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Hi
I am not a WW1 specialist and don't know the answers, I do know Questions!
In WW2, Chris Shores examined thousands of sq. records trying to reconcile everyones claims/losses. His conclusion with WW2 was that pilots with 20 or fewer over claimed, pilots with 20 or more UNDERCLAIMED.
Point 2. Records are often honestly in conflict. During the Battle of Britain, for instance, if a british plane came to earth and a major component survived, it was officially damaged not shot down. A FUN example is one of the times Al Deere was shot down by the tail gunner of a recon Do 17. After losing the engine, he glided down to a crash landing with some additional damage, but was listed as damaged/repairable at depot!
By contrast, the germans in the same period would consider an aircraft that came home and landed at its home field but needed the replacement of a major component as destroyed. Oddly, the repaird aircraft would continue with the original serial, while getting new wings and engines and being considered NEW.
3)in periods of intense conbat on ALL SIDES, the paperwork would commonly get last dibs on the time. Reports to HQ of losses might be delayed for weeks and, therefore be listed with a date out of time with the actual loss.
4)I see a lot of quibbleing about a crash being described as being on the WRONG side of a forest. All the flyers in this group should be responding to this, from the air things look different and without GPS it can be difficult to describe exactly WHERE you are.
5)Shot down airplanes do not just instantly crash directly below. Falling ballistically, the wind can move them great distances. Particularly, wood and canvas airplanes Fall Slowly.
6)in all periods, people do shoot down friendlies.
Do you believe that ANY of these factors may affect the larger scoring pilots?
Rocky
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