than a natural evolution of the Air War. It gave aggressive 8th Fighter pilots an incentive to attack very dangerous air bases. Otherwise, the desire and number of attacks would've been significantly less.
The tactic worked. It pressured the Luftwaffe on their home bases. It also cost the flying careers and lives of plenty of American fighter pilots.
After looking at over the lists, it makes me wonder how many were left off. I noticed Lt. Edward Pogue wasn't on the list. Does this mean that the 7 kills painted on the canopy of his P-51D, Chatanooga Choo-Choo, weren't actual kills? Or did he just suffer the same fate as the submarine commanders in the Pacific with the JANAC report. (not getting credit for a kill due to lack of enemy paperwork after capitulation.)