Australian Spitfires

[Six Nifty .50s]

Originally Posted by Nicholas

Oh, come on Rick. Call a spade a spade! What are the "recent recantations of inaccurate information"? The tone of superiority so typical of some American researchers and writers is not worthy of you!

British researchers of official RAF book-keeping indicates that many aircraft losses were not recorded properly, or not reported at all. Hundreds of previously uncounted RAF losses were found by cross-checking official records for discrepancies and turning to other sources like pilot log books, army or police reports, postwar interviews, and crash sites examined by aviation archeaologists.

Often the information in various official files does not match. Sometimes an airplane was written off or stricken off charge long after it was destroyed or seriously damaged, making it difficult to determine the cause. Perhaps the Australians can claim more accurate accounting than the British or Japanese air forces, but you'll have to prove it.