Airacobras in Tunisia

[Christer Bergström]

Thanks a lot, Nick! Very interesting! So apparently all those five or six claims made by the 350th FG on 6 April 1944 were unsubstantiated?

Juha, thanks again! I looked up George Mellinger's and John Stanaway's "P-39 Airacobra Aces" and found that "some 107 P-39s were lost in the MTO . . . sources quote up to 20 confirmed claims in the air."

Not even 0.2 victories per loss - that must be the worst victory-to-loss ratio for any Allied fighter in WW II, and ought to be quite revealing as far as the Airacobra's quality is concerned.

The same source says that "USAAF P-40s claimed about 500 enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground for about 550 losses." Even if we assume that only half the P-40 claims were in air combat, it still gives a ratio of 0.5 victories per loss, which is much better than the Airacobra's relation.

The P-47 Thunderbolt is said to have attained around 6,000 aerial victories in the ETO and MTO against 5,200 own losses - i.e. 1.2 victories per loss.

The P-51 Mustang attained 4,950 aerial victories in the ETO. I don't know how many Mustangs were lost in the ETO, but 4th FG (which flew P-47s March '43 - Feb 1944, and P-51s after that) was credited with 583.5 air victories against 241 own aircraft MIA, a ratio of 2.4 victories per loss.

I don't either have any total figures for the P-38 Lightning, but 20th FG scored 82 air victories against 86 own aircraft MIA while flying the Lightning - a ratio of 0.95 victories per loss.

(Yes, losses above are to more causes than just air combat; nevertheless, the comparison of the victory-to-loss ratios for various US fighter types in combat with the Luftwaffe still are quite telling.)

In "P-39 Airacobra Aces", John Stanaway writes what also is quite telling:

"With two kills to his credit, Hugh Dow was one of the highest scoring P-39 pilots in the MTO." (Dow claimed his second victory in that combat on 6 April 1944, against a Bf 109; his first victory was claimed against a Bf 109 on 15 Feb 1943, but according to the German report, the Bf 109 lost on that occasion was shot down by the Spitfires which escorted the Airacobras.)