Bf 109 in Polish Campaign 1939

[John Beaman]

Mirek, please contact me at jrbeaman@triad.rr.com. Important....

[GuerraCivil]

While waiting the promised and promising book above (I hope that I can afford it), I wonder if someone knows the combat losses of Bf 109 during the September 1939 - the air-to-air combat losses and those lost to AA fire. With this I mean a plane destroyed to the degree that plane was written off. A comparison with the combat loss number of Bf 110 would be also interesting.

More complicated is the question of confirmed claims of Bf 109 pilots (if they can be verified by Polish records). For that we probably have to wait the publication of good source material.

[Larry Hickey]

GuerraCivil,

Your best present source for the information on German 109 losses is published in the book by Dr. Jochen Prien, et. al., "Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe 1934 bis 1945" Tiel 1." This volume, part of a huge book series that will be well over 20 volumes, is subtitled "Vorkriegszeit und Einsatz über Polen - 1934 bis 1939." It details all 109 losses and claims made by all LW pilots flying the Bf109.

There are the claims of Bf110 pilots in the three Gruppen equipped with the type published on the internet.

Getting at what confirmed German victories are backed up by actual Polish a/c losses is an immensely more complicated problem. If you can't read Polish, and the Marius Emmerling Fighters and Destroyers Vol. I of "Luftwaffe nad Polska," then you'll have to await publication of the EoE volume on the PC. We've researched every such combat in definitive detail but even I have never tried to actually come with total numbers reflecting valid claims from the detailed information on each incident.

Regards,