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That seems more likely. Still impressive!R Leonard said:On 26 March 1945, FM-2's from 882 Squadron (Lieut Comdr. GAM Flood, RNVR) off HMS Searcher, escorting a flight of Avengers along the coast of Norway, was attacked by a flight of eight III Gruppe JG 5 Me-109Gs. The Wildcats were credited with downing four of the Me-109Gs at a cost of one Wildcat damaged. A fifth 109 was claimed as damaged. As near as can be determined from available Luftwaffe loss lists, there were three 109's lost, 412398 (Fw Hermannn Jaeger), 782139 (Uffz Gottfried Rösch), and 782270 Fw Heinrich Dreisbach). One 109 crashed on landing, however I cannot independently determine if this was pilot error or from battle damage. Damage to this airplane has been noted as 25%.
Rich
DAVIDICUS said:So no Avengers were lost? It would appear so. If all the Avengers made it back including all but one Wildcat, I am more than just a little impressed especially since the Wildcats apparently didn't bounce the Germans as it was the Germans that initiated the assault.
Now imagine for a moment if all the Avengers were lost. The loss of all the Avengers in addition to one of the Wildcats would make for a different impression.
One could assume that by focusing on the bombers, they were not simultaneously playing offense against the Wildcats and suffered high losses through that trade off. Why the trade off? Perhaps they didn't have enough fuel to beat up the Wildcats first and focus on the bombers later.
In any event, a very interesting story.