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Re: Luftwaffe Kills in Tunisia Compared to Recorded USAAF P-38 losses
Robert, the definition of a victory is "a destroyed aircraft". Claiming a victory when an aircraft was only damaged may be done in good faith, but it is still overclaiming.
The difficulty could be when a damaged aircraft returned to base, only to be scrapped or used for parts weeks or months ago.
Regarding the file by Mark there is a mistake on 3 Dec 1942: German kills are counted twice in the cumulative total. On the other hand Italian claims should be added to German ones on the Axis side.
By counting P-38 losses, IMHO F-4 losses should also be added as German pilots would claim them as P-38. I only know of one such loss anyway, on 28 March 1943, so that will only add 1 to the US losses.
My opinion is that in any air force in any theater, claiming 3 victories for 2 enemy losses is a normal occurence.
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