KG51 losses on 23 August 1942.

[Franek Grabowski]

Andreas
To make my point clear, I do believe that all losses must have been noted somewhere at the time. I perfectly know that many, if not most of the records were destroyed. The problem is that the best and somewhat only source, GQ6 list is by definition prone to errors, and should be taken with a grain of salt. That is all.
Please note, that it is often used as a definite source of information, without any attempt to verify it with other sources generated at different level/place, which would not multiply the same information (eg. not GQ6 monthly sheets that will likely repeat all errors from the main list). There are some cases worth notifying as obvious errors.
16 October 1940 - a He 111 of 2./KGr126 is reported as 6955 1T+BB, but recovery of the remains proven it was 5709, while wartime RAF records noted it as 5706 1T+LK!
23 June 1941 - Fw. Bock of 4./JG2 is listed by GQ6 as lost near Ostend, but WASt says Condette near Boulogne, some 100 km away!
Of course, they were quite easy to verify, but what to do if we cannot find any evidence? Please, have another example. On 8 April 1942 Ofw. Gerhardt was reported wounded in combat over St Omer, despite no claims filed by Fighter Command. Of course this could be just another friendly fire incident, but another scenario comes to my mind. On 4 April a Polish pilot saw a German pilot shooting down a Spitfire, attacked him from close distance and claimed destruction. The pilot, just a few days earlier, has proven himself as one of the best marksmen in the whole Fighter Command, so the one should not expect him to miss. No German pilot was killed on 4 April, so his claim should be present on the victory list. That happens, Ofw. Gerhardt was among the latter. Would it be possible that the loss report was badly filed? How to verify it?
Another case. 9 April 1945, Hamburg. A Lancaster raid is intercepted by I&III/JG7. An account provided in an appropriate Luftgau report fits perfectly description of combat but one thing - no losses were filed. To the contrary, I have a Fighter Command paper noting, that on a review of gun camera film of one pilot (unfortunately, the film itself was not located), it was noticed that a bailing out airman with properly deployed parachute is visible. So what happened actually?
Finally, for the Grosse Schlag operation, Galland estimated loss of 2,6 aircraft destroyed per pilot killed. This must have been a result of some statistical analysis. It certainly does not fit the losses for 1941 the Channel clashes, where the ratio is about 1,2. So, was the estimation bogus, or perhaps the latter stats are wrong, as 1,2 is way off 2,6!
PS Please do not refer to politics. It is not the case.