The Bf 109 losses in Spanish Civil War: verified and unverified

[GuerraCivil]

When it comes to the combat losses of Bf 109 in Spanish Civil War, they have in some cases stirred up very lively discussion. The Bf 109 was the great star of the air combats of SCW - but maybe for being the icon of later WW2 than due to its actual contribution in SCW. I´m inclined to think that the Fiat CR 32 was after all the true workhorse of Nationalist side and made actually more job in the gaining the air superiority for Franco´s side.

But Bf 109 was technically the most advanced plane in SCW and "Messers" were piloted by skilled men who without doubt were succesfull. It was very difficult for Republican pilots to achieve real "Bf 109 kills"! It would be interesting to know who truly were the very selected members of the "Bf 109 kill" club.

Here all the recorded/claimed Bf 109 losses - based on my notes on the books of Laureau, Forsyth, Permuy Lopez and Maslov + on some more or less reliable web sources:

12.7.1937: Bf 109 "6-13" (Braunschweiger) shot down by I-16 - was this the very first Bf 109 shot down in air combat? This did pop up from one web discussion but I have not seen this discussed elsewhere.
13.7.1937 Brunete: "6-4" (Höness) shot down by I-16 (Tinker or Soviet pilot Burtym?) - most sources consider this as the first air combat in which Bf 109 was shot down. Tinkers claim has been put in doubt in some web forum discussions, so the Soviet claim might be more legitimate. IIRC, this had something to do with the date and location of Tinker claim. However, the date and location errors are not so uncommon - remembering them wrong or writing wrong date in diary/combat report has occurred more than once.
17.7.1937 Escalona: Bf 109 "6-9"? (Handrick?) shot down by I-16 - it is strange that this is not mentioned as a air combat incident in Laureau´s book Condor - if Handrick was really shot down, it should be included in a standard work on Legion Condor! Tinker claimed one Bf 109 on 17.7.1937 - but could that rather be the "6-14" (Haarbach) below?
18.7.1937 near Escalona: Bf 109 "6-14" (Haarbach) shot down by I-16
5.11.1937 Teruel: Bf 109 (Sigmund) shot down by I-16
30.11.1937 Teruel: Bf 109 "6-15" (Polenz), force-landed behind enemy lines and captured.
23.12.1937 Teruel: Bf 109 (Kurz) shot down by enemy fighter or flak
7.2.1938 Teruel: Bf 109 "6-1"? (Balthasar) shot down by the return fire of enemy SB (maybe he became too overconfident after having shot down some enemy bombers) - also J.M. Bravo made a claim on Bf 109 on that day, but was he around?
11.3.1938 Caspe/Sastago: Bf 109 (Graf zu Dohna) shot down by I-16 (J. Bosch Llul)
20.4.1938 Sagunto: Bf 109 (pilot?) shot down by I-16
11.5.1938 Sra Espadán: Bf 109 (pilot?) shot down by I-16 (Tarazona)
14.6.1938 Mijares: Bf 109 (Henz) shot down by I-16 - E. Claudín Moncada and F. Tarazona Torán of Mosca Grupo 21 claimed a shared Bf 109
14.6.1938 Villafames: Bf 109 "6-33" (Priebe) shot down by I-15
14.7.1938 Teruel: Bf 109 (pilot?) destroyed by mid-air collision with I-15 (Redondo)
3.8.1938 Flix: Bf 109 (Lehrmann) shot down by enemy flak
5.9.1938 Bf 109 (Lutz) shot down by enemy plane or flak? location?
4.10.1938 Venta de C: Bf 109 "6-67" (Betram) shot down by I-16 (Cortizo Bertolo or González Fernandez - on 4.10.1938 the Mosca Grupo 21 claimed two Bf 109)
13.12.1938: Bf 109 shot down. location? pilot?
16.12.1938 La Cenia: two Bf 109´s at La Cenia were bombed on the ground by the air attack of SB bombers.
29.1.1939 Mollet: Bf 109 (Bötticher) shot down by enemy flak

And then the controversial incidents and claims over Vilajuiga 6.2.1939. I would have liked to leave these out because of the heated discussion which they have caused in some web discussions, but the list would be incomplete without them:

6.2.1939 Vilajuiga: Bf 109 "6-96" (Nirminger) claimed by I-15 pilot Falcó - well, Nirminger certainly was not KIA on that day on that place, but is there info of his involvement and coming back safely from this mission? This has been in some extent discussed in some web forums with some being strongly against Falcós claim (based on Legion Condor records?) and some believing Falcós claim being legitimate. Nirminger case remains probably permanently "unsolved".

6.2.1939 Vilajuiga: Bf 109 "6-98" (Windemuth) claimed also by Falcó - this one went down for sure and Windemuth was killed, but there are different versions. One is that the Messerschmitt just crashed because Windemuth for some reason could not control his plane (which the forum member Fran supports strongly - I guess that this is based on Legion Condor combat reports of this incident?). Other version is that Windemuth went down "in flames" (both Laureau and Forsyth accept this version ) - in this case Falcós claim could be legitimate or at least he made his claim in good faith.