[markjsheppard]

Hi Tim/Mirek,

Griffith wrote a nice little book. He based it on the squadron records. Published during WWII. He also wrote other books on Russia and was a veteran of WWI.

Of course he did not have the Luftwaffe quartermaster's returns.

I hasten to add, some of the probables were 'confirmed' later by the Soviet Observation Corp so this was why the numbers exceeded mine.

I'll have to scan the original escorts and claims list. Lists them all.

Griffin - I think Mirek meant Griffith's.

As for the 26/27th September - these Bf109's were not seen to hit the ground. They did go vertical down at high speed into cloud but no evidence they were lost. Probably returned with damage though if 10% or under of no injury, they were not recorded.

The Luftwaffe seem to not always list every loss. It was used as a list to obtain replacements - not listing loses for loss sake. It seems some units hid there loses if they thought they were high.

There is at least one Bf109 E on the 12th that was 100% lost but could not be found on the Luftwaffe returns.

On a side note - a Bf110 F was lost in 1942 and written off (usually 100%) but was only listed as 10%. Could have been a typo.

regards

Mark