Allied Opinion of IJN vs. IJA Fighter Pilots

[John Beaman]

GuerraCivil,

Your last post is quite good.

I have talked with Dan Ford often about the AVG claims. He says that at the most recent (late '90s, early 2000's) reunions (they do not have them these days), the AVG pilots are claiming over 600. When confronted with the actual Japanese loss records, the pilots claim the Japanese faked their losses for fear of loss of face. Well, I do not know of any commander, Allied or Axis who would do that, as one wants replacement a/c and pilots ASAP! If their propagandists want to fake, then fine, but at the unit level, no.

I agree the AVG actual loss/claim record is quite good considering the circumstances, but apparently the vets want to delude themselves.

The Allies did the same thing. Recall the first 8th AAF raid on Lille when bomber gunners claimed 102 German planes? (More than the strengths of JGs 2 and 26), and the actual loss was 2. The Allies knew the true losses, thanks to ULTRA, but decided to leave it for "morale" purposes.

Every nations' AF and Navy units overclaimed, mostly in good faith. That's WWII before electronic intel verification. The worst Allied over-claiming was the 5th AAF with Kenney. I recall a statement from Life Magazine, saying, in 1950, "for once the Japanese out-Kennyed Kenny" in claims!

BTW, I heard that Air Marshall Johnny Johnson, did not believe Pips Priller's claims against the RAF, but his own review and digging verified the claims. Is this true?