Hi Folks,
Just checking Erich Hartmann’s six P-39 Aerocobra ‘victories’ on June 4, 1944. It is believed (
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpo...99&postcount=4), that his No.249 and No.250 victories were Maj. B. B. Gakhaet's and Leytenant Nikolay L. Trofimov's planes from the famous 16 GvIAP:
244: 4.6.1944 15:10 P-39 9./JG 52 78 733: at 1.500m
245: 4.6.1944 15:25 LaGG 9./JG 52 78 595: at 200m
246: 4.6.1944 17:13 P-39 9./JG 52 78 596: at 2.000m
247: 4.6.1944 17:23 P-39 9./JG 52 78 591: at 2.500m
248: 4.6.1944 17:53 P-39 9./JG 52 78 590: at 2.000m
249: 4.6.1944 18:15 P-39 9./JG 52 78 565: at 2.000m
250: 4.6.1944 18:18 P-39 9./JG 52 78 560: at 2.000m
Well, reading the combat diary of 16 GvIAP for June 4, 1944 I should slightly disagree with that. In the diary we can found the following info for June 4, 1944:
Single sortie between 11:55-12:15 (Moscow time), 1 Aerocobra (Torbeev), returned OK.
Mission #1 between 12:46-13:38 (Moscow time), 8 Aerocobras in the Larga area, covering soviet ground troops at 1500 m. (Fedorov, Lihachev, Torbeev, Statsenko, Starchikov, Novikov, Nikitin, Belozherov) Combat with 8 Fw 190, 2 Bf 109 - No losses.
3 single (training) sorties between 14:40-15:15 (Moscow time), No losses. (Koryaev 2x, Onishenko 1x)
Mission #2 between 16:25-17:30 (Moscow time), 10 Aerocobras in the Larga area between 1500-2500 m. (Klubov, Ivankov, Trofimov, Ketov, Ivashko, Berezhkin, Sukhov, Dushanin, Glinka, Vahnenko) Combat with 15 Ju 88, 14 Me 109, 12 Fw 190. Capt. Klubov downed an Me 109 at Redich (Dedich?), while Ivashko at Bogonos. 1 Ju 88 and 3 Fw 190s (by Glinka, Trofimov, …) were also claimed. Consumed ammo: 129 37mm, 940 12.7mm, 6529 7.62mm rounds. On the other hand 3 soviet Aerocobras were damaged:
Gv.Ml.Lt. Vladimir Vasilevich Dushanin (1922): damaged and force landed at Probota-E, 500 m
Gv.St.Lt. Alexandr Romanovich Ivashko (1922): got a large hole in left wing.
Gv.Ml.Lt. Petr Vasilevich Ketov (1922): engine & radiator damaged by flak. All repaired, but perhaps a ‘force landing’ can be considered an ‘aerial victory’.
Mission #3 between 18:20-19:15 (Moscow time), 8 Aerocobras in the Larga area. (Starchikov, Novikov, Torbeev, Statsenko, Ivanov, Onishenkov, Nikitin, Belozerov) Combat with 6 Fw 190, 4 Bf 109 at 2500 m. St.Lt. Nikolaii Alexeevich Starchikov downed a Fw 190, which fell at Movileni(?)–SE, 3 km. St.Lt. Grigorii Grigorevich Statsenko got damaged, but hit another one. Consumed ammo: 95 37mm, 950 12.7mm and 1400 7.62mm rounds. No soviet losses!
As you can see, Trofimov is mentioned indeed in the 2nd mission, but not as a victim, but rather a victory claimer! (Interestingly Gakhaet is not mentioned anywhere in the diary, only Gv.Maj. Glinka - so Gakhaet was probably just a typo. But they were NOT shot down by anyone, especially not by Hartmann!)
But beside the 16 GvIAP, the 5 VA, 7 IAK units (having 104 Aerocobras on June 4, 1944) also flew P-39 in the area. Their combat reports are similar to the 16 GvIAP:
205 IAD:
508 IAP – no losses
438 IAP – no losses
129 GvIAP – no losses
304 IAD (only 4 sorties), IAD HQ: 1 sortie
9 IAP – no sorties/no losses
69 GvIAP – no losses, 1 sortie
21 GvIAP – no losses, 2 sorties
At the end of the day, the 5 VA reported the following losses:
Dogfight: 1 Yak-9, 1 IL-2
Flak: 4 IL-2
Missing: 2 IL-2, 9 Yak-9, 2 Aerocobras
Since the detailed combat reports do not reveal permanent Aerocobra losses this day, only the 5 VA summary report (2 P-39s), thus they were probably just two temporary losses (which landed somewhere else, not back at their base) and got repaired later.
Long story in short: Erich Hartmann’s six P-39 ‘victories’ (#244, #246, #247, #248, #249, #250) on June 4, 1944 were most likely just damaged planes (not destroyed ones), which later returned to combat service. If we consider the force landed planes as ‘victories’, then max. 1-2 victories vs. 4 overclaims, - however the times of Hartmann’s claims and the soviet missions are a bit different.
This ratio (again) matches Hartmann’s max. ~30% reliability.
Gabor