[Monaco]

Thank you folks for the support,

with this data it will be possible to verify the RAF claims in more detail. They made claims for: 47-27-76 Fw.190s, 3-1-2 Bf.109s, 33-8-46 Do.217s, 8-3-11 Ju.88s and 5 He.111s. As allready known (Franks, Caldwell) there was much overclaiming which is no wonder in the conditions prevailing (many aircraft in a limited space at the same time, whirling dogfights, German and Allied AA fire, smoke, shot down aircraft ploughing into sea etc.), but it must be noted that the Luftwaffe claims were more accurate even when some sources (Franks) notice that of about 106 RAF aircraft lost 30 have been lost to Flak and 4 to bomber return fire (I personally doubt the flak loss figures). According to Woods Luftwaffe submitted claims for 103 Spitfires (5 of them attributed to return fire from Do.217 crews of II./KG.40, 1 to a recce pilot of 1.(F)/123), 1 Hurricane, 4 Mustangs, 1 P-39 (almost certainly a 31 FG USAAF Spitfire), 1 Hampden (in fact a 418 Sq. RCAF Boston) and 1 Blenheim – the great bunch of them by JG.2 and JG.26.
10.(Jabo)/JG.2 is credited with the destruction of 1 destroyer (according to Goss & Caldwell: HMS Berkerley) and 2 Landing craft sunk, 1 destroyer (HMS Calpe ?), 2 trawlers and 2 landing craft damaged. RAF HSL 147 was sunk at 1503 6 miles from the Somme Estuary (Probably by Ju.88), HSL 122 & HSL 123 were sunk by Fw.190s in the afternoon around 1650 (probably of the Jabo-Staffeln of JG.2 & JG.26), HSL 177 was damaged by strafing (p.m.) and ML 495 claimed 1 Ju.88 damaged (Franks).
Both air forces showed great spirit and readiness, for example S/L Pete Wickham (CO 111 Sq. RAF) flew 5 missions to Dieppe, Uffz. Mayer (6./JG.26) made 9 flights. The outstanding performers of the day were without doubt Ofw. Josef Wurmheller (1./JG.2) with 7 victories (No.53-59 Kacha AOL; No.54-60 according to Franks) in four sorties, Oblt. Siegfried Schnell (9./JG.2) with 5 victories (No.67-71), Oblt. Kurt Ebersberger (4./JG.26) with 4 victories (No.25-28),Oblt. Fülbert Zink (2./JG.26) with 3 victories (No.24-26) and Ofw. Emil Babenz (2./JG.26) with 3 victories (No.19-21).
To distribute the losses/ claims of both sides in this „Greatest Air Battle“ will be a sysiphos task and never to be solved with 100% accuracy, but some attributions can be made.

Regards

Monaco