Aces

Nazi reports agreed on this: Commodore Colonel Walter Oseau, the Luftwaffe's third ranking fighter ace, had been killed in combat with a U.S. Thunderbolt pilot. On his record there was a sharp disagreement: some communiques credited Oseau with 116 Allied planes, some with 177.

For Allied airmen this confusion, plus the size of even the smaller claim, underlined the old puzzle of how the Luftwaffe manufactures its aces. Does it falsify the scores? Does it include planes destroyed on the ground? Does it employ tactics saving the sure "kill" for the top officers of the squadrons? Of one thing airmen were certain: very few men anywhere could stand the nervous strain of enough air battles for a bag of 177 or even 116 enemy craft.

Because of apparently different standards, the Allied records are lower. The top Allied ace, Russia's Major Alexander Pokryshkin (TIME, May 15), is credited with 53, he said last week. (No Westerner rightly knows how Russian airmen's scores are figured.) Britain's Group Captain Adolph Gysbert ("Sailor") Malan and the late Brendan ("Paddy") Finucane, each with 32, are the Western Allies' top scorers; the U.S.'s are Major Richard Ira Bong and Captain Robert S. Johnson, each with 27.

Last week, other Allied and enemy aces made news:

P: Germany's Lieut. Leopold Munster, who dove into an Allied bomber when his ammunition ran out, was killed. Berlin claimed this as his 95th victory.

P: U.S.'s Major Walter C. Beckham, reported missing after his 18th victory, was now learned to be a prisoner of war.

P: U.S. Major Walker M. Mahurin, shot down over Europe the day of his 21st victory, returned to England--safe, sound, mum on how he escaped.

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