Gentleman:
Thank you for your thoughts. The overall picture seems to be that destruction of LW aircraft on the ground is likely to have been on a very large, but difficult to quantify, scale.
My initial thoughts took two conflicting directions:
- the universal tendency for over-claims could have been exaggerated as pilots and units appreciated that this would be the last opportunity to build scores in the ETO - IIRC the 4 FG and 56 FG were in a race for most victories by any FG in the ETO, there must have been last minute efforts to boost scores
- on the other hand, absolute chaos prevailed in the LW, with aircraft seeking hiding places inside an ever-shrinking perimeter, normal practices about aircraft dispersal, camoflage and flak protection would be breaking down
Perhaps a further issue is the military value of strafing aircraft often immobilised by fuel famine. I note that USAAF losses were also non-trivial: 343 in the ETO in April 1945.
Anyway, thanks for your assistance.
Cheers
Boomerang