Re: justified RAF claims vs hard kills
 

Hi George,

All the RAF and USAAF claims and losses on the Channel Front for the period November 1940 to December 1943 are available here: http://lesliesawyer.com/claims/tonywood.htm

You already have the Jagdgeschwader 26 losses in Caldwell, and Jagdgeschwader 2 losses for 1940-1942 are available here: http://www.ww2.dk/misc/jg2loss.pdf

So the material is all there to do a good comparison between RAF claims and Luftwaffe fighter losses on the Channel Front (if you happen to have a few spare hours!).

Cheers,
Andrew A.
Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com/earticles

Re: justified RAF claims vs hard kills
 

Just a thought but there is a remarkable preponderance of claims being accepted for an individual when the pilot or his plane (with gun camera) fails to return, either POW or killed. For example Bob Tuck is remarkable accurate in his claims of 1940-41, however the dogfight over the channel on 21 June 1941 seems very unusual with 2-3 bf109s being claimed but no evidence from the German side. Likewise the last flight of Douglas Bader, two claims on 9 August 1941. Ray Hesselyn in October 1943, Horbaczewski in August 1944 (both of whom are confirmed aces from actual previous evidence). While it is possible to believe that the pilot was confused and in many instances the claims dismissed or officially unreported, there may be an element of "line shooting" involved either by the pilot or the surviving witnesses ;-). The same can be said of WW1. The last dogfights of Major CD Booker and Major WG Barker are both suspect but in the first case the survivors overstate the results, whereas in the second....?

Re: justified RAF claims vs hard kills
 

Well, for June 21,1941 we have the following loss Bf-109F-2, Wkn 6724, 5./JG-2,Uffz Lorenz Desnoy,baled out and was rescued 12 km NW of Le Treport with light wounds. Le Treport is port on the Seine Maritime department. Maybe Tuck only shot down one Bf-109?