Thanks Donald for explaining.
The point I'd like to make is the relative importance of sorties which result in enemy engagements versus number of sorties.
If the chance of encountering enemy opposition in the West was also higher by an X factor, that should change the way one looks at that bare figure of 8 times... - if an engagement was twice as likely in West, the figure is effectively reduced by one half, und so weiter.
The war in the West might have been much more concentrated, not more difficult in terms of combat per se.
Christer may have a point, if I understood it correctly, that we should look for periods when combat in the East and West were most similar, instead of concentrating on the differences, to get significant answers.
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Ruy Horta
12 O'Clock High!
And now I see with eye serene
The very pulse of the machine;
A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller between life and death;
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