Re: Hooton's Luftwaffe Loss Totals - request for clarification
There's something interesting and quite unexpected in the Air translations at Kew. Since I believe it may be quite significant, I've provided a detailed explanation below:
The files in question are Air 20/7709, 20/7710 and 20/7711. These are volumes X through XII of the RAF translations of captured enemy documents. What they contain are not translations of German documents, but rather summaries of Luftwaffe losses, based on the 6th Abteilung loss lists. The surprising thing is, even though the loss lists for 1944 are lost, these tables, produced by the AHB in 1954 and 55, contain tables for 1944.
The reports are titled "Air Historical Branch Translation No. VII," numbers 133-136, 138, 139, 145-152 and 157.
A sample summary of monthly losses, for the end of 1943 on the Eastern front, is in my post above. The level of detail in the table strongly suggests that the AHB had the 1944 loss lists, or some equivalent, available to them. Any ideas as to what their primary source might have been?
The loss tables cover the following periods and fronts:
Western Front - September 1943 through November 1944, except August 1944
Defence of the Reich - June 1943 through June 1944
Norway (Luftflotte 5 West - marked this way in the source) - September through December 1943 and then July through November 1944
Mediterranean - September through December 1943 and then July through November 1944
Eastern Front - September through December 1943 only
Is a more complete set of these tables available in some other archive?
Paul Thompson
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