Saturday, October 17, 2009

Mustang.

This is coolbert:

"When I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up." - - Reichmarshal Hermann Göring

Again - - from an obviously biased but generally factual web site:

"The aircrafts [La-7] record was legendary, matching 115 La-7 losses to over 3,100 victories over German enemy aircraft."

Speaking here of aerial combat, "dogfighting" between Red Air Force piloted La-7's and the German opposition.

Definite, even overwhelming advantage to the Red Air Force. Statistics that make you sit up and take notice, and even make you wonder if this could be so! A kill ratio in favor of the La-7 over German opposition of about 27:1!!

The Soviet La-7, analogous in performance to the American P-51 Mustang? So it is generally thought?

Consider these statistics from the wiki entry for the Mustang:

"By 8 May 1945, the 8th, 9th and 15th Air Forces' P-51 groups, all but three of which flew another type before converting to the Mustang, claimed some 4,950 aircraft shot down . . . and 4,131 destroyed on the ground. Losses were about 2,520 aircraft [Mustangs]"

In the case of the P-51, a favorable ratio of about 4:1 over the Luftwaffe!

Aerial combat over the skies of Germany, Luftwaffe aircraft defending their airspace against the strategic bomber offensive of the allies, German aviators being blasted out of the skies by escorting Mustangs. And A LOT of German aircraft destroyed on the ground too [do those kills count as shoot-downs?]!!

Goering too, when he saw those Mustangs, knew that Germany was now more or less defenseless against the allied strategic bomber offensive, the fighter aircraft of the Luftwaffe now having met their match and then some, the Nazi war effort from that point forward [all well before that too?] doomed!!

coolbert.


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