Re: Question about Bodenplatte book
Hello Kutscha,
I assume you are referring to Appendix 2 of the book. Indeed this is probably not clearly explained.
If you take Appendix 2 in fact all details and numbers in the columns UP TO and INCLUDING the column "Pilots Not Ready" come from the strength returns of December 31st 1944. This was reported by the unit. The original source is RL2-III-734 (BAMA Freiburg). I believe these are the strength returns from early morning 31.12.1944.
However, I took the numbers in the last two columns (under mission 1.1.45) from other available sources (Ultra, KTB's, etc.) giving the exact numbers of the mission of Bodenplatte or the best I had.
Both are not very good explained in the Appendix 2. Why I. and II./JG 26 had more a/c available is due to the fact that several new a/c were flown in by ferry pilots on 31.12.44, some of them even participated in the mission. I am not sure if that was actually explained in the JG 26 chapter, I did not read the book for many years....:-)
Regards,
John
Last edited by John Manrho; 3rd November 2018 at 22:08.
Reason: Adding Information
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