USAAF claims for Me262s destroyed in aerial combat

[ww2artist]

Is there anyway of finding out what they were?

For both bomber crews and fighter outfits of the 15th?

Also, does anyone have any figures for overall USAAF Me 262s claimed destroyed in aerial combat?

Regards

[FLYBOYJ]

We have a thread running Recip jet kills - you may find what you're looking for there.

[Erich]

if you check you find some order in the combat kills/claims by primarily the US 8th AF.

As for bombers getting kills I have no clue, am sure some claimed though

for the 15th AF there were 4 Me 262's and 1 Ar 234 claimed. the 332nd fg claimed 3 Me 262's, the 52nd got the Ar 234, the 325th fg claimed 1 Me 262. all from March 24,45 for the 332nd, the 52nd kill was on April 11, 45 and the 325th was on 18 of April 45.

I will probably cover these in the other thread on piston engine jet kills in time.......funny I have looked at nearly all the aviation web-sites on the net and there is nothing like that thread anywhere ........

E ~ and there is no "official" kill confirmed list of Me 262's downed, have heard at least 100 but does not take into consideration probables nor damaged. I do not claim to have all the knowledge on this but have been studying the topic for over 25 years and still am interviewing US fighter jocks about these 262 intercepts. Books of course are excellent resources but do not go into any personal details, something I am hoping to deliver in some way into that thread ........ spring of 45 especially.

[JoeB]

If you're willing to buy a couple of books... "German Jets versus the US Army Air Force" by William N. Hess has all the official US claims listed in an appendix, the text is highlights of the incidents as told from the USAAF side. "Messerschmitt 262 Combat Diary" by Foreman and Harvey has a little less detailed lists but not only US but British etc claims, and the Me-262's own claims. The text of that book as implied by the title is a day by day chronology of 262 ops, including actual losses corresponding (or not) to each side's claims, in most cases. So in that book you can mainly figure out actual downings of 262's by the USAAF rather than just claims (by my count of each case in the text, the USAAF fighter claims were quite accurate by WWII standards, they downed something like 75% as many jets as they claimed). US bombers claimed fairly few 262's and going by their known claim accuracy against enemy piston fighters, those claims can be much more heavily discounted.

Joe

[Erich]

actually Hess's book does not cover all the kills in it and the combat war diary does not cover all losses either......... 20th fg and 78th fg kills confirmed to be exact. Pathfinder or whomever you go by.............your first name would be good; noted your same question on TOCH and the replies. But as I said the guys do not have all the info from the volumes printed .....

like I said interviewing many many vets helps put this into reality and I too have thought seriously about putting this into book form but much more indepth

[JoeB]

Originally Posted by Erich

actually Hess's book does not cover all the kills in it and the combat war diary does not cover all losses either

It would be remarkable and unexpected if either book *was* perfect. However reading those two books will give a very much larger amount of information, than a vague statement that they don't have everything exactly right. I know of no other works that *have* been published that address the subject better.

Joe

[Erich]

from the US point of view you are quite correct Joe, they are both a must have besides the ever present books on the Me 262's for cross checking. to evaluate any claims/kills you need both sides of the story and as you say no book is perfect concerning these strange and often mis-understood aerial engagements

sent two more letter/mailers out today to US P-51 pilots concerning this