Interpretation of Luftwaffe Loss Statistics

[jim norton]

...could it be contct to enemy in the air?! they could have been lost by aa-fire, so from the ground, haven´t had contact with an enemy in the air.

all the best
jim

[Laurent Rizzotti]

No idea how an aircraft can be lost through enemy action without enemy contact, but I wonder if that can be compared to the statistics showing aircraft destroyed or damaged by enemy aircraft, and dividing them between those observed by enemy and not.

For example:
_ an aircraft shot down during a battle will be observed by the enemy
_ an aircraft taking one bullet in the engine, that seized 15 minutes and 100 km later and ending in a ditching/failed force-landed in/near friendly land will be an aircraft destroyed by enemy aircraft without being observed by the enemy

[Horst Weber]

Rod, Jim & Laurent

Me as a German native would explain it as follow:

An operational fighting-unit(Jäger, Bomber, Schlachtflieger) is flying an operational mission. This is called Feindflug, Feindeinsatz.

While flying this mission, they have contact with enemy a/c and losses due to this enemy a/c, the losses are described as "mit Feindberührung".

All losses like mechanical failures without an appearance of the enemy during a "Feindflug" are described as "ohne Feindberührung"

A good question is, if anti-aircraft fire, which caused a loss during a Feindflug, would have been described as "mit Feindberührung", too.
On my opinion, I would rather say, that "mit Feindberührung" was a loss to any enemy action while on a Feindflug.

Best regards !

Horst Weber

[Dénes Bernád]

Thanks, Horst, for the detailed explanation.

What was the difference between a Feindflug and a Frontflug?

[Nick Beale]

In some sets of OKL statistics losses due to enemy action are classified as either with enemy contact (Feindberührung) or without enemy contact (ohne Feindberührung).

Does it say Feindberührung in full? I only ask because the monthly stats talk about losses mit or ohne Feindeinwirkung. So enemy action rather than enemy contact. That means you could lose a plane to enemy action without leaving the ground (e.g. in an air raid, or even from artillery fire).

I'd have thought that a loss to enemy action on a non-operational flight would still show up in the Qen. Qu. loss returns as "(H)" rather than "(F)" = Feindflug, whereas in the monthly loss/arrival figures it would show as a loss mit Feindeinwirkung.