Confirmation and overclaiming of aerial victories

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In aerial warfare, overclaiming refers to a pilot, air gunner or unit that takes unjustifiable credit for the destruction of an enemy aircraft. The net effect is that the losses and claims are unsymmetrical.

There are several ways in which overclaiming can happen. The first and most obvious is that more than one fighter pilot attacks the same target in quick succession and claims it in good faith. The second is that, while a target is hit and appears to go down, out of control, its pilot recovered at a lower altitude.[1]

Discussion of overclaiming centres on air combat during World War II, possibly because of the fact that the war dominates the history of military aviation.

[edit] Luftwaffe Rules of Confirmation (World War II)

The Luftwaffe had a very stringent approval process for the confirmation of aerial victories.[2]

  • Without a witness, a Luftwaffe fighter pilot had no chance to have his victory claim confirmed. Such a claim, even if filed, would not pass beyond group level.[2]
  • The final destruction or explosion of an enemy aircraft in the air, or bail-out of the pilot, had to be observed either on gun-camera film or by at least one other human witness. The witness could be the German pilot's wingman, squadron mate, or a ground observer of the encounter.[2]
  • There was no possibility, as with some RAF and USAAF pilots, of having a victory credited because the claiming officer was a gentleman and a man of his word. The German rule was simply "no witness – no kill."[2]
  • The German system was impartial, inflexible, and far less error-prone than either the British or American procedures. German fighter pilots had to wait several months, a year, or sometimes even longer for a kill confirmation to reach them from the German High Command.[2]

[edit] Instances of severe overclaiming

Date Unit/Air Force Notes
15 September 1940 Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe On the day termed as "the Battle of Britain Day", the RAF claimed 185 German aircraft shot down. Actual German losses were just 60. On 18 August 1940 was another case of apparent overclaiming. The RAF claimed 144 destroyed, while German losses were 69. The Germans claimed 147 British aircraft destroyed, actual British losses were 68.[3]
June 1941 - December 1941 Red Air Force In this time the Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily of the South Western Front claimed 85 Bf 109s. A further 53 were claimed by anti-aircraft units in October and another 54 in November. Only 31 Bf 109s were lost by the Luftwaffe in this period. VVS claims on the Eastern Front amount to 3,879. Anti-aircraft units claimed a further 752. A further 3,257 were claimed on the ground.[4] The Luftwaffe lost 3,827 aircraft to all causes on the Eastern Front in 1941, making VVS overclaiming more than 100%. [5]
8 June 1942 Red Air Force: 6 GIAP/VVS ChF This unit claimed nine German aircraft shot down in a single action. Not a single German aircraft of any type was lost.[6]
26 July 1942 Red Air Force: 434 IAP and 512 IAP These units claimed 18 and 12 kills against Macchi C.200s of the Italian 21 Gruppo Autonomo C.T. during the Fall Blau operation. The Italian unit lost just three Macchi. [7]
15 September 1942 Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader 27 claimed 19-20 aerial victories while the Desert Air Force records report the loss of five aircraft (one further Allied fighter was lost due to friendly ground fire).[8]
5 July 1943 - 8 July 1943 Red Air Force: 2.VA, and 16.VA The Soviets were the worst overclaimers during Second World War. In this time, during the Battle of Kursk, the Soviet unit 2.VA claimed 487 aircraft from Fliegerkorps VIII shot down. German records show the Luftwaffe lost only 41. According to the Generalquartiemeister der Luftwaffe 58 were lost to all causes. The 16 VA unit claimed 391 against Luftflotte 6. Actual losses were 39. The Soviets claimed a total of 878 German aircraft destroyed. Losses were 97.[9]
17 August 1943 United States Army Air Force, Luftwaffe After the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission Gunners on the bombers claimed 288 fighters shot down. Spitfire pilots claimed another 7 German fighters shot down and P-47 pilots claimed 14.[10]. Luftwaffe records record 40 aircraft lost. The Luftwaffe claimed 101 bombers and five fighters shot down, however only 60 B-17s and no fighters were reported lost.[11]
14 October 1943 United States Army Air Force, Luftwaffe After the Second Raid on Schweinfurt Gunners aboard the B-17 bombers claimed to have shot down 138 German fighters.[12] German records state only 38 were lost.[13] German fighters claimed 121 bombers, the actual figure was 60.[14]
6 January 1944 United States Army Air Force On this date bomber crews claimed 210 German fighters and their escorts claiming 31, for a total of 241 claims. German losses amounted to 39 in total. [15]
3 March 1944 United States Army Air Force, Luftwaffe On a bombing mission to Berlin the Eighth Air Force dispatched the 1st and 2nd Air Divisions, comprising 95th, 100th and 390th Bomb Groups. The B-17 gunners claimed 97 German fighters on this mission. American fighters claimed a further 82 destroyed. German losses amounted to 66. German claims amounted to 108 bombers and 20 fighters. USAAF losses were 69 bombers and 11 fighters.[16]
2 April 1944 Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe claimed 61 bombers and five fighters of the Fifteenth Air Force. No Allied fighter was reported lost, and only 8 B-17 Flying Fortress and 20 B-24 Liberators were lost.[17]
1 January 1945 Luftwaffe On this date German pilots overclaimed by between 4 and 3:1 .[18] During Operation Bodenplatte the Luftwaffe claimed 55 destroyed and 11 probably destroyed in air-to-air combat (according to document: "Fernschreiben II.JakoIc Nr.140/44 geh.vom 3.1.1945"). Other German sources (according to document: "Luftwaffenführungsstab Ic, Fremde Luftwaffen West, Nr. 1160/45 g.Kdos.vom 25.2.1945"), quote 65 claims and 12 probables. Just 31 Allied aircraft were hit. 15 were shot down in aerial combat, two were destroyed whilst on take-off and seven were damaged by enemy action. [19][20]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Spick 1996, p. 217.
  2. ^ a b c d e Brown 2000, pp. 281–282.
  3. ^ Military History Journal - Vol 5 No 1 Myths of the Battle of Britain by Major D. P. Tidy
  4. ^ Bergstrom 2007, p. 117.
  5. ^ Bergstrom 2007, p. 118.(Barbarossa title)
  6. ^ Bergstrom 2007, p. 47.(Stalingrad title)
  7. ^ Bergstrom 2007, p. 58.(Stalingrad title)
  8. ^ Christopher Shores and Hans Ring (Fighters over the Desert, 1969), cited by Brown 2000, p. 258.
  9. ^ Bergstrom 2007, p. 120. (Kursk title)
  10. ^ Hess 1994, p. 60.
  11. ^ Caldwell and Muller 2007, p. 114.
  12. ^ url =http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-eighth-air-force-raid-on-schweinfurt.htm
  13. ^ Caldwell and Muller 2007, p. 136.
  14. ^ Caldwell 2007, p. 137.
  15. ^ Hess 1994, p. 71.
  16. ^ Hess 1994, p. 84.
  17. ^ Cladwell 2007, p. 180.
  18. ^ Manrho and Pütz 2004, p. 272-73.
  19. ^ Manrho and Pütz 2004, p. 287.
  20. ^ Manrho and Pütz 2004, p. 290.
  • Bergström, Christer (2007). Barbarossa - The Air Battle: July-December 1941. London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-270-2.
  • Bergstrom, Christer (2007). Stalingrad - The Air Battle: November 1942 - February 1943. London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-276-4 .
  • Bergström, Christer (2007). Kursk - The Air Battle: July 1943. London: Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-903223-88-8.
  • Brown, Russell (2000). Desert Warriors: Australian P-40 Pilots at War in the Middle East and North Africa, 1941-1943. Maryborough, Queensland, Australia: Banner Books. ISBN 1-875-59322-5.
  • Caldwell, Donald & Muller, Richard (2007). The Luftwaffe over Germany: Defense of the Reich. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 978-1-85367-712-0
  • Hess, William N. (1994). B-17 Flying Fortress: Combat and Development History. St. Paul, Minnesota: Motorbook International. ISBN 0-87938-881-1
  • Manrho, John, Putz, Ron. Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope–The Attack on Allied Airfields, New Year's Day 1945. Ottringham, United Kingdom: Hikoki Publications, 2004. ISBN 1-902109-40-6
  • Spick, Mike (1996). Luftwaffe Fighter Aces. New York: Ivy Books. ISBN 0-8041-1696-2.