[Billy_Bishop]

Part of it comes from the Allied habit of giving a full victory credit to each aircraft involved in downing one German aircraft. From what I understand, both the French and the British did this. The Americans went by the scoring rules of the country in charge of a sector, either British or French.

In addition the British also gave out victory credits for aircraft seen falling Out Of Control (OOC) but not observed to crash, as well as for aircraft Driven Down (DD), whether they were driven down to land(Sometimes FTL), or simply driven down from altitude to a point where they could no longer complete their mission.

To use a term that's been passed around here from time to time,

"A kill is always a victory, but a victory isn't always a kill."

You should read the article here called "British Victory system" or something like that, it will explain a lot.

Who's accused Rickenbacker of filing false claims?

I wasn't aware that he went in for the lone wolf mission. I understood that he usually went out with at least a flight.

VBR,

Al Lowe
2-bit Amateur Aviation Historian and/or Enthusiast.