Gentleman:
A recent post referred to Obfw. Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert's 7 claims on the 13 March 1943 in Tunisia against USAAF P 39s and P 40s, which seem to corroborate to a reasonable degree with USAAF loss records. This looks like a rare example of a LW pilot making 'ace in a day' versus the USAAF. I could only think of a couple of other possibilities without an exhaustive search:
- according to Arthy and Jessen's Focke Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa, on 2 Feb 1943 Kurt Buhligen of II/JG 2 claimed a P 39 and three P 40s from the USAAF and a RAF Spitfire - almost ace in a day versus the USAAF. Arthy and Jessen state that the claims were confirmed and show good correlation between JG 2 claims and corresponding Allied losses ( they report eight and seven, respectively)
- Caldwell's JG 26 War Diary shows that, on 24 April 1944, Hptm Staiger of III/JG 26 claimed, and was credited with, three B 17s shot down and two B 17s shot out of their formation. Whether this qualifies as making ace in a day is problematic.
What further examples are there of LW pilots making ace in a day versus the USAAF?
Cheers
Don (Boomerang)