Originally posted by K West
"Westy- I really didn't want to get into that conversation."
shhhh. you'll spook'em
(Circles the decoys.)
I don't buy the Nazi claims for a couple of reasons. First, they are so contrary to
every other country's experience, including Italian, Japanese, whatever. The English, for example, were in the war for as long as the Germans, and even accounting for an imbalance in the number of combat opportunities, their top ace (Johnson, at 38) didn't even approach the claims of his opposite numbers. The Japanese had lots of targets; their top ace came in under 100 claims, and we know that even so his claims are inflated.
Second, people like Caldwell have pointed out that there really are no firm Nazi kill numbers available - because they were destroyed at the end of the war. All you have are claims submitted by the units. As well, Caldwell has documented that these claims are stretched, and in the case of four-engine bombers are likely double the actual losses.
Finally, I just don't buy the notion that 100 guys shot down 14,000 planes - no matter how often they flew, or against whom. It goes against my notion of common sense.
(settles onto water next to decoys)
- Oldman
