Ehm not as sure.
The only hungarian fighter group was the 101st Puma (Cougar) squadron, formed in '42. They never had more than 26 pilots in the same time.
They were operational from Stalingrad to Kursk: downed 132 russian planes while lost only 20, also only 6 pilots died. Axixs did not had numerican superiority then...
In '44 summer the americans were doing bombing raids to my country. Tipically once a week, like 500-900 bombers escorted by 100-250 ponies and 38s. This squadron downed 110 heavies and 56 fighters while only lost 10 pilots. True, they had german help during this time, but never could get more than 60 pilots together.
Later, the russians became the major threat again. 156 Kills, 21 deaths. As you see, not as imperssive, as the russian numbers were getting more overhelming and we lost a couple ace pilots.
Grand total 454 downed enemy aircraft for losing 37 pilots... all in the late war, against the russian horde.
Be a wolf. Fly Luftwaffe.
Did they win the battle? Always take the claims numbers with a grain of salt too regardless of what country. It makes for better propaganda if the other guy has all the advantages.
Look at how you wrote it. The impression would be these 26 pilots took on 500-900 USAAF bombers and 100-250 escorts at a time and came out on top. A quick glance at the 15th AF history shows 8 trips to Hungary from June 1st to the end of August 44. Your numbers suggest that one squadron alone knocked down 20+ USAAF birds every trip.
A quick check of the MACR (Missing Air Crew reports) shows 28 fighters and bombers not returning from those 8 missions to Hungary. There is an MACR for every USAAF bird lost in combat giving the details on the loss.
Everybody over claimed. Look at the AVG claims and the Japanese claims in China. They're crazy off. Folks have researched both sides and it's downright silly in retrospect. A classic example. February 25, 1942. Three AVG pilots claimed 5 Japanese fighters. There were no Japanese losses. Even worse the Japanese claimed 25 Allied planes shot down. Later that same day the AVG claimed 21 fighters and 1 bomber, when in total the Japanese lost 2 fighters, most likely to RAF Hurricanes also involved.
There was just a discussion on another board where a LW guy was trying to connect actual kills to claims by a LW ace named Bartels. He was asking for 38 losses on two different days in the Med, where this guy claimed 7 38s near his own field. Well there was one 38 lost and it was to flak. Someone else piped in that he'd also claimed 4 51s in a fight were only two were lost and they weren't even in the same area. His 100+ kills look kinda silly when you consider that 11 of them from 3 flights were just disproved.
Again it makes for better stories if the truth gets bent a bit in wartime. Gotta keep folks in the game so to speak
Also keep in mind that the LW while out numbered against the Allied bombers and fighters did their best to use their ground control to put their fighters on to undefended parts of the formations so they could achieve numerical superiority in a certain area while trying to avoid Allied fighters. This leads to Allied pilots talking about encountering large numbers of German birds and being up against a larger force.
