[Juha]

I beg to disagree somewhat with the latest posters. Being a bit cynical on human nature IMHO some tell less reliable stories than others because of various reasons (to gain benefits, to impress friends, simply being less objective to one’s own abilities or having less ability to see situation realistically etc) . Combat pilots being also only humans so IMHO that goes also with them.
On seeing smoke, on the Finnish Air Combat Report Form there were printed instructions which for example say that heavy smoke or even observed engine fire on target plane wasn’t enough for a sure kill claim.
And IMHO those pilots who got many kills were able to keep good situation awareness even while attacking and a good leader – wingman co-operation eased much the need for checking one’s six for the leader. Surely there were pilots who suffered target fixation but they probably got killed/badly wounded before they got really big scores.
I agree that trying to establish motivation of actions made some 65-70 years ago is very difficult and that our duty is not pass moral judgements but to trying to understand what happened in those now distant days. But info on claim accuracy differences also increase our knowledge.

Juha