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Old 2nd May 2008, 22:54
Leo Etgen Leo Etgen is offline
Alter Hase
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,210
Leo Etgen will become famous soon enough
2 March 1944

Hi guys

Niko Fast has the following for the incident that yogybär describes:

Bf 109 G-6 "White? 1" (W.Nr. 140 182) flown by Unteroffizier Gerhard Barthel of 4./JG 52, killed in take-off collision
Bf 109 G-6 "Yellow 4" (W.Nr. 140 242) flown by Leutnant Ferdinand Klassen of 6./JG 52, wounded in take-off collision

I obviously was not there but personally I feel that depending on the point of view both interpretations could be correct - the Russians ascribed the collision due to their presence/actions while the Germans felt it was not due to direct enemy action. One must be very cautious in this regard as I have seen many attempts to "prove" that one side's losses are deliberately concealed. Examples including Japanese losses versus The Flying Tigers, USAAF losses in the Korean War, etc.

Horrido!

Leo
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