Johannes Steinhoff victories

[Johannes]

Hi Stig

You are absolutely correct, could be a mis-read, or typo error. I will try to acquire a copy of the actual flugbuch. The official "166" by 10th June 1944 absolutely has mistakes, duplication seven months later for a start, also it mentions if witnessed, only two "ohne Zeugen"(O.Z) yet in his typed-out flugbuch it mentions another claim as O.Z.

The none noting of late 1941 claims could be sort weakness/fault in the flugbuch copy it was taken from.

I do not think any recounts of events in Steinhoff's book would be fabrications, as I do believe Steinhoff was honest in his claims, certainly the pattern of his claims would suggest honesty. But perhaps this can be explored by Allied loses experts. His claims for four Lightnings in one sortie should be easy enough proven, or otherwise.

With the official list, I believe by the fact that the mikrofilms give far more details, would suggest the mikrofilms would be the correct one, also they were completed daily, whereas the official list would be put together at some point, I would think mistakes more likely.

I would guess that when Steinhoff received the official "166" list, that he didn't check it against anything, therefore it's likely he took it as fact. Even with a "total", with so many claims, and waiting for confirmations to come through, how would he be absolutely sure of his total anyway.

Keep well

Johannes