Air war over North Africa

[Christer Bergström]

The thread on the air war over Tunisia inspired me to do some reading on the air war over North Africa. I discovered that I hadn’t updated my material on the North African air war for many years. In Ring’s & Girbig’s old JG 27 chronicle (p. 197), they give these loss & claims figures for the air war over the Western Desert during the last successful offensive by the Axis, from 26 May to 31 July 1942:

Allied aircraft losses due to British sources: 736 aircraft (600 fighters, 136 bombers). (Source referred to: “Middle East: A Study in Air Power”, published in 1944!)

Victory claims by German fighters (mainly JG 27): 269 Allied fighters shot down.

Losses sustained by JG 27: 15 pilots killed, missing, wounded or POW.

It would be interesting if someone here has access to more recent Allied sources regarding actual Allied aircraft losses in North Africa during that period.

Reminds me, I have to remind Struve Druck of that order for Prien’s latest German fighter unit book; I placed that order over a month ago, and still haven’t heard anything.