Quote:
Originally Posted by Johannes
Galland was absolutely honest, and the best I think, and deservedly so for his honesty alone.
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I am personally very cautious of calling anyone "absolutely honest" because absolutely sounds like you would credit them to the point where one would rule out the validity of other pilots' claims.... Here's what I mean when it comes to Galland:
14.6.40/1728 Blenheim 10km S of Evreux. R3693 of 40 sqn. P/O Lewis and Sgt. Currie both believed POW, Sgt. S W Johnson KIA (believed damaged by Galland and finished off by Blume, so one or the other overclaimed)
25.7.40/1617 Spitfire Dover Harbour. R6707 of 'B' Flight, 54 sqn. F/L Basil Hugh "Wonky" Way, KIA. (Some sources credit Galland with shooting down Sub-Lt (A) Francis Dawson-Paul). Fw. Karl Schmid of 1/JG 51 claimed around the same time and place. We can't just assume Galland got this one and arbitrarily rule out Schmid.
15.8.40/1255 Spitfire 10km E of Dover-Folkestone. Galland is credited by some sources with shooting down Al Deere. Bergstroem says this was N3097 of 54 sqn, Sgt. Norman A Lawrence (who is also credited to Ebbighausen, so again, who was right and who was wrong with this claim?)
15.9.40/1530 Hurricane. Galland and Horten claim their well known victories over the Czech pilots Hubacek and Hess... ....but can you really rule out claims by pilots such as Helmut Bennemann?
20.9.40/1205 Same again: did Hahn or Galland shoot down N3203 of 'B' flight, 222 "Natal" sqn. P/O Herbert Laurence Whitbread, KIA or Hurricane V6722 of 605 sqn. P/O W J Glowacki, damaged but returned unhurt or even K9993 of P/O William R Assheton. I don't think any one of us can quite determine that....
30.10.40/1730 & 1740, 2 x Spitfires of 41 sqn. P7282 of P/O G G F Draper WIA, aircraft written off plus P7375 of Sgt. Leonard Arthur Garvey KIA. Johannes, please tell me you have considered the possibility that Lt. Otto Grote and Gefr. Leopold Masterer might also have downed these two British pilots. And again, where does it say that we have the absolute right to decide either way...?
17.11.40/1020 Again, another famous one: Galland is credited with the Hurricane N2342 of 257 "Burma" sqn. Sgt. Bernard Henson, KIA but again, who can say that Sprick's Spitfire claim isn't doubling up on this? (I acknowledge that 66 sqn had one damaged around this time so the best we can do is the benefit of the doubt and that is by no means "absolute honesty")
28.11.40/1540 Galland downed V6729, tail end charlie of 249 sqn. P/O P H V Wells, baled out burned
21.10.41/1816-1817 Galland and Fast claimed Spitfires. 611 "West Lancashire" sqn. Two losses: W3515 of P/O N J Smith and W3327 "Horsham and District" of P/O J F Reeves both KIA. Was said to have been a collision between the two, but Galland and Fast claimed them anyway. I guess they can actually count as legitimate victories, but some purists might view it differently...