VVS Statistical Digest

[Jack Sanders]

Originally Posted by Kari Lumppio

Hello!

Thanks for the link.

My attention got this table of German allies aircraft park:
http://ilpilot.narod.ru/vvs_tsifra/gl_2/2.21.html

I cannot understand where the value of 506 airplanes for Finland (at Jun 22th, 1941) is pulled from.

Rest of the FinnAF numbers in the table above seem more realistic EDIT Actually not. The number 100 given for both june 1st 1943 and june 1st 1944 looks like arbitrary one. In no period did the FinnAF aircraft park fluctuate so that the would be almost three times more planes in january than there was in june!


Cheers,
Kari

Hello!
The source of most of the data is quoted as an item in the "special archive of the general staff", published in 1946 [Спецархив ГШ ВС, инв.№ 3570, с.5. «Германская армия во второй мировой войне (в цифрах)», М., Воениздат, 1946, с.39, 67-81]. To me, this indicates that this is the wartime assessment of the military intelligence directorate of the general staff (GRU GSh), most likely based on conjecture. You'll notice that most of the data on Axis forces is seriously flawed at best, so it's usefulness is in providing a glimpse into Soviet asessments, rather than the state of the Axis air forces.

Yours sincerely,

Jack Sanders