P 38 disastrous raid over Ploiesti - info?

[MIHAI_G.]

I am looking for any information available concerning the disastrous raid that two squadrons of P 38 did over Ploiesti, when the romanian fighters shot down 22 (!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>) of the 24 planes.

[Victor]

quote:

I am looking for any information available concerning the disastrous raid that two squadrons of P 38 did over Ploiesti, when the romanian fighters shot down 22 (!<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>) of the 24 planes.




Actually they claimed 23, but actually shot down 14. The USAAF lost 23 P-38s that day over Romania, but Romanian and German claims were 51.

There is an article on the WWII Aces Stories site: http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/aces.htm

[simon]

It is worth mentioning that such over reporting of kills was common to every airforce in World War Two, and was usually the result of the difficulties of confirming an enemy aircraft as destroyed. Typically the number of kills claimed was often 2 to 3 times the actual losses inflicted.

[Victor]

quote:
It is worth mentioning that such over reporting of kills was common to every airforce in World War Two, and was usually the result of the difficulties of confirming an enemy aircraft as destroyed. Typically the number of kills claimed was often 2 to 3 times the actual losses inflicted.


Yeah, the USAAF fighter claimed 33 airplanes that day, but only shot down 14, mostly traning aircraft. From I talked with several WWII fighter pilots, dogfights are very confusing especially those involving large formations (like 10 June 1944).

[simon]

The worst over-claimers were usually defending gunners on bombers, who often would claim 10 times the number of enemy aircraft actually shot down.

The problem really comes that the only 100% certain way to ensure an aircraft is a kill is to actually follow it down and seee it crash, something which no-one usually has time to do in an interception or escort mission!

This was one of the reasons that the Luftwaffe couldn't understand how RAF Fighter Command was still able to intercept bombers with Spitfires during the Battle of Britain, when they believed that they had accounted for every fighter the RAF had.