Re: Stick to the point
 

There's a section of the forum "The Second World War in General" if you want to start a thread about Oran and Mers-el-Kebir, or Dakar, or Syria or "Operation Torch" or anywhere else that the forces of L' État Français clashed with the Allies.

Re: Fulmar claims
 

Hi,
Just a note regarding the Fulmar, it was in fact the highest scoring Fleet Air Arm fighter of WW2 with a recorded 112 confirmed air victories (mostly against Italian opponents) also I recommend Brian Cull's latest book "806 Naval Air Squadron" which notes many of these combats

Bruce Lander

Re: Fulmar claims
 

I am making a list of all the Fulmar claims using Sturtevant and the Shores teams works, and as of this moment have around seventy by the end of 1941. I am not sure if they claimed anything near forty in 1942 but it's still adding up to somewhere near the hundred. I will post when it's more clear.

regards

Keith

Re: Fulmar claims
 

I stand corrected by my own studies, With the inclusion of the claims in the Greece/Crete campaign I now have reached neart the one-hundred mark before the end of 1941. What surprised me about this research was the fact that pro-rata they must have made more confirmed claims than any other fighter, (although nightfighters are close). I agree that they faced a lot of Italian flying-boats and seaplanes but they also made substantial and confirmable claims against German medium bombers.

regards

Keith

Re: Fulmar claims
 

North African based D.520's, per "L'Aviation Vichy au Combat T.1" by Ehrengardt and Shores:
18 May 1942: D.520's downed 1 Fulmar (of 807 Sdn from Argus) for 1 loss

This data was also available on a French language website, that I have lost track of.

Re: Fulmar claims
 

Finally completed my initial tally. By my reckoning (using every book I have - and that's far too many :) ) Fulmars made 128 kills in WW2, although this changes every time I revisit the subject. A brief breakdown of some of my conclusions follows in the hope that if I put them into smaller categories they can be analysed better.

I have 32 kills in 1940 (27 by 806 Squadron and 5 by 808 Squadron).

Operation "Tiger" in May 1941 nets fourteen kills (13 on the 8th May), with 803 claiming three, 806 NAS adding six, 807 another three. 808 claiming the remaining two.

In 1942 claims are made for five Japanese aircraft in April 1942, a French fighter in May 1942, four kills on Operation Harpoon and nine during Pedestal.

Re: Fulmar claims
 

I suspect that the main reason for the high percentage of accuracy in the claims is because they were generally made outside of confusing dogfights between multiple aircraft on both sides, with short encounters and rapid changes of view.

Re: Fulmar claims
 

"At the end of May, the combined number of kills claimed by the Fulmars of 803 and 806 squadrons would be 56 destroyed and 33 damaged. This was almost half the total 'bag' claimed by the Fulmar in its war service".

I found this statement somewhere and it looks pretty authoritative, however by the end of May 1941 I have the following stats.

803 NAS nine kills
806 NAS fifty-nine kills

As for the others...

805 NAS three kills
807 NAS three kills
808 NAS twelve kills

Any input of a precific nature would be great. Most of my information comes from messrs Shores, Cull, Malizia and Galea, with Sturtivant as a massive reference. I always tend to round down on all claims so the Fulmar tally of 112 kills is my base with 400 kills as an FAA total.

regards

Keith

Re: Fulmar claims
 

I take your point Graham but would argue that every bit of information I use is out there already. My input is that this is stats, and both proves/disproves the accuracy of claims by several books. If I can't test it then what's the point of the forum or the books produced by the authors of the works I acknowledge? I am sure we all realise that accuracy in air combat is influenced by several factors. Fulmars have been a favourite aeroplane of mine since I encounter them in the "Victor" comic in the 60's.

Re: Fulmar claims
 

Keith, do you have Brian Cull's new book on 806 Squadron? If not I'll have a look in it for you later today after I shovel more snow.