[@irnimal]

Hi Craig,
Great overview you did. Well done. Agree with you all the way.
But talking about Hartmann it's like a taboo subject. I think that most of us got hooked on him when we read the bible ''The Blond Knight''. Like all those books written in the 60s, it is a comic book on words, to gev people hooked on a fantasy world of air combat, a thing that most of us probably longed to do. And they got what they wanted.
But in terms of real research.......
I, more or less, have been able to build a partial picture of how Hartmann's claims fair against Soviet losses during 42/43 (while looking for Rall's).
I say partial because I ran through most of the Loss Files (that I could find online) on the units involved in the fighting in his area of operations. To have a broader picture I still have to go through the Combat Reports, a thing that I still haven't had the time to do.
Hartmann was not a single mission multiple claimer. Like you said, he just was in the air all the time. Specially after the Battle of Kursk started. Rall was the same thing, always aloft. So their chances of bein able to claim were high. So, for that time period I am very inclined jo say that hi accuracy looks to be very very reasonable/good.
For 1944 onwards I still haven't had to the research myself, so I have to rely on the work made by others, specially for late 44.
For now just an example, 26 February 44 : overall 16 claims made by the Germans (14x Airacobra, a Il-2 and a Pe-2). Since Hartmann just claimed fighters, lets us stick to the 14 Airacobras claimed.
- [09h08~09h16] 2 claims (Hartmann - 2)
- [11h45~12h03] 8 claims (Hartmann - 5)
- [14h37~14h50] 5 claims (Hartmann - 3)
The only unit in the area operating P-39s was 205 IAD, and overall they lost 5 aircraft shotdown, 1 Mia and 1 CL (the pilot was OK and returned to unit).
Of these losses :
- [11h00~11h36sovtime] 1 shotdown, pilot b/out and returned to unit.
- [13h40~14h55sovtime] 3 losses (1 KIA, 1 Mia, bvt later pilot returned, 1 CL, pilot later returned)
- [16h15~17h15sovtime] 2 losses (1 Mia, pilot later retrned and 1 b/out, pilot returned)
- There was one more P-39 lost (Mia, pilot later returned) but no time given.
- from 203 IAD [153 GIAP] one Yak was lost (Mia, pilot later returned), to time available because still haven't been able to check Combat Report from that unit.
So, still a partial overall view but we can take some conclusions. Will leave that to everyone to do it individually.
And, Happy New Year to everyone.
Paulo