Case Studies in the Achievement of Air Superiority - Air Force ...

AIR SUPERIORITY
United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Final Report, p 277.
111. Based on figures in Butler, Grand Strategy, vol 11, p 282.
112. Air Ministry, The Rise and Fall of rhe German Air Force, p 79; Basil Collier, The
Defense ofrhe United Kingdom (London, 1951). p 160; for the Jodl characterization of SEA
LION, see Chef WFA, 30.6.40, “Die Weiterfuhrung des Krieges gegen England,” IMT,
TMWC, Vol XXVIII, pp 301-03.
113. BA/MA RL 2 11/30, “Besprechung Reichsmarschall am 21.7.40.”
114. BA/MA RL 8/1, Generalkommando 1. Fliegerkorps, Abt. Ia Nr. 10260/40, 24.7.40..
“Gedanken uber die Fuhrung des Luftkrieges gegen England.”
115. Collier, The Defense of the United Kingdom. pp 167-71.
116. Ibid., pp 166-67.
117. Ibid., p 171.
118. Based on the daily loss tables for July of the RAF and for the Luftwaffe available
in Mason, Battle over Britain.
119. Quoted in Air Ministry, The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force, p 80.
120. Percentages based on the establishment of Fighter Command on August 1 in Mason,
Battle over Britain, p 203.
121. Mason, Battle over Britain, p 237.
122. Collier, The Defense of the United Kingdom, p 184.
123. Based on loss tables in Mason, Battle over Britain, pp 261-64.
124. Collier, The Defense of the United Kingdom, pp 190-91.
125. Ibid., pp 197-98.
126. Air Ministry, The Rise and Fall of the German Air Force, p 82.
127. Mason, Battle over Britain, pp 284-85.289.
128. Ibid., p 359.
129. Collier, Defense of the United Kingdom, p 236.
130. Mason, Battle over Britain, pp 365-69.
131. Ibid.,.pp 386-95.
132. See Table LIV of Murray, Luftwaffe, p 228. The worst month for the Luftwaffe was
May 1944, when the Germans lost 25 percent of the fighter pilots on duty at the month’s
beginning. (Based on calculations from the following documents: BA/MA 2 IIU728-731, gen.
Qu. 6. Abt (I), Ubersicht iiber Soll, Istbestand, Einsatzbereitschaft, Verluste und Reserven
der fliegenden Verbande.)
Bibliographical Essay
Original Sources
Unlike the case with the other German services, virtually all of the Luftwaffe’s
records were destroyed at the end of World War 11. There are some materials available,
but they are heavily weighted toward the supply and production side of the
Luftwaffe, and few records remain that deal with operational units. Those few records
that survived the war were captured by the victorious Anglo-American allies
and have been returned to the Germans. They are now at the military archive at
Freiburg in the Federal Republic of Germany. Microfilms of a portion of those records
are in the National Archives in Washington and at the Imperial War Museum in
London. In addition, the records of the team that worked on Luftwaffe histories for
the United States Air Force in Karlsruhe in the 1950s are available at both the Militar/Archiv
in Freiburg, Federal Republic of Germany and the USAF Historical
Research Center at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
These archival sources can be fleshed out by reference to published documen-
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