Because on a number of occasions, I have discussed examples of overclaiming of Luftwaffe experten, it’s been suggested in some quarters that I have an anti-German bias. However, while I do find examining extreme overclaimers an interesting aspect of air combat, my primary interest is in whom were the very best fighter pilots based on
actual results - not credits. An example of one whose claims seems to reflect reality seems to be Helmut Lipfert (203) whose “Combat Diary” I recommend as the best and most insightful recollection of pure air combat by a single pilot that I have ever read. Despite his prolific success Lipfert never claimed more than five aircraft in a day (which he did once). Because of this “Johannes” one of the major contributors to this site has cited him as likely to be among the more reliable claimers among the top experten. Now there seems to be some confirmation of his suspicions in Post 167 of this already provided link:
http://reibert.info/threads/%D0%AD%D...n.76229/page-7 [Google Translate: “Just do not all be lumped together. Victory Fennekolda Lipferta and many applications which, incidentally, are confirmed in our documents were in a completely different area. Group 2 August 23 flew from one airport to another Romanian, so in the battles of Sandomierz not participate. Lipfert, incidentally, won the day yet another unconfirmed victory, but as Zaksenberg himself was shot down and made a forced landing in Galati - but it has already been discussed and generally another topic.”]
While no specific information has been provided, the above seems to strongly indicate that a comparison of Lipfert’s claims to actual losses in Russian records has shown them to be quite reliable. If someone can figure out who has unearthed this information or where it can be perused, it would make a useful contribution to this area of inquiry. The post also seems to suggest that Oblt. Otto Fönnekold (136) and other JG52 pilots were reliable claimers.