ArtKramr wrote:

Subject: Aircrew casualities
From: Guy Alcala
Date: 9/22/03 2:51 PM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:

"Evasive action' was a poor choice of words on my part; involuntary flinching
before the breakaway, and doing the breakaway early for fear of
collision/gunfire,
was more what I meant.

I never once saw that. It would be a foolish thing for the pilot to do. If he
bore in and came out the other side it was a clean getaway, But if he flinched
and turned away before he got to us he would expose his belly and vastly
increase his chance of being shot down by the bomber's gunners. I guess young
inexperienced pilots scared to death might do that. But not the old hands.

snip

While the inexperienced pilots were more likely to open fire out of range or break
off too soon, experienced hands could also do so. It was often a question of
morale; the old heads had been in combat for a long time, and everyone only has so
much courage to spend. Many were very tired, combat fatigued if you will, and
there are many accounts by German pilots stating that this or that leader wasn't
going in with their former aggression (often not going in at all, but finding
something wrong with the a/c or themselves, breaking off and returning to base, or
at best hunting for stragglers). I'd really recommend you read Caldwell's "JG 26:
Top Guns of the Luftwaffe" for the German perspective of that unit's (and
individuals) changing behavior throughout the war. Leadership and morale varied
considerably, and both tended to deteriorate later in the war.

Guy