Talk:Confirmation and overclaiming of aerial victories during World War II

15.9.42

I think the detail is too much and that individual pilots names should be removed, editors should focus on "the big picture". I can see this article being filled with many instances of overclaiming and it becoming very long as a result, so I think perhaps the bare minimum is enough. Dapi89 (talk) 23:52, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I second that suggestion. Less is more.Markus Becker02 (talk) 18:13, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Citations

At the risk of annoying everyone, we need citations to be placed with the initial edits. I have reverted some information until they are cited. Dapi89 (talk) 18:19, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I have covered most of the information put in by Markus. A citation is still needed for the 138 number on 14 Oct. '43. I have corrected the figures as they were incorrect. Caldwell and Muller have produced a fine book on this subject - Luftwaffe over Germany, the Defence of the Reich, so I trust their research more. Dapi89 (talk) 18:55, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

What about just checking the references of the other wiki-articles? It was easy to find all the time.Markus Becker02 (talk) 19:12, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Obvious.

• First of all I do my own research and I don't rely on anyone else to do it for me.

• Second, they are not cited, that is until you have just put in that recent website as a source on the Second Raid on Schweinfurt, as you know Markus. More to the point the information I required, and failed to find (the claims of US bomber crews for the 14 October) are not on wikipedia, as you know Markus. That is all I'm going to say. I am sure you will want the last word as always, so go ahead. Dapi89 (talk) 19:41, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

If you had just for one moment bothered to take a look at the link that was already there, you would have found the other one I put there. Next time look around, before you start deleting again.Markus Becker02 (talk) 20:42, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Markus Becker02 (talk) 20:31, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

I say again; that is NOT a citation. On top of that as I have already said, and suspect I will have to say many more times, I would rather trust established aviation historians like Donald Caldwell. And you made those edits after I had asked for citations on this page, and I need to look first. I am not a deletionist. As of this moment I done more than most to fill up the table in the article. You on the other hand, have gone beyond what was agreed with regard to the removal of too much information, and have taken out information that is needed for the credibility of the article. I have now restored it. Grow up, change your attitude, stop disorting events, and above all stop wasting my time. From now on I'm simply going to ignore your stupid and worthless comments. Dapi89 (talk) 21:50, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I apologize for not being up to your high standarts. Silly me to think wiki-links to another wiki-articles (with references) are ok on wikipedia. By the way: I suggest you look before you delete. comming from you is really priceless!Markus Becker02 (talk) 10:18, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Hi Dapi, I see you decided not to give an author a chance to make improvements by just adding a “citation needed” tag and waiting for the changes to be made or for an explanation why such changes are not necessary. Instead you once again deleted everything just because it was not 100% up to your standards. Given your record in that regard I expected this and thought what I could do. The answer is nothing! I don´t care any more if you give me a change to improve my work or explain myself. In case you are interested in information regarding “overclaiming”, you will find Chris Shore’s book most interesting. Bye!

Reverted again. Read the rules. You still have not provided the page number so it doesn't count, and you know what the rules are, Markus: No proper citation = no place for it. Add it. I am glad you seem to regard me as an editor with high standards. It seems even you appreciate this. For that, you have my humble gratitude. Dapi89 (talk) 21:25, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

These rules? If you are ... referring to a specific passage of a book or article, you should if possible also cite the page number(s) of that passage. Page numbers within a book or article are not required when ... a book or article, as a whole, is being used to exemplify a particular point of view. I suggest as an editor with high standards you read the rules before lecturing others about them! Markus Becker02 (talk) 19:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Appalling. Markus, this just serves to highlight your distorted "understanding" of what is proper and what is not. If you look through that the passage again you have completely distorted its meaning. The text you are quoting refers to a GENERAL DISCRIPTION OF A BOOK, in its entirety, not the descripton of a single bit of text within that book. Shores is book does not deal exclusively with overclaiming, so you can't use that Markus; "Page numbers within a book or article are not required when a citation is for a general description of a book or article, or when a book or article, as a whole, is being used to exemplify a particular point of view." I have highlighted the information you have so conveniently left out Markus.

I would also point you to the "Putting together the citation" section, "All citation techniques require detailed full citations to be provided for each source used". Notice how each example lists the page number as part of this full citation. Not even someone as argumentative you can defend your feeble position here.Dapi89 (talk) 21:12, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

I´d also like to do some highlighting for you: "Page numbers within a book or article are not required when a citation is for a general description of a book or article, or when a book or article, as a whole, is being used to exemplify a particular point of view."

And I´d like to ask you a question about a statement of yours: Shores is book does not deal exclusively with overclaiming, Did you actually read this specific book? Markus Becker02 (talk) 22:47, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Of course I have. I have three of his related volumes, plus this specific book. And I say again, Chris Shores does not deal exclusively with over claiming. I want you to cite the exact instances of over claiming by the Brits and the Japs during this period using this book, because I suspect that you do not have the book, may not have read it, and cannot cite exact engagements. This article must be as specific as possible, not some general dumping ground, where anyone can make generalisations (something which you protested about on the P-40 page a while back). The information can easily imply that all Brit and Japanese units over claimed, and to lend integrity to the article, suspect claims must be listed precisely. Dapi89 (talk) 08:30, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Page 260, the picture shows a line of british Thunderbolts, early models with no bubble canopy. One man sits in the cockpit, another one stands on the wing wearing nothing but boots and shorts. Two more topless man stand on the other side of the fuselage. A formation of three Jugs flies overhead. Page 130 has a list of claims made by US pilots. The first one is 1120 Capt Willam S. Harrrel and the last is 2/Lt John M. Matulewicz who claimed an Oscar damaged. Page 354, second paragraph: At dawn six Ki 43s from 64th Sentai, lead by Maj Hideo Miyabe... Bottom line: Individual page numbes are not necessary, because you can pretty much pick a random page and you will find information of overclaiming. Some instances were worse than others and one of the Sentais seem to have deliberately overclaimed, but usually all got it wong by some degree. If you think that does not support the statement that Post war cross referencing of claims and losses revealed that claimes almost always exceeded the opponent´s actual losses. so be it. Markus Becker02 (talk) 14:40, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

• Page 260: The page 260 you cite maybe cases of overclaiming. Shores actually says (p. 260-261) that one Ki 43 was lost when the Brits claimed three certain kills and one probable. However, he goes on to say (p. 260) four Ki 43s force landed. The Japanese claim this was due to bad weather, and Shores does not seem sure about this. Its quite possible this was due to combat damage.
• Page 130: I am confused. Shores mentions nothing of overclaiming in relation to the US claim table.
• Page 354: nothing of the information you say is on this page.

On top of that, the article table is dealing with Instances of severe overclaiming, and I don't think 3 to 1 qualifies. Dapi89 (talk) 17:13, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

You: ...because I suspect that you do not have the book...

Me: Page 260, the picture shows...; Page 130 has a list of claims... Page 354, second paragraph: At dawn six Ki 43s from 64th Sentai, lead by Maj Hideo Miyabe...

You: Page 130: I am confused. Shores mentions nothing of overclaiming in relation to the US claim table.

LAMO! Markus Becker02 (talk) 18:10, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Markus, I am now concerned for your well being. The fact of the matter is, as my last post says, the information to overclaiming you claim exists on pages 130 and 354 is not there. So you have been lying. Dapi89 (talk) 18:20, 4 September 2008 (UTC) ...and its LMAO not "LAMO". Dapi89 (talk) 18:33, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Jesus fucking Christ! Stop playing stupid. Just try and guess why I quoted from a book you alleged I don´t even read, much less own. It will come to you. Markus Becker02 (talk) 18:45, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Are you ill Markus? You are not making any sense. Dapi89 (talk) 18:48, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

I apologize for calling you stupid. That was bad manners and a short temper on my part. And I got to admit you eventually got a point. While correct, the statement that everybody overcaimed in BCI is a general one that has no place in a table dealing with specific instances of overclaiming. Markus Becker02 (talk) 14:35, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

That's fine, we all go a little crazy sometimes. On another note, Shores desn't always make it clear with regard to specific's. For example on pages 129-130 he says on 10 December 1943 that three Ki-43s and three Ki 48s from 8th Sentai and 33rd Sentai took off on a reconn mission. He says then that all three Ki 48s were shot down. He then says that 25 more Ki 43s engaged US fighters that morning over the same area, which resulted in two Ki 43s being shot down by "P-51s" (they were actually P-40s) (Toshio Yamashita's and W.O Oshima). Yamashita appears to have guided his burning fighter back to base, and from other sources I have read, appears to have been written off. He then mentions further engagements took place but does not appear to be sure which units were involved in these battles or whether any other losses were incurred by either side. Shores then lists a table which lists the Allies as having claimed seven definite kills. His prior description lists five losses on the Japanese side. But it may well be the case that other losses were sustained, but it appears Shores does not have all the necessary Japanese records (he never mentions "Japanese records" like he does when comparing kills and losses like he does on other pages, leading me to believe that he has not seen them). So we are left with 7 claims, 5 losses, and a series of mentioned engagements with no information pertaining to casualties. So to call this overclaiming is pushing it a bit. But even if it were, 5/7 is not severe. Dapi89 (talk) 15:25, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

I did not quote page 130 in regard to incorrect claiming, just choose a random page to show I got the book. Anyway, there are enough instances of over-, double- and triple claiming by all sides. I´ll take a closer look and add one for each participant. Markus Becker02 (talk) 16:31, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Undue weight

The whole detailed Luftwaffe Rules of Confirmation (World War II) section needs to be replaced with a note to the effect that these were strict and designed to err on the conservative side, although in fact Luftwaffe (credited) claims on the whole turned out to be at least as optimistic as everyone else's! (A fact bourne out by the rest of the article!!) Othwise we would need to compare these with equivalent rules for at least one other air force (and even this proves nothing really).

The implication that British and American claims were based on "gentlemanly trust" is not only highly offensive (just imagine if we said that Luftwaffe claims were credited on the grounds of the pilots concerned being good party members), but also pure speculation. Because a statement is citable does not make it accurate - even good authors make mistakes, and we need to be aware that some authors are not "good" by any stretch of the imagination. Good articles, especially on aviation subjects, need editors that are widely read, and have sorted out the grain from the chaff, rather than just copying great swathes of other people's text (illegal anyway). --Soundofmusicals (talk) 00:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

This problem has been solved. I deleted the section on Luftwaffe overclaiming.

Italian /brit overclaiming

I know about these cases:

• 11 nov 1940: italian claimed 10 spitfires, vs zero obtained, while loosing 3 BR.20 and 3 CR.42. Next time claimed 5 Spitfires and Hurricanes (vs zero results) with another 2 CR.42 lost
• Greece: there was a fighting between G.50s and Gladiators: G.50s claimed 10, Gladiators 3, real losses: only one, a G.50
• 27 feb 1941: RAF claimed 27 italian aircrafts: 13 CR-42, 6 G-50, 5 BR.20, 3 S.79. Losses for Italy: 4 BR.20, 2 CR-42 2 G.50
• Italian vs british: 14 june 1942, 15 Re.2001 claimed 11 out 12 Sea Hurricane against 1 lost. Real losses: 2 Sea Hurricane (but one crashed in landing) vs 1 Reggiane.
• 20 April 1943: Italian MC.202 and 205 claimed 15-17 Spitfire, loosing 3 Veltros. Real Allied losses: 0
• 2 august 1943, Cap Pula: Italian MC.202 and 205 claimed 12 P-38, USAAF 4 fighters; real losses one MC.202 vs zero losses (so italian claimed 12 fighters and did none). Apart the distruction of a Catalina on the sea.--Stefanomencarelli (talk) 22:31, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Suggested move

This article is actually about "Confirmation and overclaiming of aerial victories during World War II". Why not move it there?

Georgejdorner (talk) 02:22, 13 January 2011 (UTC)

Isn't it amazing?

According to the contents of this article, overclaiming of aerial victories only happened in World War II. In every other war, apparently a correct count was kept.

Georgejdorner (talk) 05:45, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

For WWI there are two big difficulties here.

The first concerns loss records. The difference between the detail and explicitness of existing records of the various combatants varies enormously. British records were much better kept and are far more "intact" than almost anyone else's - the French records are a mess, a lot of German records were either lost or deliberately destroyed immediately afer the war or during its closing stages, while Austrian, Italian and Russian (not to mention Turkish) records are simply hopeless. This means that the only records where we can make a realistic check for discrepancies between kills and losses are for German kills over the British.

The other problem is that an average squadron on active service would lose aircraft pretty continuously. At this time the accident rate (especially for inherently dangerous types like the Camel) was high. Also - especially in squadrons that did much low flying - quite a large proportion of losses in action were from ground fire. Many squadrons (the Jastas are cases in point) would only actually count a "loss" if the pilot was missing, killed, captured, or too badly wounded to return to his squadron. Definitions of a "kill" or "victory" also varied, as I hardly need to point out - with the British and U.S. definitions being quite liberal.

That, I think, leaves us in a situation where any statistics of this nature from WW1 would be a bit meaningless.

For Korea and Vietnam, alas, propaganda (on both sides, although we'd like to think the communist side were worse) makes historical assessment of possible overclaiming highly problematic.

Even the WWII examples we have here may at times be misleading...

Personally, I have to say that I think this whole article is a load of (naughty word) - it is full of what is really speculation, when all is said and done. I think the little note on "accuracy of claims" in the "Air Aces" article affords a perfectly adequate coverage of the subject. In any case, adding "instances" from other wars would make it MORE speculative rather than less, and in no way would constitute an improvement. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 02:06, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

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All too true, my tuneful friend. I believe it may be time to PROD this article. Its subject does not match its title. The very instances of overclaiming given illustrate the inaccuracy of the records that were kept. How can one reliably source an article about unreliable sources?

Georgejdorner (talk) 14:55, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Perspective

Why are only the german rules explained an critizised? Is this not an over all artikle? --WerWil (talk) 19:07, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Alas - the article was started by someone with a big point to prove (basically, so far as I can gather, that our "air aces" article was unkind to the Luftwaffe). As edited - the article proves nothing of the kind - in fact the generalisations of the air aces article are pretty well bourne out. Personally I fear this article was born of a (probably quite well-meant and sincere) misconception by someone who "goes" for the Luftwaffe rather like some little boys go for a particular football team. All it "proves" in its present form is that everyone overclaimed (which the air aces article always said anyway). The dictatorships of the WWII period (Hitler, Mussolini AND Stalin) were haunted (like all such regimes) by a paranoid terror of sudden overthrow, and one of the ways they tried to counter this was a rigid control of information, to the extent that they eventually tended to believe their own propaganda (a good description of this process can be found in Adolf Galland's book, The first and the last - if one of the top German aces can be counted as reliable, even by the "Luftwaffe Luftwaffe ray ray ray" brigade). We "trust" German, Russian, and Italian loss records here (really, to do anything else would be pure speculation!) but it must be bourne in mind that they were quite often optimistic, and that their definition of a "loss" was also quite elastic. So sometimes the overclaiming of the British and U.S. (not to mention the Germans, at least when they fighting the Russians) may be at a little less dramatic than it sometimes seems from the raw numbers. All in all NOT a good article, and in my view a totally unnecessary one anyway. To salvage it you'd need to add details, not only of the "rules" if any of other countries, but also stats from other wars. All comparing chalk and cheese anyway in my view, and a total waste of time, even from the aviation enthusiasts' viewpoint. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 23:59, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

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Amen.

Georgejdorner (talk) 17:15, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Proposed deletion

I think it should be deleted. It is pretty much just a list of instances of the type which can grow indefinitely, given that overclaiming occurred every day.

I don't think this article should be deleted for reasons that can be addressed by adding information. The article should be expanded to suit its title. Binksternet (talk) 18:19, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

That an article might be currently not presenting a balanced view - is not a valid reason for deletion

That an article needs more content from a different time periods does not suggest that other things did or did not happen; it means the article is matching the article title

That the article content is not notable may be a reason for deletion - but I don't think it is

That the article contains a list of examples of the subject - is not a reason for deletion, though it may be a candidate for trimming or rewriting the section in a better way.

So I removed the prod. This in no way stops it from being taken to AfD and being deleted, just prevents a summary deletion. GraemeLeggett (talk) 19:33, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

This article actually appeared as a response to what certain very partisan "Luftwaffe fans" felt was an unfair imputation in the air aces article that Luftwaffe fighter pilots were (at least occasionally) credited with destroying aircraft that were not in fact destroyed. It consisted of a long and strident introduction making the point that Luftwaffe pilots were so upright and noble they were incapable of error, and if (as never actually happened of course) they did make a mistake - the Third Reich was so spendidly organised that confirmation of doubtful claims was always witheld. This was followed by a few examples of how lax the degenerate allies were because they sometimes claimed more aircraft destroyed than the Luftwaffe admitted were actually lost.

I am exaggerating here for poetic effect - but not (alas) very much. The POV of the original article WAS very blatant indeed. "We" (myself and several other editors) chopped out a good deal of the worst of the schoolboy rubbish (especially that which pointedly abused allied airforce personnel), added a few actual recorded examples of known Nazi overclaiming, and otherwise tried to render the article a little more even-handed, but its basic premise remains something that would have done Dr. Goebbels proud. The facts are neatly summarised in the "accuracy" section of the air aces article - over-claiming was common to all airforces, for all kinds of reason, and official checking of victory claims was often lax, regardless of how strict the theoretical "rules" were. War, especially the kind of total war typified by W.W.II, is not a sporting event.

Personally I have never really thought that this kind of thing belongs in an encyclopedia anyway - even most books on air aces tend to soft pedal it a lot. Attempts at accurate determination of how many air victories were actually scored by any given pilot (or the pilots of any given airforce) sooner or later boil down to a good deal of supposition and speculation. Some airforces had very strict rules that were in practice rather loosely applied - especially to pilots who had already established large scores. Other airforces had no real "ace system" at all, or (apparently) much "fluffier" systems - but in practice did not credit air victories lightly (if only because assessment of enemy losses was so important from an intelligence point of view). The only "hard" facts in all this are the scores that ace pilots were actually credited with - personally I think that this is all we should present to the reader in this context - with a brief little rider to the effect that it seems incontravertible that air victories claimed (or confirmed) generally differ from losses recorded (or admitted) on the other side.

Personally I would delete this article, and several others in broadly similar vein, as fundamentally too speculative for an encyclopedia, and in any case unnecessary. We are interested in aviation history, and most of us have been so since we were schoolboys. None the less - the subject needs to be approached (here at least) in a reasonable, mature manner, not in an atmosphere of schoolboy hero worship. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 23:19, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

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Generally, I am an inclusionist, not an exclusionist. In my three years in WP, I have never before instigated a deletion of an article. I did not intend summary deletion. Indeed, I took great care to inform every editor remotely involved with this article of the proposed deletion (except for the several who have been banned from WP). If I have in some way erred in the deletion process, I hope you forgive my bumbling.

Now, to answer the above screeds:

The article only fits its present title because I moved it there. As I noted in my deletion notices, it used to be "Confirmation and overclaiming of aerial victories", even though it only instanced WWII examples. Attempts to broaden the scope of the article to fit this previous title were rejected. I then moved the article to its present title so the article would fit its title.

Non-notability = triviality. This is not a book of trivia; it is an encyclopedia. The central conceit of this article is trivial to the point of nonsensicality.

Prejudice/bias does not belong in an encyclopedia, either; however, this article has never remotely approached a neutral stance. Objectivity is the gold standard of an encyclopedia, and it has never shown itself in this article.

Lists and articles are two different critters here in WP. This platypus of an article was neither and both.

To top it all off, no one is working on this article. It just rots here in cyberspace, except when editors are fighting about it. Scroll up, read the shameful flame war above, and you can see that this piece of trash is a sinkhole of bad behavior.

All this to illustrate the stunningly obvious fact that warfare is confusing. Wow. Who would have guessed that without this article?

Georgejdorner (talk) 13:53, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

The article was the outcome of a mediation attempt over a dispute, see Curtiss P-40 here. The article was not intended to drive a POV but rather the opposite was the case. MisterBee1966 (talk) 14:45, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

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Very interesting, MisterBee1966,

The mediation result was to transfer the ongoing arguments about the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk to another, ill-considered, article whose focal subject did not match its title. In the process of writing the new article, non-NPOV postings again emerged. So did the arguments, to the extent it led to some bannings.

Let me make it clear that I do not object to the rules of comfirmation portion of this article, per se. I believe that writing about aerial victories without understanding how they became adjudged as such is foolish. That's why I created Aerial victory standards of World War I. The lack of an equivalent article for World War II undercuts all the WWII articles dealing with the subject of aerial victories.

Georgejdorner (talk) 18:40, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Hi George, thanks for the notification about this discussion, even though I have not had a great deal to do with this article directly. While it is flawed, it does contain good, interesting and non-original research. Why not move/rename this article to Aerial victory standards of World War II and address the issues identified? Grant | Talk 04:11, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

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Hi, Grant,

My area of expertise is WWI, not WWII. Why don't you rename it instead?

And our opinions on the worth of this article as constituted are widely divergent. The only confirmation standards contained in it are the German ones.

Georgejdorner (talk) 08:17, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

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Good evening everybody. Chris Shores has a written a new book, "A History of the Med. Air War". It is an updated and extended version of "Fighters over the Desert/over Tunesia" and it pretty much and very accurately answers the question of who made incorrect claims. Usually everbody did. To underline the regularity of incorrect claims Shores has detailed claims/losses tables for each day and both sides. Case closed as far as I'm concerned. Markus Becker02 (talk) 15:23, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

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Hello,

I hope your recommended source also covers the Pacific Theater. If it doesn't, the case is still very much open.

Georgejdorner (talk) 15:39, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

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Extensive "revision" of stats.

These are presumably taken from reliable sources? If so these sources need to be cited. --Soundofmusicals (talk) 00:58, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

This article is useful, even if it seems vague

I think that this is a handy explanation of how air victories are overclaimed, especially in World War 2. I know that the vagueness and inherent inaccuracies can offend military aviation enthusiasts or sticklers for Wikipedia accuracy, but that in itself should not be grounds for deletion. There should just be a caveat at the top or in the introduction. Casual readers who may be learning about WW2 may want to know about how aces are counted and some of the problems in overclaiming, along with examples. The point of Wikipedia is to explain and elucidate with every scrap of knowledge available. I found this article useful.

Also, though it appears biased at first glance, I don't think there is anything wrong with singling out the Luftwaffe. The kill counts for the Experten are freakishly high in comparison to aces of all other combatants. That begs for an explanation of WHY that should be the case. In fact, I think an expansion might be in order, for instance how the Rotte tactical patterns encouraged senior pilots getting high counts while their wingmen got nothing. Pete71 (talk) 17:28, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

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Please note that the above assertions are unsourced and speculative.Georgejdorner (talk) 07:28, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Continues to be NPOV. Tagged article.

This article offers confirmation of victory procedures for only the German Air Force. What about the Brits, Americans, Australians, Italians, Japanese, New Zealanders, et cetera? How can an article discuss "aerial victory" without defining the term? And if some editor does dig up all these air forces procedures, what is the result? Trivia.

Georgejdorner (talk) 07:26, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Recent edit

I restored the cited material (diff). The article requires expansion, not removal of cited information. K.e.coffman (talk) 22:55, 8 October 2016 (UTC)

Replaced

I removed the statement from Hugh Morgan & Jurgen Seibel, as both appear as non-notable author's and also because the statement is superseded by Caldwell & Muller as cited below. There's also an apparent altered statement about the overstated American bomber losses.

Caldwell & Muller p. 95-96:

"The daily OKW communiqués of this period habitually overstated American bomber losses by a factor of up to two. Defenders of the German fighter pilots have always maintained that these initial values were sharply reduced during the confirmation process. But the microfilms prove that this was not the case. Some 80–90 percent of the claims submitted to Berlin were eventually confirmed, or were “in order” for confirmation when the system broke down. Confirmed German claims for the destruction of heavy bombers are more difficult to reconcile with Allied losses than claims for any other aircraft type; it is probable that part of the explanation lies with the point system itself, and the rest lies with the Ziffernkult, or worship of numbers, promulgated by the Luftwaffe leadership." Dircovic (talk) 14:54, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

Removed

I have removed that suspicious statement by author Richard Townshend Bickers, as he doesn't appear notable in academic works; writing novels and fictional books. The listed RAF Fighter Command losses of 915 aircrafts are based on Churchill's war memoirs, not recorded by the RAF itself, as Swedish historian Christer Bergström "The Battle of Britain: An Epic Conflict Revisited" p. 280 notes:

"For a long time the dominating image of the Ballte of Britain was the one presented by Winston Churchill in his War memoirs, published in 1949. According to these, 1,733 German aicraft and 915 British fighters were lost during the period 10 July to 31 October 1940. These figures-which are the basis for the widespread belief that the Germans lost two aircraft for each downed British fighter - have been corrected by modern research in British and German archives."

However, he goes further:

"Fighter Command reported the shooting down of a total of 2,692 German Planes - The actual German combat losses - i.e. even to ground fire - was only about half as many. During the same period, the Germans reported they had shot down about 3,600 British aircraft, which is nearly two and a half time higher than the actual British losses." Dircovic (talk) 16:04, 20 October 2016 (UTC)

Section edit

@Newzild: How does the cited information not meet NPOV and balance? It is a neutrally worded and well cited section: diff. Also, please note WP:BRD -- the edit has been reverted, so I suggest a self-revert while the matter is being discussed. K.e.coffman (talk) 06:51, 9 February 2017 (UTC)

Since the editor did not come to the discussion, despite the ping here and a Talkback message, I'm restoring the long-standing version. K.e.coffman (talk) 17:01, 14 February 2017 (UTC)

Example of overclaiming

| 18 Dec 1939|| Luftwaffe vs RAF|| Germans claimed 38 Wellingtons Bombers shot down {actual loses were 12 out of 22}
Likewise the bombers claimed 12 Germans shot down {actual loses were 3}

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How functional and useful is this article?

I claim that most if not all air forces in WWII and in other wars, carefully verified their kill claims, when it was feasible to do so. Accuracy deteriorated wildly in large, intense combats, and when it was logistically not feasible to check claims. The extreme example of this is American B-17 and B-24 air gunner claims during the strategic bombing of Germany, when there were dozens of gunners shooting at anything that was seen going down. The Germans, flying at the limits of range of their aircraft in the Battle of Britain, over-claimed badly.

Was anyone particularly egregious about kill claims? Is it worth the effort to examine all possible kill claims (why restrict this to WWII and to aircraft?) to make this article balanced? Is this article useful? JHowardGibson (talk) 21:13, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

Finnish claims

I realize there isn't room in the article to discuss every pair of combatants in WW2, but I'd be interested if anyone is aware of any academic research on Finnish aerial kill claims.

The Fins used obsolete equipment during most of the conflict (e.g Brewster Buffalos etc), and yet claimed some of the highest kill ratios in WW2. Unlike most other kill claims, secondary sources seem to take these claims at face value, perhaps because the "underdog" narrative is so appealing. Has anyone looked into this? 82.10.40.148 (talk) 18:17, 13 January 2022 (UTC)

Decent article but could use improvement

As others have noted above, this article has some decent basics, but also long-standing issues.

• Lacks definitions of terms such as "aerial victory", "loss", "kill", "confirmation", and so on.
• Only focuses on WW2. In fact this phenomenon exists in all wars involving aircraft, and very much plays a role in the Russo-Ukrainian War (infamously beginning with MH17 claimed by pro-Russian separatists as a Ukrainian military transport aircraft, before they quickly denied having shot it down). But because it's such a huge topic, I think limiting the scope to a single conflict is okay. Compare List of aircraft losses during the Russo-Ukrainian War as an analogy. We might eventually split off a general article on aerial overclaiming later, but for now we should make clear how it played a role in WW2.
• Only focuses on aircraft. Overclaiming doesn't just happen with aircraft, but can happen with all equipment and troop losses of the opposing force in almost every war ever (with sources favouring side A often exaggerating the pre-war of pre-battle strength of the enemy and then the post-war or post-battle losses of the enemy so as to make their own "victory" look ever more impressive, if it even was a "victory"). But I'll grant that in modern warfare, overclaiming is particularly rampant in aerial combat due to how difficult it is to verify or falsify any claims of having shot down an aircraft that flew out of sight mere seconds later, presumably crashing or landing in territory not controlled by one's own forces, or at sea. These issues are duly noted in the lead section, which is good.
• Only focuses on German claims. This seems to be the main objection of editors suggesting that the article has a POV issue. I haven't really seen any biased language, but focusing solely on German claims does give them WP:UNDUE weight, and we need to work on that.

Cognitive biases and social pressures play a big role in this topic, that should be explored more. We doubt what we don't like, and will resist acknowledging conclusions that do not favour our side. We tend to be less suspicious of what we would like to believe as fact, and therefore more readily jump to a conclusion that favours our side. We misperceive things, and overestimate how accurate our eyewitness testimonies are. Sometimes we exaggerate our achievements in order to have something to bragg about, perhaps in part to get some results for the efforts we made and risks we took (in the case of war, often our very lives), or to get rewards. (E.g. Allied bombers in WW2 would get a leave for a few days but only if they bombed something; so there was a perverse incentive to bomb anything, including non-military civilian targets, so that they wouldn't have to fly life-risking bombing runs for several days and survive a little bit longer. In present-day Russia, soldiers can retrieve financial rewards of destroyed Ukrainian military equipment, so there is a perverse incentive to lie about what enemy vehicles have been destroyed). Sometimes we downplay our mistakes and losses to protect our reputation. And so on and so forth. All of these factors contribute to overclaiming.

With that said, I'll try to make some improvements. I've already added some more precise categories and See also links to related phenomena. NLeeuw (talk) 13:09, 21 August 2024 (UTC)

I've done some improvements. I don't think POV is as much of an issue as is just a general concern for copyediting. Yet, there does need to be a broader discussion of other forces' procedures. I've added some examples of U.S. and Japanese overclaiming in the Pacific, that should be a start. NLeeuw (talk) 19:18, 21 August 2024 (UTC)