[Juha]

On the JV 44 pilots

Maybe some of the "greats" were not burnt out but simply didn't adapt to new tactics needed with Me 262.



When Finns got Bf 109Gs they found out that some of their "greats" could not adapt to their new mount after successful careers as Curtiss Hawk 75 or Brewster 239 pilots and on the other hand some with a few kills on those earlier manouvrable fighters began increase their kills rapidly after they got into Bf 109.



But of course some of the old hands were simply tired.



On Soviet fighters

Finns considered the late Soviet fighters dangerous enemies to Bf 109G. One must of course remember that on most of the Finnish AF Bf 109Gs the possibility of the use of the take-off and emergency power (1475hp) was disconnected.
And when one reads the combat reports it seemed that the pilots gave most positive discriptions on Yak-9s but when one looks on victory and loss tables in Keskinen's and Stenman's LeR 3 and compares those claims/losses were the Finnish researchers think that they have found match from Soviet combat reports one got an impression that in reality La-5 was the most dangerous opponent and Yak-9 was only as dangerous as P-39.

Little bit off topic, I'm afraid. On Marseille, IMHO is that he was one of those few great aces who found out a tactic that suited them and their a/c and in their combat enviroment. He seemed not to be so robush personality than some of the other "greats" but was exceptional anyway.