[rof120]

It seems that Peter Cornwell's figures for German aircraft losses do not include those losses suffered in the nordic countries (Norwegian Campaign in Denmark and mainly Norway, April-May 1940). I'll check on this as soon as possible (but please be patient). Obviously if that is so it increases the losses to Allied forces over the Benelux countries and France accordingly, possibly by about 30 aircraft lost. The grand total for the French Campaign (FC) remains the same - 1,460 - but we need not substract about 30 "Norwegian" losses to know the purely FC losses. Somme sources give 1,469 or 1,471 instead of 1,460.

About the overclaim rate of the French fighter arm (the known figures are the units' figures not the pilots') I found approximately 70 % (100 actual victories for 170 published ones) but it's quite possible that I made an error and overclaimed myself, which means that the real fighters' overclaim rate could be significantly lower, something like 0 to 40 %. I don't know yet. I have to check on this again very carefully. This is not a simple, straightforward matter. Sorry for that, I'll try to find the correct answer to this question. If someone knows more he's very welcome with corresponding information but I am aware of what has been published by Williamson Murray, J. Prien et al, and many other authors in various books or reviews (of course I don't know everything: I'm just an ordinary person, very interested in this matter). I own copies of most books in French, German or English published on this period but a few ones are still not here.

Please remember that numerous jokers, many of which were/are French, have gleefully, sardonically, grinning claimed that the total of French fighter victories was ridiculously inflated because HQ or patriotic authors added all individual scores, most of which contained numerous victories credited to two to sixteen pilots, so that one destroyed E/A could be counted even 16 times. (The corresponding total then would be about 4,000 victories.) As I showed in the preceding post(s) THIS IS NOT TRUE and this wrong assertion is an insult to and heavy libelling of about 1,100 very young men (including 111 Czechs and 177 Poles, of wich quite a few were killed fighting Nazi Germany) who fought very gallantly, approximately 160 being killed in but 38 days (the last 8 of 46 FC-days were almost completely idle), not to mention several hundred who survived with terrible wounds, many of these pilots being heavily handicapped for the rest of their life.