Interesting article about Top Gun

[Kapt Z]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Good points, Bewolf. I would, however, take exception to the conclusion of masses of inexperienced pilots overwhelming the pros. Part of the American 100-mission (not 25 - that was just for bomber crews) rotation was to have the experts teach the novices what they learned. If you take any limited time-frame and compare the best pilots from any nation, you will find that within the same periods the scores were about the same.

Yes. I'd say the sheer number of missions flown by the Luftwaffe pilots was the biggest factor in their high number of kills compared to other nations pilots in WWII.

[antikristuseke]

[Max2147]

Originally Posted by Kapt Z

Yes. I'd say the sheer number of missions flown by the Luftwaffe pilots was the biggest factor in their high number of kills compared to other nations pilots in WWII.

Agreed. A factor that contributed to that was that German aircraft were usually used in conjunction with the army, so they were usually over their own territory or close to the front lines. That meant that a pilot who was shot down and bailed out had a good chance of getting back to friendly territory, where he'd get another fighter and go fly more missions. The top German aces got shot down dozens of times.

On the other side, the British and especially the Americans were flying long distance missions deep into enemy territory. If they bailed out, they were POW's for the rest of the war.

Originally Posted by Max2147

Agreed. A factor that contributed to that was that German aircraft were usually used in conjunction with the army, so they were usually over their own territory or close to the front lines. That meant that a pilot who was shot down and bailed out had a good chance of getting back to friendly territory, where he'd get another fighter and go fly more missions. The top German aces got shot down dozens of times.

On the other side, the British and especially the Americans were flying long distance missions deep into enemy territory. If they bailed out, they were POW's for the rest of the war.

Well, that is only half the truth. During the battle for France, battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa and the following russian campaigns, the Balkan and Africa campaigns of 1941/42, over the arctic sea, wherever you look german pilots had to cross front lines on a very regular basis. Only within the Reichsdefense timespan was bailing out over friendly territory a given. You ppl mustn't forget the german airwar was not limited to 1943/44 defense of continental Europe from the US. That was a factor only within the last 2 years of the war.

[Platapus]

I think having a call sign "Dogbreath" would be kinda cool

[Max2147]

Originally Posted by Bewolf

Well, that is only half the truth. During the battle for France, battle of Britain, Operation Barbarossa and the following russian campaigns, the Balkan and Africa campaigns of 1941/42, over the arctic sea, wherever you look german pilots had to cross front lines on a very regular basis. Only within the Reichsdefense timespan was bailing out over friendly territory a given. You ppl mustn't forget the german airwar was not limited to 1943/44 defense of continental Europe from the US. That was a factor only within the last 2 years of the war.

But even when they were over enemy lines the Luftwaffe was generally not very far from friendly territory. It wasn't like the American bomber escort missions where they had hundreds of miles and a body of water between them and friendly territory.

Pretty much every one of the top German aces crashed or was shot down around a dozen times.

That's true. Distances covered by american and british bombers into enemy territory certainly far exeeded that of such german missions.

But eh, in doubt, it does not matter much if you are captured close to the front lines or far away. Escaping capture was not the norm, no matter how close to the front line.

[Morts]

Originally Posted by Max2147

But even when they were over enemy lines the Luftwaffe was generally not very far from friendly territory. It wasn't like the American bomber escort missions where they had hundreds of miles and a body of water between them and friendly territory.

Pretty much every one of the top German aces crashed or was shot down around a dozen times.

i think a dozen is maybe a little over the top. but how many missions did the german aces fly compared to the british/americans aces ?

Hartmann had 1.404 missions under his butt when the war finished and he only really got into action in 42. Take this into perspective to 25 or 100 mission sorties.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Morts

i think a dozen is maybe a little over the top.

There is quite a few aces who were shot down 5+ times, IIRC the most for one pilot was 13-14 or something like that.