[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

The EoE Working Group has been working closely with both of the main sources mentioned above and is in the middle of determining the answer to this question. We are actually trying to locate photos of all the losses (crashed & forced landings) on both sides, and has made very major progress in this respect--far beyond anything that has yet been published. Although the scale of combat during this period was very different than later in the war, except perhaps during the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, both sides apparently over-claimed to some degree against their opponents. During the Battle of the Heligoland Bight (18.12.39), the Germans massively over-claimed against the British Wellington formations. There were other instances throughout the Phoney War/Sitzkrieg and throughout 1939-40 where a/c claimed on both sides escaped with damage rather than shoot downs. Multiple attack against the same targets, but reported as discrete events, also account for many instances of over-claiming.

We've added a great deal of material (literally hundreds of new or revised entries) to Peter Cornwell's original listings in TBoFRT&N. Peter is directly overseeing our revisions to his earlier EoE Loss DB for 1939-40 so the quality of the new material is entirely consistent with his previous efforts. Jochen Prien and other members of his team are also working closely with the EoE Project to get the most reliable loss/damage and claims lists, as well as obtaining related and comprehensive photo evidence involving the German fighter forces.

Eventually the EoE effort will probably provide what will be the most definitive answer to this question as it will ever be able to achieve.

Stay tuned.