A ?? RE: an ace pilot's description of a dogfight:

[drgondog]

Originally Posted by drgondog

In July 1943 there were Two (oops 3 - 4th, 56th and 78th) P-47 Groups to escort ALL the 8th AF BC bombers. This is before the 1st Schweinfurt and Regensburg missions of Aug 17, 1943,

Just made a correction to my bold statement about only two groups - I forgot the 78th went into ops in mid April

[NickM]

MANY moons later, I found out more: the airbattle took place on July 14, 1943. In the Creek & Smith Focke Wulf Book vol. 2, they recount the quote from Eder on the mission in question & his 'mount' having 20mm & 30mm guns. The text gives the impression that 12/JG2 & Eder were flying FWs & not Bf-109s

[John Beaman]

Nick, Sim's accounts of any battle have very little to do with reality. He was a story teller, not an accurate historian.

[Nick Hector]

Hi John,

Do you think there is any truth at all in his material on Erich Rudorffer?
He claimed to have interviewed him and viewed one of his logbooks yet correspondence from Erich Rudorffer that I have seen with my own eyes shows Rudorffer as stating that he has NEVER granted an interview to anybody on the subject of his Luftwaffe career...

[kaki3152]

Edward Sims was a 2nd Lt. in the 479th FG, 435 FS who served Dec 44-EOW. so I think he had some affinity with the German aces, which might have made them more apt to give interviews.

The interviews with the German aces took part tin the early 70s as "Fighter Tactics and Strategy 1914-1970" was published in 1972. At this time, Rudorffer was probably still giving interviews.

All in all, I find the Jadgwaffe fighter aces interviewed in this book: Buehlingen, Rall, Rudorffer and Eder gave good stories although the incidents sometimes don't match the recorded claims. The Kurt Buhlingen narrative, I believe, refers to the mission he flew on June 21,1941, when he claimed three victories.

BTW, Eder had to be flying Bf109G-6 with the underwing 30mm pods

[NickM]

Originally Posted by John Beaman

Nick, Sim's accounts of any battle have very little to do with reality. He was a story teller, not an accurate historian.

His oddly clinical way of describing aerial combat in 'greatest aces' was certainly interesting. However you are correct that Sims is the source of the narrative used in Smith & Creek's book.

[kaki3152]

I have most of his books and still find them an interesting read. I always like the way he would describe a mission starting from the time the pilot woke up, his breakfast and the pre-mission narrative, the actual mission and the return. Sometimes, they had a sketch that showed the course of the action. Cheap to find and still a good read.
His descriptions always had good details and usually proved to be accurate, at least from the narrating side.