[rdunn]

I'm not sure its a matter of sooner or later but of theater and circumstances. The RAF obtained a document with 12th FK claims for a period of several months during 42 and 43 and after detailed research was able to determine that they were virtually 100% accurate. These were night fighter claims under contolled interceptions and mainly over German occupied territory. The meticulous Gen Kammhuber was the commander. Under these circumstances claims were very accurate.

Over the African Desert (as documented in Shores 'Fighters Over the Desert' and other sources) claims by Marseille and other top aces were reasonably accurate but far from perfect. In the same theater there were charaltans that made totally bogus claims.

No amount of process can guarantee an accurate result! I think other factors were probably more important than how many levels of review and how much process was applied.