Top ace of the calendar year

[knusel]

Good evening Gentlemen,

I have 39 kills for Josten in 1945, too.

I have 71 JG3 kills for Dahl (1941-1944), 14 kills for Dahl between 7Jul44 and 5Dec44 in JG300, 11 kills between 27Jan45 and 21Feb45 in JG300, and 7 kills in Mar/Apr with EJG2. This is nearly analogous to your findings and it leaves at least 25 kills of the calendar year 1945 open to debate.
Interestingly, these authors seem to have believed him:

• Toliver/Constable (1968): 128 kills total
• Musciano (1982): 128 kills total
• Forsyth (2011): 126 kills total
• Weal (2013): 129 (!) kills total
• Schumann: 128 kills total

Cheers,

Michael

[Alfred.MONZAT]

Dahl's (14) victories between 7 July 1944 and 5 December 1944 in JG300 are dubious but we can assume he flew the combat missions.

For the (11) victories between 27 January 1945 and 21 February 1945 it is highly unlikely he was still flying with JG 300, the unit was still on the Westfront in January 1945 and Dahl claims from 27 to 29 January were against russian aircraft. His claims for the 30th were even dubious as the 8th and 15th Air Forces were grounded on that day...
I am surprised Lorant & Goyat mention these victories (I have not my books on hands).

Then he claimed to have served with III./EJG 2 and scored his first jet victories in late March 1945. So in one month he scored 25+ victories and then converted to the Me 262 ?
I am also surprised that Foreman credits Dahl with 7 jet victories.

That's sad that all these researchers, due to the scarce of sources, have to trust the pilots. In most cases, that's not a problem as most talk in good faith. That would not be the first time (during or post-War) that Dahl took advantage of the situation to increase his fame.

It make me being suspicious when hearing from some pilots such as Dahl, Stigler or Galland, so maybe I'm overreacting but for me it make no sense to just copy and past the "128" Dahl wrote in his book. If no original source other than Dahl's book mention victories for Dahl in 1945, for me his score for 1945 is at 0. After all, he was Inspekteur der Tagjäger, a staff post, from 26 January 1945 to the end of the War. But feel free to contradict me.

[focusfocus]

For memory
As from 20/01/45,the JG300 was based on the "eastfront"
I/JG300 to Liegnitz (Breslau)
III/JG300 to Lùben(Liegnitz)
IV/JG300 to Lùben

The concept "eastfront","westfront" at this time of conflict is in my opinion difficult to define.

Borkheide(base of I/JG300:"Westfront") located at 60 km sud of Berlin is only 50 mn away from Liegnitz ("eastfront")and it's quite possible although based on the "western" front to fight on the "eastfront".
This does not confirm the "victories" of Dahl but could explain his Russian's claims.

michel

[knusel]

Hello there Gentlemen,

it seems to me as if in 1945 Germans didn't care much about the act of claim confirmation. Those who fought, did so not for glory but for their sense of duty. Those who didn't fight strove for a safe assignment behind a desk or in a non-operational unit. Annoyingly, some of the latter eagerly tried to add to their score postwar. And one of the worst examples might have been Dahl.
I wonder who will be the first author to discredit his 1945 score in a book.

Michael

[Nick Beale]

it seems to me as if in 1945 Germans didn't care much about the act of claim confirmation. Those who fought, did so not for glory but for their sense of duty

Some of them obviously cared a great deal about victory confirmations because Luftwaffe's system of medals and promotions took account of accredited victories and/or missions flown. These things were seen as a measure of how well you were doing your job. In an organisation employing hundreds of thousands of people there were bound to be some frontline glory-seekers, just as there were people behind desks who were happy just to get the rations or whatever delivered to the right place.

Also the history books are full of examples of Germans acting up to the last minute of the war as if the Third Reich would never end. People aren't always realistic.

[knusel]

From my ancestors I learned that indeed particularly young Germans were believing in the Final Victory until quite late in the war. The older guys who had experienced WW1 were rather inclined to feel doubts, especially after Stalingrad.

Apropos: is it known which was the last Knight's Cross awarded to an ace ?

Have a nice evening,

Michael

[focusfocus]

Hello

The list of ACE in a day can be long!
Among the "lesser known",one can add:

Korner 5
Stahlschmidt 5
Langanke 7
Schultz 5
Bendert 5
F. K. Muller 5
Loschenkohl 5
Drdla 5
Bauer 5(X3)
Sochatzy 5(X2)
Ohlrogge 8
Von Einsiedel 5
Lemke 6
Ewald 5
Arnold 9
Schumacher 6
Neumann 8
Reuter 6 ( ALL verifiable and verified: on 23 claims,19 are verified,it's quite remarkable )

etc...etc...

best regards
michel

[knusel]

Hello Johannes & Michel,

thanks for your fascinating posts.
Interestingly, the following records were all won with the Fw 190, all in JG54 and all in 1943:
- Rudorffer's most kills in one mission (6Nov)
- Lang's most kills in one day (3Nov)
- Lang's most kills in one month (October)
- Nowotny most kills in one year
- Scheel's best kill per missions ratio

Cheers,

Michael

[Leo Etgen]

Hi guys

I have Emil Lang with 18 victories claimed on 3 November 1943 (102-119) as the highest scoring ace in a day for whatever it is worth.

Horrido!

Leo

[knusel]

Hello,

I found him with 18 on 3Nov43, too.
http://www.luftwaffe.cz/lang.html
However, the 9th kill of the day is without further info.

Michael