Observations on the victories of the Normandie-Niemen

[Courtois Laurent]

Another example between an official fact and a historical fact can be illustrated by the 163rd victory of the Regiment.
According to the official list, Roger Penverne shot down a Me 109 on October 21, 1944. In his posthumous diary published in 2016, we can read for this day: "As for me, I don't finally fly. Everything is fine, my Focke-Wulf FW -190 is homologated". The FW 190 (with the yellow bonnet) mentioned by Roger Penverne was shot down the day before around 5:30 p.m. SE of Gumbinnen.
The destruction of the Me 109 is indicated in the reports of the 303 IAD and 1st OIAP without ever giving a place or the name of the pilot.
This new example illustrates two facts, the first, an official victory may not correspond to the date and type of the aircraft. The second, it is therefore necessary before looking for correspondence with German losses to clarify as much as possible the official list of victories of the Normandie-Niemen.