German overclaims in the East. Hartmann and others...

[HGabor]

Johannes,

Found only one permanent 5 VA La-5 loss for November 14, 1944:

La-5FN, S/N: 39213519, engine: 82131600 from 5 VA, 279 IAD, 92 IAP was lost due to dogfight with 2 'Fw 190's and AAA fire. Pilot: ml.l-t Sergei Alekseevich Matveev injured.

At 13:20 (Moscow time, - 11:20 local) at the altitude of 800 m, 2+4 La-5s, covering 6 IL-2s in the area of Tarnaörs (?) met 2 'Fw 190's. Matveev's La-5 got hit in the engine and a piece hit his head. He lost consciousness and started to fall, but he managed to recover at the altitude of about 50-100 m. (An exceptionally lucky guy....!) Crashlanded on soviet held territory. Pilot was saved, but his plane was not subject to repair.

Again: not a lucky number for Hartmann.... Max. 50% But let's be nice: this victory really could be Hartmann's because of same time and altitude (800 m). Even area is about the same. Probably the soviets missed the AC type, which had happened a lot in bad weather. (November, 1944)