The first ace to reach a certain score

[knusel]

It is the only one of the 352 with no suggesstion for the type.

[HGabor]

Could be. But it is irrelevant, since most of Erich Hartmann's claims -even where the AC types are specified- are unreliable anyways.
Gabor

[knusel]

I'm not convinced that that can be said.

[HGabor]

That's OK, but I am. I did enough research to see how poor Hartmann's tally is. His claiming reliability is way under 30%. The math is easy to apply this to his 352. I was actually shocked to see his real performance while writing the book:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Verified-Vi...6&unfiltered=1

What really bugs me is that because of Hartmann's false and inflated record, the truly most successful fighter ace of all times (which also has to be a German pilot) 78 years after the war still did not get the recognition he deserves...

Gabor

[SteveR]

Gabor's book is very convincing, well-researched, well-written, and highly recommended.

[knusel]

But what is relevance of this issue to the topic of this thread and the questions I asked therein?

[HGabor]

Well, you asked about an unknown AC type. I said I do not know but it is ultimately irrelevant, because in this case even the known AC types are unreliable.
Gabor

[knusel]

For some forum members overclaiming is the answer to almost everything they are interested in.
To me it's the answer to almost nothing that I'm interested in.
Although I can believe that this topic can be fun, I also believe that loss lists are more incomplete that kill lists.

[HGabor]

'I also believe that loss lists are more incomplete that kill lists.'

This can be true for the German side, but not the Soviet (1944-1945). If you disagree it simply means that you are not familiar with the Soviet AF records and their massive cross-reference system which are preserved and stored at TsAMO RF. But that's OK.

Gabor

[knusel]

Hello Gabor,

I believe that experts like you have dug up a vast Soviet data volume which is as praiseworthy as keeping an overview with it all the time. But I have an additional worry: the Soviets like all Communists were prone to home-tailor much of their history documentation, especially when incidents had to do with death. Remember the death of the Czar, the death of Lenin, the Holodomor, the countless identical stories of aces shooting an enemy down and then ramming another on their last fatal mission, the unclear Red Army death toll of WW2, and the death of Stalin.

Still half a week to work...looking forward to the weekend.
Is airwar author your main profession ?

Michael