[Broncazonk]

Very well. The Russian records are correct and certain Luftwaffe pilots were dishonest in their mission reports and victory claims. Bottom line: an enormous amount of time and work has been expended in answering this question (by multiple historians on this forum) and I believe and trust the results of their dedicated investigative efforts.

But now we have a new--rather obvious--mystery: *why didn't* the Luftwaffe produce multiple Experten with 300+ historically verifiable victory claims? In all honesty, there should be at least one with 500 historically verifiable victory claims, no?

The Luftwaffe went east with a core number of fighter pilots who had combat experience in Spain, Poland, France and Britain. And from the very beginning, in 1941, the Russians were putting up poorly-trained (barely able to fly) pilots that were flying vastly inferior aircraft, in astonishing numbers.

This trend continued in 1942, 1943 and 1944. On any given combat mission in 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1944, well over half (1/2) of the Russian combat pilots (in a vast formation) were flying their very first combat mission. In May 1943, in Sudet's 237th ShAP/305th ShAD all but two (2) airmen were flying their first combat mission.

** In these circumstances, why didn't the Luftwaffe produce Experten with incredible but valid victory totals?

We are missing a piece of the puzzle, I think...

Bronc