[DiegoZampini]

We have discussing about how uncomplete and reliable/unreliable are the German loss records are. I will show some examples:
o In Osprey’s book P-39 Aircobra Aces of World War 2, written by George Mellinger and John Stanaway, it is included the account of the famous German ace Walter Nowotny about how he claimed to shot down three Soviet P-39s, but also his Fw.190 was seriosuly damaged by one of the Russian-flown Aircobras. Nowotny own’s testimony: “The whole fight had lasted exactly 45 minutes. After a successful landing, I climbed out of my machine dreched in sweat. I examined the damage in silence. It was worse than I realised. Half the rudder is missing and one aleiron shot to pieces. My main undercarriage tyres are bullet-holed and one cylinder and cylinder head completely shot away. More damage to the engine, bullet-riddled wings…” No exact date is given for this combat, but occurred indeed in 1943, when Nowotny began to fly the Focke-Wulf fighter. The only ocasions on that year when Nowotny claimed to shot down three P-39s in one combat occurred on 19 August and 9 October 1943. The extension of the damage mentioned by Nowotny in his Fw.190 indicates that this loss should be obligatorly recorded in German loss records, at least as damaged in a 40%-50%. However, in the available list of JG 54 losses, Nowotny appears only shot down once (on 19 July 1941, flying Bf.109E-7 WkNr 1137) and forced to belly land a second time (on 11 August 1942, also in a Messerschmitt - his Bf.109F-4 WkNr 10360 was scrapped). No trace of this shot-up Focke-Wulf nowhere the more complete list of JG 54 losses available so far , which is fully admitted by Nowotny himself. Neither on 19.08.1943 nor on 9.10.1943. On such dates there are other Fw.190s admitted lost, but they were flown by other pilots, and in the cases where no pilot’s name is given, none belong to the 1./JG 54 (where Nowotny served at that time).
o In Christer Bergstrom’s work Black Cross – Red Star, Volume 3, it is stated that “[Major Joachim] Müncheberg, holder of the Knight Cross with Oak Leaves, had been one of the most outstanding German fighter pilots on the western Front in 1941-42 and had been posted to Stab/JG 51 to be tutored in the role of Geschwaderkommodore under Major Karl-Gottfired Nordmann’s supervision. Muncheberg had the concept of air war over Russia as did most German fighter pilots on other fronts, that it was something of an ‘easy game’. After getting shot down by Soviet fighters twice within two weeks, he reconsidered his opinion.” . Bergstrom referes to the aerial battles around the Rzhev salient in July-August 1942. But to look for these two times that Joachim Müncheberg was shot down in Jochen Prien’s meticulous book (which cover the period May 1942 to early February 1943) proved to be infrunctuos – they simply are not there.
o Also in Bergstrom’s work is mentioned an audaceous raid carried out by Soviet paratroopers against the German aerodrome at Maykop at 22:00 hs on 23 October 1942. “Hans Ellendt clearly remembers that the paratroopers wreaked havoc on II./JG 52 before withdrawing. According to the official German report, only one of the II./JG 52’s Bf.109s and two Ju.52s were destroyed, […]. But according to Ellendt, the Soviet paratroopers had run along the nicely parked Bf.109s, shooting them up or heaving hand greades into their open cockpits in a quick and skillfully coducted raid. In this manner, they destroyed at least a dozen Bf.109s.” . So, there are at least 11 Messerschmitt fighters which were actually lost but did not appear in official Luftwaffe loss records.
o On the night of 25-26 October 1942 the night bombers Po-2 of the 588 NBAP flown by female pilots made a very succesful raid against Armavir, taking out most of II./KG 51 Edelweiss: “The flames spread rapidly and caught fuelled and bomb laden aircraft. Since the airfield had several units on it having a total of more than 100 Ju.88 and He.111s, there was no lack of combustible of combustible material. Only one of the II.Gruppe aircraft survived without damage. Ther unit was hastily withdrawn to Bagerovo on the Kerch Peninsula to acquire new aircraft.” A Gruppe of a German KG (Bomber Wing) consisted in about 15-20 aircraft. If only one of II./KG 51’s aircraft survived the air strike, that indicates that no less than fourteen Junkers and Heinkels were destroyed in the raid. However the official loss records mention specifically the complete destruction of only four aircraft (He.111H-6 WkNr 2948, Ju.88A-14 WkNrs 144231 and 144232, and Ju.88C-6 WkNr 460013), one written off because of a 60% damage (Ju.88A-4 WkNr 4018) and a sixth bomber damaged in a 25% (Ju.88A-4 WkNr 2256). Again, there are no less than eight more aircraft “missing” in Luftwaffe’s loss statistics.