 You can't say they were exaggerated not only did the germans talk about what they did so did the Americans who also talk of Germans who haf gotten ton's of kills
[qwertyuiop, 17.01.2008 04:06]
The best pilots were not the Germans, or they would not have taken the plastering they received at the hands of the RAF, notably during the Battle of Britain, but also on a regular basis thereafter. Shooting down a lot of poorly trained enemy does not make you a great pilot - the Russian Front was very "easy" for the German aces; nor does shooting down highly inferior aircraft - as in the Western Desert until the arrival of the Spitfire in late 1942. On the other hand, the RAF was systematically faced with high-quality opposition, which explains why they did not run up the (grossly exaggerated) scores claimed by many German aces.
By the time the Americans finally managed to make a meaningful contribution, (late 1942 - early 1943) (in the absence of a decent USAAF fighter aircraft, even) the cream of the Luftwaffe was already dead, either in the Channel or the Mediterranean, or in Russia.
The Germans were very, very good, especially at the beginning of the War, but once the World's most exclusive flying club had sorted itself out, it proved to them that they were not good enough.
[ndicki, 14.01.2008 00:57] |
