1/. It would rather depend on which particular day you did a survey, since Squadrons were continually rotated between airfields, or sent north for a rest, then brought south again, when considered ready. There might have been a time when there were more Spitfires in 11 Group, though with 30 Hurricane Squadrons against 19 of Spitfires that might take some finding.
2/. What Luftwaffe personnel claimed is irrelevant, since the losses have been generally taken from the Luftwaffe Quartermaster General’s Loss Returns.

1/ That was rather my point: there would be rotation but the chances of the North Western approaches, for example, being defended by Spitfires rather than Hurricanes would be small. 19 squadrons probably being used more or less continuously in Southern England against 30 squadrons spread over the whole of Great Britain (not forgetting rests and reequippings) would help the statistics.
2/ Surprised you bit at my tongue in cheek quip, but others have since made similar observations in this thread. And which pilot would want to admit to being shot down by one of 247Sqns Gladiators rather than a Spitfire…? (Yes, I believe they didn’t shoot down anything!) Or the Sea Gladiators of 804NAS that made several claims for He111s and a Ju87 in April and May 1940, or the Fulmar’s of 808NAS that appear not to have met the enemy whilst patrolling the Irish Sea?
Sorry, I am so tired.

I wonder when someone would notice :p

Oops 😉

Why don’t you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don’t you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don’t you say something righteous and hopeful for a change?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]221147[/ATTACH]

the joy of ferreting?

Choke, snork, fnarr?

Several years ago I watched a woman cooing and petting a ferret at a country show, held in the hands of its wrangler. Said woman was apparently interested in getting one for her kids and was thoroughly entranced in the ferrety fiend right up until in sank its teeth into her nose! The man tried to get it to release her but at one point the ferret was actually hanging from her nostril as she turned the air blue! Once it was released she ran from the display – I didn’t see any blood but can imagine that she might have assumed she needed extensive nasal reconstruction!

I understand that Raptors in Scotland are being poisoned also, by folks leaving poisoned food for the Raptors to eat, then die.
What’s with people like this?.

The raptors eat grouse, etc. Rich people like to shoot grouse. Therefore the landowners requirement, with or without the backing of the law, is that raptors are reduced in number to the point of extinction. They are also said to take lambs, but its more likely they take dead lambs that haven’t been gathered up by farmers who then make claims about being hard done by.
Have a look and see the prosecutions for poisoning raptors, especially in areas where grousing takes place.

Plenty of seagulls around my way. Some sparrows too – for a few years there were none to be found, but they have crept back.

Among a plethora of figures, he shows that 19 Spitfire Squadrons destroyed around 530 aircraft (at an average 28 per Squadron,) while Hurricane Squadrons destroyed 656 (at 22.5 per Squadron.) So the Hurricane destroyed more in total, but fewer per Squadron.
If nothing else, it shows that the old saying that “There are lies, damned lies, and statistics” still holds good.

Just a thought but does it show where each squadron was? Statistics can be made to prove just about anything – if there were more Spitfire squadrons along the south coast than Hurricanes, might they have had a better chance of achieving a higher average?
And of course we all know that more Luftwaffe pilots claimed to be shot down by Spitfires than anything else…

Did they work on those Spits in the b/w images too?

hi
excuse the ignorance but what is vol 1 and 2,

Ask about “the boo” too!

I believe one or two of the forum members have compiled a pair of books listing all the surviving Spitfires and their history’s. I’ve noticed that they are referred to so frequently that those in the know just call them vol 1 or vol 2…