[Peter Cornwell]

Hello Robert,

In analysing the claims and casualties for The Battle of France Then & Now, I cross-checked the details as published by Jochen Prien against the OKL Fighter Claims listing extracted from BA-MA microfilms and found some discrepancies, which is to be expected.

With specific regard to the claims by II./JG52 on June 9, 1940, both sources are in complete agreement with the single exception of the claim for a Hurricane at 17.35 (CET) by Lt Adalbert Schindler of 4./JG52 as cited by Prien. This is, as you rightly point out, at the same time as the claim for a Hurricane filed by Lt Heinz Gehlaar of the same unit. As the two sources consulted both agree on the latter, and No. 242 Squadron only lost one aircraft, I simply applied Occam's Razor.

Of course, any research project of this nature provides ample scope for such judgement calls and thus error, particularly when additional evidence later comes to hand, but I have approached the work with as much care and attention to detail as possible. I hope this explains my reasoning.