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Originally Posted by GuerraCivil
But Bf 109 was technically the most advanced plane in SCW and "Messers" were piloted by skilled men who without doubt were succesfull. It was very difficult for Republican pilots to achieve real "Bf 109 kills"!
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Are you sure? The Mosca was about as fast up to 3000 m high and more manoeuvrable. In turn the 109A-D had speed superiority above 4 000 m due to higher altitude engine rating. So they use dive attacks and hit and run tacticts, carefully avoiding dogfight with soviet fighters, that did not produce particular air supremacy, but lead to some regular decimation of republican planes.
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And then the controversial incidents and claims over Vilajuiga 6.2.1939. I would have liked to leave these out because of the heated discussion which they have caused in some web discussions, but the list would be incomplete without them:
6.2.1939 Vilajuiga: Bf 109 "6-96" (Nirminger) claimed by I-15 pilot Falcó - well, Nirminger certainly was not KIA on that day on that place, but is there info of his involvement and coming back safely from this mission? This has been in some extent discussed in some web forums with some being strongly against Falcós claim (based on Legion Condor records?) and some believing Falcós claim being legitimate. Nirminger case remains probably permanently "unsolved".
6.2.1939 Vilajuiga: Bf 109 "6-98" (Windemuth) claimed also by Falcó - this one went down for sure and Windemuth was killed, but there are different versions. One is that the Messerschmitt just crashed because Windemuth for some reason could not control his plane (which what the forum member Fran supports strongly - I guess that this is based on Legion Condor combat reports of this incident?). Other version is that Windemuth went "down in flames" (both Laureau and Forsyth accept this version ) - in this case Falcós claim could be legitimate or at least he made his claim in good faith.
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My two pences for this history
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showpo...6&postcount=13