WW2TV Horvath lecture/presentation

[Adriano Baumgartner]

I do agree with some of the points pointed out by Vince here regarding the "Allied or other side" of overclaiming. Most of post-war studies focus only on the LW system and the LW airmen who "apparently faked" their claims.
The 8th AF air gunners who, according to the records would have shot down at least twice or thrice the actual number of airplanes of the Luftwaffe on the West between 1943 and 1945 are not even recorded on post-war studies, although some RAF post-war war diaries do mention the "propaganda" purposes of the 8th Air Force at that time (mainly 1943 and early 1944).
Perhaps we will see, on a near futur, a similar book dedicated to the "Other side overclaiming"...

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner

Most of post-war studies focus only on the LW system and the LW airmen who "apparently faked" their claims.

Perhaps on Carl Sagan's principle that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"? Whilst I don't doubt that many claims in every air force did not correspond to enemy losses, it seems reasonable to think that the more claims there are, the greater the likelihood that some are errorneous. And there is another point here, in the Great War the highest German, French and British Empire claimants fell in the 60–80 range. In the Second World War the gap between Hartmann (352), Bong (40) and Johnson (34) is of a quite different order so I can see why people look for explanations.