Biggest Dogfight.

[Owen]

Kyt
I get this.
There is a problem with this website's security certificate.

[Kyt]

Originally Posted by Owen D

Kyt
I get this.
There is a problem with this website's security certificate.

Yeah, just click OK - nothing nasty pops up - I've checked with all my security programmes - just seems that the database seems to have been forgotten by the original site overseers (but I take no responsibility if you end up with pictures of a big bloke limbo-dancing naked )

[Kyt]

According to an article in Military Thought called "Evolution of forms and methods of struggle for air supremacy" by Ostroumov:

Up to July 1943, it was the German aviation that had the strategic edge on the Soviet-German front. Only separate operations (the counteroffensives near Moscow and Stalingrad, the operation by the North Caucasian Front) saw the Soviet aviation gain operational air supremacy (mostly in areas of ground combat operations) by pursuing air fights and battles and by delivering separate strikes at enemy airfields. The air operations aimed at destroying enemy aircraft on the ground and in the air failed to bring the expected results in connection with the lack in that period of sufficient forces. The latter half of 1942 saw the start of a large-scale rearmament of the air force, with the flight personnel learning how to control new planes that surpassed the German counterparts almost in every indicator. The front and army aviation forces were pooled to form air armies, something that enabled a more massive employment both in the interests of the ground troops and in the struggle for air supremacy. Simultaneously the Supreme High Command got down to creating major air reserves, thus solving the problem of having the necessary air combat forces for air battles and operations.

Unlike front-scale offensives, where aviation was massed to give direct air support and cover to troops, air operations took place during pauses in operations. For example, over 1,000 enemy planes were destroyed on the ground and in the air in the course of three air operations preceding the Battle of Kursk. (1)

The enemy aviation somehow managed to keep the air supremacy following the start of the German offensive near Kursk and during the two days that the Soviet forces were on the defensive. However, as soon as the Soviet Air Force went over to resolute offensive actions, it instantly won operational and--during the counteroffensive launched by several fronts--strategic air supremacy.

Overall, 3,500 enemy planes (2) were destroyed in 2,700 air fights in the course of the Battle of Kursk, which was the result of the struggle for air supremacy pursued by Soviet fighter pilots flying Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-76, La-5, La-7, and Yak-9 planes. The strike aviation was almost entirely employed to support the fronts and therefore destroyed only 145 enemy planes on the ground. During the counteroffensive, the antiaircraft artillery shot down 700 planes.

I don't have access to the full article, and I ain't paying for it

[Kyt]

It seemed like a relatively easy question and now I've wasted an entire day without luck - I hate you Owen

Owen is good at those types of question

[T. A. Gardner]

In a single aerial battle? I would opinion, without actually looking up which exact one and day the absolute largest occured, that it was one of the USAAF strikes in late 1944 where the 8th and 12th AF put on the order of 1000 + bombers with another 1000 or so escorts up against a target in Germany. The Luftwaffe response in several cases was right around 1000 fighters as well, not to mention hundreds of heavy antiaircraft guns firing into the mix.
I seriously doubt that anything on the Eastern Front as a single aerial battle even approached this size of aerial fight.

[Owen]

T.A.G.

Thanks for that.
I mentioned the USAAF bombers in post #1 as 1000+ bomber raids with escorts are a target too good not to attack in force.

So do we think the Kursk is biggest aerial battle over a wide area BUT the biggest dog-fight would be one of the American day-light raids over Germany?