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Originally Posted by keith A
JG2 do seem to have a reputation for overclaiming. Donald Caldwell hints at it in his books on JG26.
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I would say this thesis remains unsupported. In similar conditions JG26 overclaimed as wildly as JG2. IMHO during Normandy Campaign JG2 performed much better than JG26.
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There was also the case of some of those JG27 pilots in the desert of 1942...
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Well, this is one of the very few proven cases of deliberate false claims.
[quote]Its a valid argument that Fighter Command were seriously overclaiming in the latter part of 1941, and in the early part of 1942 but as the time went on there was a closer relationship between claims and losses.
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The Battle of Britian seems to indicate a 1:3 ratio of actual loss to claim. 74 Squadron, 303 squadron, and in 1941, 452 Squadron, all have serious discrepancies between claims and enemy losses.
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I cannot say for the others but actual score of 303 could have been between 20-30 and 60-80 German aircraft destroyed comparing to 126 approved by RAF. It is simply impossible to verify individual scores in the period. Plenty of overclaim was caused by RAF command, who credited pilots with individual victories even if they claimed shared ones, so really, one cannot blame the airmen.
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For serious overclaiming I think the best example in the Pacific. American and Japanese claims during the air war were occasionally ridiculous. The Japanese air forces were certainly wiped out by late 1944 if claims are true. Likewise the USAAF, and Navy.
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For very simple reason.
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German claims over the eastern front would be an interesting debate. Is it reasonable to believe that the Russian air forces were so poor that they succumbed in such numbers to pilots who became early victims when switched to the Western Front? (Kittel, Lang etc.)
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It is much too complicated to be discussed in the thread but also very surprising for some.