BoF = 1400+ Axis planes downed in 45 days, of which 1000+ by French Air Force.

BoB = 1070 Axis planes downed in 82 days.

Pardon me if figures are not 100% accurate, I'm going by heart ... But the air battles were really fiercer in BoF than in BoB.

PS: Do not mismatch the Phoney War and the battle of France...


Regards,
Insuber

I've been looking for figures of aircraft losses and claims made during the Battle of France. I guess for the obvious reason that the contemporary records were largely lost the figures seem to be hard to come by.

The following is a quote from another site.

While the Luftwaffe was hard pressed to maintain air superiority, one wonders where the French Air Force was. Looking at the post campaign losses, the Luftwaffe lost 1,284 aircraft. The British RAF losing 931 aircraft, of which 477 were priceless fighters. The Armée de l'Air lost approximately 560 aircraft (235 destroyed on the ground). These figures alone speak the absence of French air power over the front.(3) They also show that Britain went out her way to protect the airspace over France. While the Luftwaffe was terrorizing French troops and actually protecting the flanks of the Panzer armies, the French AASF was nowhere to be seen. Even German fighter pilots noted that most of their air victories were over RAF aircraft.

The implication made rightly or wrongly is the the French Armee de l'Air put up a pretty poor resistance relative to its size and that particularly in the critical northern area a disproportionate effort fell on the RAF.

Does anyone have "definitive" figures for losses/claims during the battle.
The Luftwaffe losses of 1250-1400 must include losses from ground fire, not just from air combat.

There are no definitive figures because, as you stated above records were lost,
or were not recorded at all.

The estimations give +/- 1000 aircrafts lost for all reasons, for each
the Armée de l'Air and the RAF.

But the Human losses figures are more precise and give a better insight.

1496 KIA, MIA and injured for the Armée de l'Air
1526 KIA, MIA and injured for the RAF

As for the claims, it's seem that we will never know :/

The German lost 1290 + 500 damaged aircraft for all reasons between the 10 May
and the 25 June.

They lost approximatly 250 aircraft in accidents, 220 were shot down by the Militaire Luchtvaart in Nederland
and +/- 10 were shot down by the Aéronautique Militaire Belge.

This let 810 to share between the Armée de l'Air, the RAF and AAA.
And 500 damaged aircraft to share between the 4 airforces the AAA and the accidents.

I'll look if I can find some figures for Italy and Switzerland.


PS: Close the "other" site and never open it again :wink:

Of course the Battle of France would have been more interesting. For one thing, nobody has ever done a sim for it. For another, the mix of aircraft would have been fascinating, and, really, better suited for the IL-2 system which was better adapted to doing large numbers of planes. The French are already gearing up to do things for the Battle of France after BOBSOW is released. I am really looking forward to their efforts. My personal favorite is the beautiful LeO 451 followed by the Farman which bombed Berlin.

French aircraft---excellent idea.

That Leo is a real looker.

France 1940 would be a proper hoot. Count me in.

The Swiss aerial space was violated 708 times in 1940. The Swiss fighters downed 7 German planes and lost 3 airmen.

As far as the "other site", it looks like propaganda and not history.

Figures that I found on BoF (French source):

French losses: 575 planes
French claims: 919 German planes - as usual to be divided by 2 to 5 times
Total Allied claims: 1469 in 45 days
(Battle of Britain: 1408 claims in 82 days, with radar and radio control & command)

Remarkable fact: the German ace Werner Moelders was downed in his Bf109 by the French s/Lt Pomier Layrargues on D.520, and taken prisoner by the French army. He rejoined the Luftwaffe in July 1940 after the Armistice. Churchill had in vain asked the French governement to send to England POW pilots.

Pomier Layrargues was killed by Moelders' wingmen, not before downing another Bf109 in the same fight.


Best regards,
Insuber

What is well-known, and well-documented is that the strength of the Luftwaffe at the official start of the Battle of Britain on Adler Tag, 15 August 1940, was below that of its strength at the start of the Battle of France on 10 May 1940, i.e., the Battle of France definitely took a bite out of the Luftwaffe. There were other factors, as well, such as the massive re-equipment of the Kampfgeschwadern with the Ju 88 which caused some units to be taken out of line for training in the new ship.

Asheshouse You are dreaming right ?.. English beaten fled away to their island leaving France alone versus German advanced ground power .. man .. :roll:

Anyway lets go foward..

Hey GOZR, are you going to Cal?