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Bomber Killers
Hello Bill
Many thanks for the confirmation that Staiger was flying a Bf 109 G-6/U4. By all accounts the MK 108 was a devastating weapon against bombers although the very limited range and trajectory meant that one had to close in to at least 400 yards to have any chance of hitting the target. Not the best situation considering the firepower a bomber formation could bring to bear... Interesting that the actual bomber losses were about one-third the claims recorded. Considering that the Germans must have reasonably accurate knowledge of at least those aircraft that were brought down over Germany and occupied Europe it makes for interesting speculation why they did not attempt to adjust the claims awarded to this figure. Perhaps given the pressure of the times or the desire to maintain morale or possibly even propaganda purposes? It is known that the night fighter units had their claims scaled as much as was possible to the number of aircraft that were known to have actually been brought down and one would think the day fighters units would have done this as well. At any rate many thanks for your comments.
Horrido!
Leo
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