eArticle available: 'The Life of Otto Kittel'

[Nokose]

Originally Posted by knusel

Good evening Andrew,

that makes 265 kills. I suggest assuming that Otto Kittel's official score of 267 includes his two unconfirmed claims on 30.6.1941 (maybe confirmed later?) but not the claim on the day he died (because he didn't live to do the paperwork).

All the best to you and your projects,

Michael

Hello Knusel, I have looked at many German pilots that were killed in action and received credits to there scores afterwards. Comrades, I figured filed claims for them. I can give you the example of Hans Beisswenger on his last dogfight in which he was killed, there were no Soviet losses in that fight. I am a real admirer of Beisswenger and his scoring, which is very close and accurate for the most part. Some lesser scoring German pilots achieving 1 to 3 kills that I found in some cases no matching losses, appear to be made for the dead pilot, probably to provide the family with a Iron Cross either 2nd or 1st Class to the family.