Luftwaffe Kills in Tunisia Compared to Recorded USAAF P-38 losses

[Six Nifty .50s]

I don't understand the purpose of equating courage with veracity. I won't comment on the pilots mentioned earlier, but Hans-Ulrich Rudel was referred to as a liar and overclaimer by members of his own unit. They called him out on truthfulness, but did not question his bravery.

The subculture of flyers, submarine captains, tank commanders, and other individuals who put great emphasis on personal glory and achievements actually invite others to investigate and challenge them. They bring it on themselves, even though it's natural that some of their readers will be suspicious of heroes and hero-worshippers. After all, very few infantrymen etched personal "kill markings" on their helmets or rifles, or kept score in a logbook. I'm not a psychiatrist, so I won't try to explain the detached manner in which some men painted billboard displays counting the machines they killed, with less regard for the number of dead bodies trapped inside the wreckage. More than a few people find that disturbing.

And no one has ever earned a free pass to avoid criticism just for being dead. Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Hitler are not alive to defend themselves either, but I don't think we can dismiss all questions about their character because they have a military service record.

[Mark R.]

Regards F-4A losses, there probably was only one during the campaign. After finding some material on 3d Photoreconnaissance Group, it appears they only had 4 - 5 operational F-4A's at any given time during February through March 1943.

[Juha]

Hello
Have been very busy lately, that’s why a late comment.
Thanks to Mark for the very interesting info, must be a result of much hard work. And because P-38 was unusually easily recognisable plane, not much misidentifications to complicate the analyse. And thanks to Rob for calculating claim accuracy per JG, very interesting. The result of JG 2 isn’t a surprise but the figure of II./JG 51 is a pleasant mild surprise. The results of JG 27, 53 and 77 were more or less what I have expected on that timescale and in that area. IMHO that the appr 2/3 of accepted claims being possible to verify from enemy’s material is a good result and shows that the LW claim accuracy was generally still good during the Tunisia Campaign.

And Don, thanks for the interesting quotes from your coming book, the book seems to be very interesting.

Juha