[bearoutwest]

Howdy Leo,

I don't disagree with you in an overall sense. In terms of an exchange rate of losses, the better trained Luftwaffe pilots are going to be on top. But when you consider what the exchange rate is between the earlier Polikarpovs vs Bf109E/Fs, being given a faster, heavily armed and radio equipped P-39 was a major step up for the VVS pilots.

The French Normandie Regiment were given their choice of fighters to operate, selected the lighter, more nimble Yak-3s in 1943. So better Soviet-produced aircraft were eventually available, but for a time there, the P-39 was available in nimbers and better than most of what the Russians had (including Hurricanes considered too lightly armed, and the P-40B/C's which had major engine unreliablily issues in the Northern/Lenningrad Front).

What Christer Bergström had read & researched on the subject would be in greater depth than my knowledge, so I'm happy to defer to him on the matter, but it would be interesting to see if those Soviet pilot opinions are dependant on the timescale of the conflict (i.e. consistently evident in 1941, 42, 43, 44, or whether they were dependant on the availability of other types)?

Food for thought anyway.
...geoff