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Re: KG51 losses on 23 August 1942.
Hi, Franek
1. I never have and never will state that information coming from the allied side should be neglected, it should not! I only state that if the ONLY evidence we have are eyewitness accounts, no physical evidence like debris, a crashsite or a captured pilot or crew, no guncam film, no nothing, we should treat this 'evidence' from both sides in a stringent way - record it but not accept it as the simple truth, and especially not try to say that because this and that chap was such a great person he could never have made a mistake. I have talked to enough WWII pilots from both the allied and german side to at least acknowledge that they were all in a situation were stress related errors could have been made. The major stress release factor at the time, at least that is what the chaps I talked to relayed, were alcohol - not necessarily the best memory enhancer.
2. With regards to replacement aircraft, the easy answer is that the unit requested replacements through the line of command. The requested replacements were gathered by a unit that from my recollection was called L.In.16, and the aircraft were allocated to the unit via the commanding Luftflotte. They were then transported from the production or repair facilities, often via a Luftpark facility, to the storage areas and finally to the frontline units. Records of these daily allocations to the Luftflotten exist.
3. With regards to your calculations, it is a bit hard to make a statement based on the data you provide. By 'Big Hit' do you mean the Battle of Britain, or the Grosse schlacht PROPOSED by Galland but never used?? Also, it would be of interest to see the data you have used to make your own calculations. I can offer a statistical analysis of all fighter losses in the frontline Luftwaffe units from 22.6.1942 to end of January 1945, and the corresponding personnel losses in return.
I would also be very grateful if we could decide to stop using so much time and energy on these discussion - you will probably never agree with me anyway - and rather go back to gathering as much information as possible in an ordered system.
Regards,
Andreas B
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