Okay, I decided that since I am not as well "informed" about the LW and it's activities and planes in WW2, I would start reading and researching it as much as I could.
I have in the past pointed out that I thought and still think the 109G10 is too fast, as the top speed I always see for this plane is in the 426-428mph range, never any more than that. LW supporters have pointed out that the engine Pyro modelled in our G10 was in fact available, so, even tho I cannot find any reference to it in the twenty or so books I have read since that time, I concede the point.
As to the title of this post, I just finished reading "JG26, Top Guns of the Luftwaffe" by Donald L. Caldwell. According to the foreword by Adolf Galland, this is the first detailed history of a LW unit written by an American in the English language. I am sure someone will say how they think it is bias, "blah, blah blah", whatever.........
I found it pretty fascinating reading personally. I got an idea of LW tactics, their mentality, a feel for their opinions of their planes and those of the enemy, etc.
My own conclusions from reading the book:
Pilot Quality: The pilots who survived the war were truly Experten, the attrition rate and Darwinian nature of air combat meant that to survive, you had to be damn good at the art of flying. As the war drew closer to it's inevitable conclusion, pilot quality fell dramatically. The top JG26 pilots were better than the average Allied pilot, but the average JG26 pilot was found to be considerably less capable than his average Allied counterpart.
Tactics: In AH, Mustangs got called "Runstangs" for utilizing their ability to extend from a fight. In the book, from the JG26 pilots' accounts, that was about 90% of their tactics. Find a blind spot, in the sun, on the enemy's low 6, wherever, hit them, then run like hell. AH LW "lovers" need to examine history a bit better before condemning or name calling, as what the so called "Runstang" drivers are doing almost exactly mimics what the LW "Top Guns" did in real life.
Planes: Hard to put into words what I am thinking. As long as their planes had an edge, JG26 did most of the killing. When the tables turned and the Allies put up more and more capable fighters the unit did more and more dying. Not an excuse or a slam, just how I see it. On the Eastern front, against a different enemy with lower quality aircraft, the Russians, the unit seemed pretty invincible. Taken back to the Western front, against aircraft more like their own, their successes were less spectacular. Very few pilots eclipsed the century mark in kills on the Western front in JG26, while the pilots with HUGE kills tallies served primarily on the Eastern front.
Miscellaneous: Reading the history of the unit from start to finish, I see an unbelievable parallel between the two sides, Axis and Allies and what they did during the war.
During the BoB, the LW bombers were pretty much unescorted due to the lack of range of the 109's. So, in the end, the LW was unable to destroy the RAF and Hitler and the rest of the thugs were unable to invade/conquer England. The LW fighters pretty much reigned supreme against the obsolete fighters in Poland, Belgium, Russia, etc(can you say "clubbing baby seals"?), but when faced with a plane of their own caliber, their successes were not as great.
Jump to the Allied bombing campaigns, prior to escorts capable of taking the bombers to the target and back. If you look at it objectively, you can see that the LW did nothing more than what the RAF did over England. They wrought havoc on unescorted bombers. When the escorts arrived, the LW was not able to kill as many buffs. Error on the side of the Allied high command almost doomed daylight bombing, much the same way LW high command actually did do during the BoB. Nothing "super" about what the LW did prior to the Allied escorts, just their good fortune to be there for the juicy targets.
How does this relate to Aces High?
It doesn't, unless you want it to. I used to get amused at one player's "Allied opportunists" comments, then I started thinking about it, and while it didn't offend me, it did make me wonder why people nowadays are looking at the Germans and LW in WW2 as victims of Allied aggression.
FWIW, and just my opinion, "Allied opportunists" falls into the same category as "Runstangs". Hitler and his thugs started WW2 by picking on countries less powerful than Germany, less advanced, and basically unprepared for war. At the war's end, the Germans were getting treated the same way they treated those countries they overran at the beginning of the war. IMHO, they deserve no sympathy at all. What goes around comes around.
Now, I just need to figure out what to call Axis types........"Scumbag opportunists'?
