Ju-87G Stuka

[Furio]

Originally Posted by RPS69

Rudell's claims could be easilly asumed as over the line.
But even on 10% they are impressive.

I agree with you.

Originally Posted by RPS69

On the number of missions flown, you really got a spot when you differentiated the mission duration beteween the german and the allied sides.
There was an example of this on the osprey book about the Hs123.
Through the battle of France, they report this plane as being the first type to stop a tank charge using only air power.
There was a french column heading for the airbase where they were stationed, and they proceeded to harass and attack this column of french tanks until they retreated. I don't remember if there were any kind of tank losses there, but the point is that the planes landed and take off more than once in a single day. Something not unussual on the german side.
Why the French quited the attack, the book asumes it was because of the 123's. But only God knows what really happened over there.

At Peleliu, Corsairs probably flew the shortest bombing missions ever. The target was less than two miles away from airfield, and pilots hadn’t even time to retract landing gear. So what we would need is not missions number, but mission duration, hard to get, I think. Then enemy opposition should be factored, even harder to do reliably.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Furio

At Peleliu, Corsairs probably flew the shortest bombing missions ever. The target was less than two miles away from airfield, and pilots hadn’t even time to retract landing gear. So what we would need is not missions number, but mission duration, hard to get, I think. Then enemy opposition should be factored, even harder to do reliably.

You can sort of figure out mission duration by number of sorties in a day, and, of course, distance from home airfield to the front lines.

Pilot logs contain all that information, but we almost never get to see them.

Degree of opposition could be inferred from maintenance logs - which record damaged and missing aircraft. But, I'm not sure that such data exists anymore.

[RPS69]

There was another point that may have helped Mr Rudell while flying the 87G.

When your side is deffending, you get a target rich environment, and... early warning!

This same early warning isn't available to the attacking side, unless they deploy a ridiculous amount of fighters all along the front line, like on the western side. With also a far stretch front line than on the eastern front.
He should be very unlucky just to pick the few freie jagds missions developed by the russians before 1944, on the wider front of the war.

He stopped flying the 87G after this wasn't healthy anymore.

Also, tanks damaged on an aborted penetration, may end being destroyed by their own crews.
Say, He got extremely lucky, killed the column commander, and the rest just fled from combat, putting their vehicles on fire. Rudell destroyed a whole tank column... who knows!

War isn't just some simple hell, it is a very bureaucratic, and chaotic hell!