Have you ever wondered....?

[chewiex]

I am a fanatic when it comes to watching the Military and History channel on TV. I love the shows like "Battle 360" and "Dogfights". In the recent past, I have seen alot of stuff about pilots of WWII, Korea and Vietnam meeting and hanging out with other pilots they shot down in combat. How do they know who shot down who? I mean "Joe Blow of the USAF was shot down by Chin Chang of Japans IJN in a dogfight over Okinawa". Who's keeping track of who is who in those planes?  Did they get a HUD system message "You shot down so-n-so?" <~~~~J/K, I know better.

Just curious if anyone else wondered that or if any of you know the answer.


SALUTE
A8Chewey

[CraneMan]

I think it's a combination of both sides adding up all the available information through combat logs and such.
They know the times and dates of battles and have gun cam footage. If compared to the enemies they can determine what, when, where, and who.

[LLogann]

The US only goes by confirmed kills for Ace status.... But that's neither here nor there.

As for the example you give... I believe that it is simply more of putting two squads together that tangled during the war.  Then via translation, photo documentation and some sake, a bunch of drunk old pilots start spinning yarns about I shot you, you shot him down. 

I don't really know, but that is the story that makes the most sense over the years.

[Lusche]

Western Allied and German airforces kept very detailed combat logs. Claims of victories had to be documented, and of course combat losses were noted as well.

So when a DO 217E, Number 5354 U5+MS, commanded by Oblt Lämmel, was lost on 01-17-1942 after 18:35 hours (time of last radio call) somewhere near Great Yarmouth, you would compare that to the British combat records. If you then find a claim by P/O Norsworthy from 85.Sqd of one killed German bomber for the same time & area and no other bombers were lost nearby at the same time, the probabilty is very high you know what happened.

Of course, it's not always that easy.

[Whitey33]

Western Allied and German airforces kept very detailed combat logs. Claims of victories had to be documented, and of course combat losses were noted as well. 

Dear Lusche, don´t forget Finnish Air Forces, they were also very precise for kills and losses. I know finnish wartime ace Mauno Fräntilä, officially he has 5 1/2kills. After those kills he get pi##ed for his commander who didnt admit a kill, because enemy (who was damaged badly by Fräntilä) augered between finnish and russian lines. Commander said " u should strafe that airplane when it was on the ground." So this finnish pilot decided to NOT claim any more kills. He told me his total confirmed victories was about 17 kills.

[Lusche]

Dear Lusche, don´t forget Finnish Air Forces, they were also very precise for kills and losses.

Sorry about that.

[Dastrdly]

just watched a show where son of a canadian bomber pilot who found the german pilot that shot his father down. also found exact crash site.

[Wingnutt]

I have a book by Cris Goss about the luthwaffe over britian, and its almost totally pilot accounts..  and typically its just matching accouts from the opposing sides..   

" on march 10th I was at approximatly 13,000ft flying over dover and I was bounced by a spitfire"

"On march 10th I spotted and dove on a 109 at approximatly 13,000 feet over dover"

I cant even guess how much works goes into to matching up accounts and finding out, but typically thats how its done.

[AWwrgwy]

And, if the parties are all still alive it is probably as simple as, "I was over -x- in -y- when a -z- shot me down" combined with, "I was over -x- in a -z- when I shot down a -y-."

Compare notes.


wrongway

[Cajunn]

I would think it was easyer between American Vs German then say American Vs Japanese because Germany and America used nose art and numbers. And British planes had the big white letters on the side. To my knowlege all Japanese planes looked pretty much the same but there might have been a number system on there planes also. 

[chewiex]

  Thanks for all the input guys. Sounds like reasonable accounts to me. 

[Motherland]

Check this out. Tons of research must have went in to it. Details the kills of Heinz Knoke.

http://www.heinzknokewebsite.com/My-Site/The_victories.htm

Click on the dates to see the details of the kills/ victims.

[Ratpack1]

Check this out. Tons of research must have went in to it. Details the kills of Heinz Knoke.

http://www.heinzknokewebsite.com/My-Site/The_victories.htm

Click on the dates to see the details of the kills/ victims.

That was pretty cool. Thanks