[Johannes]

Hi guys

On average only two in three claims end up with an actual crash, not just Luftwaffe pliots who on average were no worse, and probably a lot better than Allied pilots. But if you check Jg26's claims against allied losses they are very well matched, when you check Jg2's claims against allied losses the difference is so marked that one can only conclude co-operative fraud, also when both Jg26 and Jg2's claims are matched against Allied losses the 2 to 3 rule goes out of the window, but Allied losses are 1 in 2 claims. This is not based on any prejustice against any one pilot(how could it be when by statistics you know only of a problem, not who the problems are) it's just stating that Jg2 as a whole were not making accurate claims, in fact it is fraud as much as British MP's expense claims.
Afrika is the place where it can all be highlighted due to so few units. Regarding high claims being unbelievable you only have to look at how long it took, how many sorties and how many times they were themselves shot down to know that mathematically it is not only possible, but probable for there to be a few "100" plus guys in the West, these guys flew till they were dead, crippled or captured!
The fact that some Allied aces were themselves fraudsters doesn't detract from the fact that it was more wide spread in the Luftwaffe than first thought, and going by the Luftwaffe system you couldn't do it alone. Rudorffer who was a childhood hero of mine was able to do this by his rank, also he flew for the Staff of II./Jg54 in Russia possible with only one conrade for company (Kurt Tangermann) thus the opportunity was there, just compare there claims record together. I think it doesn't even come down to the individual, sometimes it would be a whole staffel, but on the other foot sometimes a whole staffel is extremely honest, and hurray to these guys!

Regards

Johannes