LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

Gentleman:

A recent post referred to Obfw. Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert's 7 claims on the 13 March 1943 in Tunisia against USAAF P 39s and P 40s, which seem to corroborate to a reasonable degree with USAAF loss records. This looks like a rare example of a LW pilot making 'ace in a day' versus the USAAF. I could only think of a couple of other possibilities without an exhaustive search:

• according to Arthy and Jessen's Focke Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa, on 2 Feb 1943 Kurt Buhligen of II/JG 2 claimed a P 39 and three P 40s from the USAAF and a RAF Spitfire - almost ace in a day versus the USAAF. Arthy and Jessen state that the claims were confirmed and show good correlation between JG 2 claims and corresponding Allied losses ( they report eight and seven, respectively)
• Caldwell's JG 26 War Diary shows that, on 24 April 1944, Hptm Staiger of III/JG 26 claimed, and was credited with, three B 17s shot down and two B 17s shot out of their formation. Whether this qualifies as making ace in a day is problematic.

What further examples are there of LW pilots making ace in a day versus the USAAF?

Cheers

Don (Boomerang)

Re: LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

Hptm. Theodor Weissenberger of I/JG 5 scored five kills on 7 June 1944 over Normandy:
P-47 at 0905
P-47 at 0926
P-47 at 0927
P-47 at 1715
P-47 at 1716

LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

Hi guys

According to Wood's list, Major Egon Mayer (102 victories, RK-S, killed in action 2 March 1944), Geschwaderkommodore of JG 2, claimed four P-47 fighters and a B-17 four-engined bomber (85-89) on 1 December 1943. Please note that one of the P-47 fighters (88 ) may be a double counted victory. I hope that this helps somewhat.

Horrido!

Leo

Re: LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

Gentleman:

Thank you for your information. It looks like there are a few examples of LW pilots making ace in a day versus the USAAF.

Appears that P 47 losses (twenty seven) on 7 June 1944 were significant - a tough day for the Thunderbolts.

The USAAF Chronology at the following website lists P 47 losses on 1 December 1943 as 5 lost, 1 damaged beyond repair and 3 damaged:

http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/wwii...ml/Dec.43.html


Thanks again,

Don (Boomerang)

Re: LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

The 56th lost three air to air and the 355th lost one on 1 December so it is possible that Mayer got all 4 although they ranged from Koblenz to Cologne. From Tony Wood's lists I suspect the 3 56FG losses were Mayer - it's hard to be definitive as several more 47's were claimed than actually went down.

Must also be noted that at last three C/L from battle damage back in UK.

Re: LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

Don: you understand that the Luftwaffe did not use the term "Ace", and besides vs. the USAAF, many "experten" did 5 or more against the RAF or VVS?

Re: LW Aces in a Day Versus USAAF
 

John:

My answers to your two questions are 'yes' and 'yes'. The LW term would be Experte/n which, according to my understanding, would really only be earned by pilots with significantly more than five victories. So your point that it is not internally consistent to refer to a LW ace in a day is valid.

Nonetheless, as the 'ace in a day' term is used from time to time, I was interested in LW pilots achieving this feat against the USAAF, even though it would not have been acknowledged in those terms by the LW.

It is also clear that 5 victories in a day would have been achieved on many occasions by LW pilots against the RAF and (particularly) the VVS - perhaps a topic for further discussion!

Thanks for drawing attention to a point I overlooked in my initial post.

Cheers

Don (Boomerang)