Luftwaffe Myths

[Kildlawyrs]

Hello Ladies & Gentlemen:

I am new to the list so perhaps I will stumble a bit while I learn how it all works. Please bear with me.

Looking at the Luftwaffe's performance during WW II, I am struck at the lack of objectivity in most descriptions of this organization. Claims made by the Luftwaffe (e.g. kills, confirmation process, world beater status) would likely not be readily believed were they have been made by American, British, Japanese or Russian air forces, yet they are accepted as indisputable fact when discussing the Luftwaffe. Leadership in the Luftwaffe was strikingly deficient, and the emphasis on single pilot victories led, in my estimation, to a poor showing by the German Air Force in its entirety. All in all it was not exactly a "world beater" air force. Rather, at least initially, it was second rung fighting organization which gave the impression of being better than it was, due to the even worse performance of its initial opponents. After going up against truly organized air forces (RAF during the Battle of Britain, and the USAAF after its initial teething problems), the Luftwaffe really performed in a rather mediocre manner.

[David Ransome]

Hi, and welcome,

I presume that this initial post is intended to get replies to every aspect of your statement in which case it could generate the longest thread ever seen! I would strongly sugest that you use the search facility provided and you will get answers or comment to everything you mention as it has all been covered previously.

I feel that the wording of your post could also apply to the RAF and USAAF at various times, it wasn't just the Luftwaffe that suffered deficiencies in various areas, including that of 'kill' claims. I feel certain that no-one on this forum sees anything Luftwaffe related as 'indisputable fact' without being able to refer to hard and conclusive evidence.

Just my two penny worth to help you!

Regards

David

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Kildlawyrs

Claims made by the Luftwaffe ... are accepted as indisputable fact

Not by many people here, they aren't. Follow David's suggestion and explore the site a bit more; matching claims to actual losses is a repeated theme.

[Andreas Brekken]

As my kids would say:

Lol!!

[Kildlawyrs]

Lol?

Sorry, I did not understand what you were "Lol-ing" about. This forum is not very easy to use.

[Kildlawyrs]

Sure, the RAF and USAAF certainly could exagerate their claims too, but the sheer magnitude of some (actually, many) Luftwaffe "kill" claims defies all reason. For instance, if you take all of their fighter pilots with kill claims of 150 or more, you come up with 97 pilots. Now if you add up their total scores, you get an astonishing nearly 14,000 kills...! Thats a whole air force destroyed by less than 100 fighter pilots? Is it just me, or do I smell something fishy?

[Kildlawyrs]

Thanks David. Yes, as a matter of fact my first posting was designed to get a big response. I am trying to get a feel for what this forum is about. Is it all "Hooray for the Luftwaffe", or are members willing to take a second look?

I find navigating this forum a bit confusing. Have to work on it a bit, I guess.

[Pilot]

Hi Kidlawyrs and welcome to forum [btw I am not authorized to say welcome to any...]

Idea of the forum is to make direct comunication betwwen users and in this way the users are aviation ethusiast of vatious form- researchers, authors, fans, modelers and so on. No doubt that it is possible to find errors in any kind of publications. Error could be made but lack of data, bad interpretation of data and by humman error [intentionally or not]. So the idea of message boards is to make very quick data available and display it for mutual benefit and comments.

Navigating of this forum shouldnot be a problem. When you get on the main page you will note that subjecys are arranged in sections separated with graphic elements. This make faster and better recognition for the visitors. Also each board could have its own sub-board and good sample is the board with publications.

But fact is that it is not easy to search all forum as well we are faces with hundred of pages and thiusand of post made by members. So use Search option given on the forum. You will find it in the top of the main page. Click on it and you will have diplay new page where you have to put in the field what you like to find. Then press Enter on your keyboard and then you will selected all topic and post where the subject you loking for is mentioned. But this is machine and can not do that perfect but definitely help.

Hope this will help you to adopt on this forum. And don't worry about the Lol used above- all those are fine people and soon or later you find find this.

Cheers

[Kildlawyrs]

Thanks for the help, Pilot.
I was not really worrying about the "Lol", I just did not understand its context. Sometimes I say funny things...intentionally or not!

[George Hopp]

I was not really worrying about the "Lol", I just did not understand its context.

Someone is being coy. "LOL" is simply "laugh out loud."