Quote:
Originally Posted by Broncazonk
Is there any hint or informed speculation that these late-war over-claims, and many like it from other well-known pilots, were encouraged and sanctioned by the Luftwaffe propaganda and press corps for morale purposes?
I believe the above might be a very likely explanation for this situation.
Bronc
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Generally speaking, most overclaiming "makes sense". That is, a unit of the type of aircraft claimed was present and reported combat in spite of their being no actual losses or, in the case of the JG 27 "Expertenschwarm", the guys were clearly avoiding actual combat yet claiming victories as if there had been BUT it was not as if the enemy were not flying any missions at all that day.
The instances Martin has revealed is that Dahl was claiming victories on days when the US Bombers had not even flown a mission. To me, that has a ring of post-war embellishment to it, rather than the efforts of Propaganda Merchants....