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Originally Posted by the lancaster kicks ass  to me a kill is when the plane's crashed/destroyed in flight, if the pilot can land it but the plane's unable to fly again, it's written off, not killed........... |
The USAAF standard for an award was a.) major airframe component (wing/tail, etc) seen to separate from the aircraft rendering it impossible to sustain flight, b.) aircraft seen to blow up or enveloped in fire, c.) pilot seen to bail out, d.) aircraft seen to crash.
I have seen thousands of encounter reports in which several awards were made for what I thought were questionable claims that fit the following:
"Fw 190 last seen trailing heavy smoke in a spin before entering cloud cover" This type claim received anything from a damaged to destroyed based on observation of second witness.
"Me 109 was streaming coolant and smoking heavily when he crash landed in front of me, pilot ran to trees"
This aircraft may have been repaired, but represents intriguing possibilities as the the pilot clearly defeated his opponent, damaged a critical component (coolant), pilot crash landed but survived and we don't know whether the airplane was repairable.. This one appears more frequently.
And my personal favorites for conundrums - "The 109 crash landed, I kept on shooting and noted the pilot slumped in the cockpit".. so maybe pilot KIA but Me 109 repaired. Where does this go in the ledger..??
Both of these 109 examples will easily be awarded "Destroyed" in the Victory Credits Board for the 8th AF but the 190 example could be any of the three types depending on witness statement of HIS perception of the visible characteristics -
Many LW pilots 'escaped' by putting his 190 in a flat spin, then recovering after he came out below cloud cover.
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