[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by smartd

Correct answer!!!!

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

I stumbled across this interesting statistic on another forum concerning the BOB. Can't vouch for its accuracy, but the claim was that BF-109s attained a positive kill ratio of 1.78 to 1 in combat with Hurricanes. The same source provided similar info on BF-109 contests with Spitfires. How did the BF-109s do against the Spits?

1) .80 to 1

2) 1.0 to 1.0

3) 1.2 to 1.0

4) 1.5 to 1.0

Moving this one up guys.

[smartd]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Thats odd, my hard copy source at home has it with Lietenant Stoyan Stoyanov with 14, AcesofWW2 has him also with 14-4, one site just on Stoyan Stoyanov had him listed leading ace, and WWII Ace Stories site has him list number one with 15 kills (Also site with the picture of neat looking paint scheme). I did find one source that showed in favor or Cudomir. Have four sources for Stoyan Stoyanov and one for Cudomir, must do some more digging to see which is correct.


Home hard copy source Fighter Aces by Christopher Shores.

Bulgarian Aces of WWII
WW II ACE STORIES
ww2 bulgarian hero ace pilot Stoyanov combat bombing Liberator B-24 B-17 air force USAF Ploesti fighter Mustang Lightning

Just checked 3 different sources and came up with 3 different answers, problem seems to be the point system they used for awarding kills. Let's just say they were both good.

[smartd]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Thats odd, my hard copy source at home has it with Lietenant Stoyan Stoyanov with 14, AcesofWW2 has him also with 14-4, one site just on Stoyan Stoyanov had him listed leading ace, and WWII Ace Stories site has him list number one with 15 kills (Also site with the picture of neat looking paint scheme). I did find one source that showed in favor or Cudomir. Have four sources for Stoyan Stoyanov and one for Cudomir, must do some more digging to see which is correct.


Home hard copy source Fighter Aces by Christopher Shores.

Bulgarian Aces of WWII
WW II ACE STORIES
ww2 bulgarian hero ace pilot Stoyanov combat bombing Liberator B-24 B-17 air force USAF Ploesti fighter Mustang Lightning

Here is part of an interview with Stoyanov:

MH: You are officially credited with 15 victories in RBAF records, but you actually destroyed six aircraft. How is that so?
Stoyanov: At that time, Bulgaria counted victories by the type of plane you brought down. For one four-engine bomber, three air victories were acknowledged. One severely damaged four-engine bomber counted as two victories, and a downed fighter counted as one victory. My official score in the course of 35 missions was:
August 1, 1943: One B-24D Liberator near Tran—three victories;
August 1', 1943: One B-24D jointly downed with one pilot—two victories; November 11,1943: One B-24 damaged—two victories;
December 10,1943: One P-38 damaged; December 20,1943: One B-24 damaged—two victories; January 10,1944: One P-38 downed— one victory; June 23, 1944: One B-24H downed over Skopie— three victories; June 24, 1944: One B-24H downed jointly with two other pilots over Samokov—one victory; August 26, 1944:
One P-38 downed near Vratsa—one victory.

[Canuck]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

Moving this one up guys.

3) 1.2 to 1.0 - during the BOB.

Source - Spitfire vs Bf 109: Battle of Britain (Duel), by Tony Holmes

[Berkut76]

Originally Posted by Epapazian

Sergey:

Does your book contain any breakdowns of those Axis wrecks by nationality and type. How many of them were Luftwaffe single engined fighters, for example? If the figure is something like 25,000 then that's certainly a claim for Western pundits to ponder---even if it includes abandoned wrecks and planes lost due to bomber attacks on airfields, etc.

Yes and No. The tables are all in Russian. Some of the tables show breakdown by category (bomber, fighter, recon), year, front, major operation, etc. but not in terms of nationality of type of aircraft involved. The best English source on the Luftwaffe performance over the East is the series by Classic Publications: JAGDWAFFE War in the East.

It's a very enjoyable and very objective (even if off by numbers, sometimes) read.

The Soviets, and present day Russians are also no saints when it comes to fudging the numbers. For example, the most quoted figure is that VVS lost about 43,000 planes during WWII. This is true, the problem here is that this figure represents planes lost in aerial combat and destroyed on the ground due to Lufftwaffe action, but not to any other causes. Given the downright horrendous number of accident-related write offs especially during the dark year of 1942 (Despite, popular belief in the West, after initial surprise, VVS put up quite a fight in 1941) due to literally no pilot training and high losses caused by FLAK during latter part of the war. All in all, the Soviets lost about 100,000 aircraft during the war.

As was pointed in Classic Publications Vol. 5 of JAGDWAFFE War in the East, pretty much all the scoring by Jagwaffe on the East in 1944-45 was done by surviving experten, with the barely trained recruits accounting for almost nothing.

In short, definitely check out Classic Publications series because it deals with Luftwaffe not form romantic point of view of pure aerial combat, but through the prism of overall combat on the Eastern Front, and it explains why the VVS eventually prevailed despite mind numbing losses throughout the conflict.

If the figure is something like 25,000 then that's certainly a claim for Western pundits to ponder

I don't think that there is anything to ponder. Whatever was written in the West during the Cold War (same thing applies to the Soviets) was done through a prism of prevailing political climate at that time. The authors of Jagwaffe series called all that drivel as downright chauvinistic in regards to evaluation of VVS performance during WWII.

Regards,

Sergey

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by Canuck

3) 1.2 to 1.0 - during the BOB.

Source - Spitfire vs Bf 109: Battle of Britain (Duel), by Tony Holmes

Correct. Of course it can be argued that the Spits often had to deal with enemy bombers as well as fighters---even though bomber hunts were left mostly to the Hurricanes---and so might be at disadvantage relative to the BF-109s. On the other hand, the German pilots could spend only 25-30 minutes in the primary combat zones when trying to protect their bombers, due to limited fuel capacity, which must have been a problem and may have decided some outcomes in the Brits' favor.

[Cruver Collecter]

Which of the following types of Italian aircraft took part in the Battle of Britain?

1. Macchi C.200, Fiat Cr 42, Savoia-Marchette S.M.79, Savoia-Marchette S.M.81
2. Macchi C.200, Fiat G 50bis, Fiat BR.20M, Savoia-Marchette S.M.79
3. Fiat Cr 42, Fiat G 50bis, Fiat BR.20M, CantZ 1007bis
4. None, the Italians did not fly any operational missions during the Battle of Britain

[Epapazian]

Here's one about flying tactics. When a fighter pilot engaged in combat suddenly goes full throttle, pulls up 180 degrees, then does a half turn at the top of the resulting half- loop to right himself in a dive, this is called a:

1) Flip-flop
2) Immelmann
3) Luftberry
4) crazy stunt

[Cruver Collecter]

During the defence of Singapore during the opening stages of WWII. On at least two occations the type of aicraft claimed shot down was of German make. What type aircraft was claimed.

1. Ju 87
2. He 111
3. Me 109
4. No such claims were made.