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Re: Aerial Victories Criteria

Posted by JDK on Sat Feb 07, 2004 05:12:26 PM

In reply top Re: Aerial Victories Criteria posted by Tulio on Sat Feb 07, 2004 04:10:20 PM

I'm NOT an expert, but generally, as I understand it, it was up to the air force in question. Most gave a single 'kill' for an aircraft shot down and crashed (observed - details of observation & documentation varied enourmously). Variations were the USAAF in Europe who I understand awarded a kill for aircraft shot up while gound strafing, and the Roumanian who gave two kills for multi-engine a/c shot down. In W.W.I the RFC did not recognise 'ace' status, and the RAF were reluctant to in W.W.II.

As a general rule, aircraft which were not observed to crash after the combat but 'got away' or 'limped away' were given as 'Probable' where apropriate, and sometimes in some forces, this could be upgraded to a kill if confirmation came in later of the aircraft crashing. A return to base, generally, would not count however! In W.W.I I think I recall classifications early on of 'Forced Down' and 'Forced down out of control' which add a different way of looking at it.

Hope this helps,
Cheers
James

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