Yes Vadr resurrection.

And remember I agree with you for the most part here.
But bebunked? Not really.
Here is a post from Spades on the event. (Spades quotes in
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(other party quote)
There is a wealth of written material on this engagement. The fight occured over Sardinia, July 30, 1943. The Luftwaffe actually lost 21 fighters, all Bf-109's to 1 P-40 downed. The following is attributed to the AAF archives, in reference to this engagement: "The poor tactics and coordination displayed by the enemy pilots indicated that the were inexperienced and had little knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of their own Me-109's or the allies' P-40's."
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This fight is mentioned in "Air War Europa" and probably in some other books about the USAAF/P-40, but according to Jochen Prien, a German research writer, this claim was highly inaccurate.
This fight took place between Alghero and Oristano, south east of Sardinia around 09:40 and 10:10 in the morning, between Bf109G-6s of III./JG 77 and P-40s of the 325th. FG. (and some P-38s...?)
Interestingly the kill inflation is about the same 5x
LW -> 5 kills -> according to 325th 1 loss
US -> 21 kills -> according to LW only 4 losses (1 KIA, 3 WIA)
The additional loss was on a later flight that day, 1 MIA
Because of the small number of LW units based in Sicily its fairly easy to find out who was involved in which fight.---------------------------------------------
(other party quote)
Martin Caidin writes that the Luftwaffe pilots were very green and the P-40 pilots were veterans with a great deal of experience and very aggressive.
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I don't know about the pilots of the 325th, but it is indeed correct that III. Gruppe of JG 77 had just received a bunch of green pilots---------------------------------------------
(other party quote)
Odd? Yes it is odd. The lack of experience combined with poor leadership led to a painful initiation for the young German airmen.
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Can't disagree with that, but poor leadership at unit level can't be the cause. In war you have to deal with the situation as its given...the Luftwaffe played the cards it was dealt...and in 1943 Italy it had no choice but to commit green pilots, whatever the quality of the combat duty leadership.
On the other hand, the events from this more objective pov sound much less spectacular:---------------------------------------------
(other party quote)
...up to 30 (probably as few as 12) Bf109G-6s of III./JG77, with a number of green pilots vs 20 P-40s of the 325th FG with, like you described, seasoned pilots, outcome 4-1 outcome in favor of the 325th.
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Overclaiming yes, but a valid occurance and a good point here.
The point I was trying to make is that LW pilots being the best pilots is a bogus statement. Not saying you said that, just see that comment often.
325th pilots were experenced and knew the P-40 well. These LW pilots were not a skilled and underestimated the P-40`s better zoom climb performance, roll rate, and turn rate.
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Skybax
328thFS ~ 352nd FG
Blue Nosed Bastards of Bodney