Hartmann: claims vs. victories

[rof120]

Originally Posted by MW Giles

https://www.military-stuff.org/spitf...ncamera-video/

Galland is seen at the end of the film

Whether it is his gun camera footage is another matter

Martin

Interesting in any case. His gun footage? Maybe, maybe not but obviously this bit of film contains extracts from several, very different ones:

1. At least twice we can see a Me 109, probably F, with the typical new (large) nose and cowling. Not BoB, Fs started only at the very end of 1940 (with Mölders IIRC).

2. At least twice, too, we can see an aircraft under fire, seen with the eyes of the attacking pilot, but we can see, very clearly, multiple flight paths of tracers typical of BRITISH 1940 fighters armed with 8 light machine-guns. So this could hardly be Galland.

3. We can see several "Spitfires" (under attack) carrying one cannon in each wing. Hardly BoB for only a few Spits from ONE squadron flew with cannon a few times.

4. At the very end we can see Galland leaving his cockpit and walking on the ground. He has just come back from a combat mission, still wearing his inflatable life jacket etc. He is met by numerous, enthusiastic people so I suspect this part was shot at the peak of his success in the BoB, possibly in September or October 1940 (and he was already Wing Leader JG 26), and perhaps all these guys were acting especially for the PK-camera.