Quote:
Originally Posted by Broncazonk
I've been reading John B. Lundstrom's, The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign : Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942 which is superlative. (I read it cover to cover, and then immediately began reading it again.)
Lundstrom studied Japanese after-action reports for every day of the campaign (including Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz) and compared Japanese aerial combat victory claims against actual American losses. He also studied American after-action reports for every day of the campaign (including Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz) and compared American aerial combat victory claims against actual Japanese losses.
BUY THIS BOOK.
It's absolutely shocking--the documented Japanese over-claiming in particular--to the point that the constant, daily, every single mission 5x and even 10x over-claiming had (in my opinion) a significant effect on the outcome of the entire Solomons campaign.
Bronc
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Got both of Lundstrom's books & enjoyed them both. I have to point out RE: the Japanese tendency to overclaim: I think it's similar to Italian fighter pilot issues: Their (Japan & Italy) aircraft are light & maneuverable & to a certain extent underarmed--and the pilots tend to practice an individualistic combat style--and allied fighters are often well armored/protected.
When they fire on, say a wildcat or a tomahawk, the first thing the allied pilot is going to do is DIVE at full throttle & then probably try to climb back into the fight. That diving, smoking plane is probably going to be the basis of several 'kill claims'. I think during Lundstrom's recounting of the Coral Sea Battles, he opined on at least one occasion a Wildcat pilot tangled with zeros in three separate dogfights on the same mission. No doubt he got claimed as shot down by all of them.