Hi.
I am stating this as there are numerous cases in the loss records and from pilot recollections where the pilot performed for example a belly landing. If this was in (at the time) enemy held territory, or the pilot did not know where he was, the usual tactic was to get your sidearm and documents out and run for cover. Often you would then be listed as missing in action (as there was no trace of you as far as the unit was concerned).
One of the very common reasons for Bf 109's not to return to base was engine damage, a situation from which it was entirely possible to survive with only minimal damages to the aircraft in question.
Very common in the RVT as far as I can remember were so-called 'aussenlandungen' I believe it was called, where a pilot had to land on a field or airstrip not currently occupied by his unit (or any unit...). (The fights could be at 10k meters or more, and you would get confused from time to time I am sure). As long as the pilot did not return he would be reported as missing in action, and this would be recorded in the loss records sent to the higher headquarters.
When the pilot in question returned to his unit a week later, in the back of a Kübelwagen, the unit would fill out a correction and send it to the GenQu6Abt, which in turn would correct the loss record.
When considering all loss records from 1945 where the term Vermisst is used, one should take the total state of disarray into account, and never state with certainty that the person in question did in fact disappear for ever (he could of course do so... some into the Legion Etrangere for example...). Remember that the records from April 2nd through to end of hostilities probably burned in the RLM building in Berlin.
Of course, pilots stated as MIA to this date are probably dead, from one reason or the other (some of old age), and I have in fact been in contact with people that are officially still on the MIA list.
It is against this backdrop I stated the above.
A couple of examples:
http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_pub...?lossid=102733
http://www.ahs.no/ref_db/lw_loss_pub...?lossid=107193
In the first the aircraft was destroyed, in the second it was returned intact. If the person reading the loss records would not consider the corrections, the second aircraft would be listed as destroyed.
And then there are all kinds of damage percentages inbetween. How many seemingly intact german fighters have been photographed after a belly landing?
Regards,
Andreas