Quote:
Originally Posted by yogybär
1) I think overclaiming is stronger in some pilots/persons then in others
2) I would not call them liars, but over-optimistic (also keep in mind their age: 90% = 20-25...)
3) I don't know what is the sense in identifying THE overclaimers in VVS, Lw, USAAF, ...
EDIT: Can anyone answer point 3 please?
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1) Agreed.
2) Agreed but also they were people trying to make sense (in retrospect, full of adrenalin, amazed to still be alive) of a series of fleeting impressions. Our minds do try to put all these memory fragments together into a coherent story.
3) Only that historians try to establish what actually happened and a lot of the stories/reputations that became established do not stand up to examination. But frankly, if Hartmann only shot down 10% of his claims, he was still a highly successful fighter pilot.
There's also something about incentives to overclaim in different air forces' approaches to medals/promotions. Some may have made the problem worse.
P.S. A lot of my research makes me suspect that the Luftwaffe verification process wasn't always followed to the letter.