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Hello
I had only 30 min. to do some checking, but some info from Maj. Gen. I.S.O. Playfair et al book The Mediterranean and Middle East vol IV (London 1966)
p. 355 26.2. - 30.3.43 losses were Allied 156, Germans 136, Italians losses unknown, but according to Santoro 22 Italian a/c were lost in Tunisia during Feb and March. BTW Hooton's Eagle in Flames, which is the second volume of his 2 part history of LW, p. 221 gives LW losses in March as 160a/c. This was the time when experienced Desert Air Force was very active on the SE side of Tunisia (Rommel's badly failed counterattack at Medenine and the battle of Mareth line). So losses seems to be more or less same according to this book. But of course Allied numerical superiority was rather marked by that time. Hooton seems to more or less ignore this phase in his Eagle in Flames but on page 224 he gives LW losses in Med. 1.11.42 - 30.4.43 as 2.422 a/c. When we added the Italian losses (unknown to me at the moment) clearly the Axis had suffered a blood letting to which they hardly could afford at that stage of war.
Juha
Ps thanks Andrew for the exact loss figures for the western front of Tunisia campaign in Jan. 43. Jagdfliegern did even better than I had supposed against partly inexperienced USAAF units.
If You will be so kind and post the whole Desert War info from Feb to Oct 42 on this forum on the other thread, I'd greatly appreciate. I'm still waiting the reprint of Fighters over the Desert, tried today check Grub Street's web-site, but got only the info that they are updating the site.
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