New information on the Experte Schwarm

[G.R.Morrison]

Your long post on this subject made me fish out Prien's Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945, Teil 8/I Einsatz in Mittelmeerraum November 1941 bis Dezember 1942. For those that might own this one, I'll refer you pp184, 235-240 and 272.

Prien covers the disproportional claiming of "den sogenannten 'Expertenschwarm'". During the period in question (August 1942), I Gruppe reported 22 claims, the II Gruppe 78 (the 4. Staffel, 65 of these, with the lion's share of 63 to Vögl - 10, Bendert - 23, Sawallisch - 18, and Stigler - 12), and the III Gruppe only 3.

Prien also includes the times of the 16.August claims. Stahlschmidt of 2./JG 27 claimed two P-40s, at 08:15 and 08:25. The 4.Staffel pilots made twelve claims begin at 08:26 and finish at 08:40.

Three days later (19.Aug.), Erwin Sawallisch crashed fatally during a test flight over the sea. Certainly his career did not "go on."

After this Schwarm was broken up, the 4./JG 27 made only 13 claims during the remainder of their time in North Africa.

I try not to "close" cases in history, especially when considering how little documentation is available, or has yet come to light, and may never. I enjoy changing my mind about things I thought I already knew about. I also mistrust human memory, but I'm old. Not quite old-enough to have studied with Pierre Bayle, but almost.

GRM