Harold,
Thanks for the kind reply.
There were several big problems on
claims in Korea that the Soviets faced.
First off, with a "smoking hole in
the ground" first one to the wreck got to claim it. Ergo, the pilots found
themselves competing with ZA (AAA) units to get there to "count coup" and
claim the kill. Many wrecks appear to have been double- or even triple-
claimed; one group got the aircraft serial number, one the engine, and
one another component from what they listed in the "1059" document.
Second, there was a bonus for each
aircraft shot down. In order to cut costs, many wily commanders would count
one aircraft as a group kill, all of them get shared credit, and nobody
has to get any money. But it winds up later with some historians on their
side counting most "group" kills as "individual" kills. The VPAF appears
to be guilty of that during the Vietnam air war.
Third, many claims were made based
on "Military Science". Soviet air military scientists figured no fighter/ground
attack aircraft could stand up to more than 10 23mm hits or 2 37mm ones.
Ergo, if the gun camera film showed it and the victim wandered out over
the Gulf of Korea, some commanders counted them as kills, and others did
not.
BUT the pilot had to show evidence
of some sort; the number one greatest "theft" of the war was Fedorets'
kill over Joseph McConnell, which the USAF would not acknowledge as a kill
for many years (and some historians still do not) and for which Fedorets
got no credit from the Soviets, as his MiG was shot down and ergo no film
of the incident.
By the way, your book project sounds
interesting. I sort of figured over the years that if half of the 29.000
Bf109 fighters built were lost in ground accidents the Germans couldn't
all be ace pilots! 8-)
Cookie Sewell
AMPS