OK Steve
Here are some basics how the German confirmed aerial victories..!
It was needed some sort of engagement which resulted in the "complete" loss of the aircraft for the enemy....It should also be proven and not nececerely by witnesses from the air...for example later "intelligence reports" from flyers or "other sources" could be enough...
If you have access to the "Over The Front" it was an article some Years ago about a German "Ace" who with jammed guns attacked an e/a and was able to force it to land within German lines..this victory claim was indeed confirmed by Kogenluft...!!..It exists more example of this kind...
This victory would also have been confirmed if the e/a had landed ok within allied lines (crew ok to fight another day) and if the aircraft was destroyed by German artillery...
I would say that it were most certain many hundreds of German victories confirmed during the War after that the e/a was attacked (withou beeing hit) were the attack resulted in that the enemy lost control of their a/c and crashed into ground...:-
For example, if the Sopwith Camel was a tricky a/c to fly in controlled training circumstances....how many pilots lost their lifes in a "super stressed" combat situation...?
At last: an extreme example where a German victory could be confirmed...
" a German crew attacks "one" BE 2 of a group of three BE 2s over No Mans land, and puts a lots of holes into it, and the German crew are convinced that they have brought it down....The truth is that however that the BE 2 returns ok to their own aerodrome....
However the engine of one of the other two BE 2s stops and it had to land ok 2 km within allied lines "without" beeing attacked....luckily (for the Germans) a direct artillery hit and destroy their a/c..
For the Germans it is quite simple: They have an report from their flyers that an e/a is shot down near x, time y. They also have ground reports that "the" e/a was seen to land within lines and destroyed by their artillery at the right time and place.."
In this case the victory claim is with rather certainty confirmed....hm....
Gunnar