Dino Might, on 23 June 2017 - 10:48 AM, said:
Those numbers, in my opinion, are grossly inflated. How many were corroborated, and by whom? Remember, the propaganda machine was in full tilt to establish these larger than life aces. Also, how many of the tanks were actually tanks? Could a Stuka pilot routinely identify all ground vehicles he was engaging accurately to know if it was a tank or a half track or a truck? I bet not. I'm guessing most of the confirmation came from the tail gunner, who is similarly limited in ability to identify and ascertain effect of the strike. Lastly, when said "tank" stops after being shot at, is that a kill? Did he even hit it? There's a fair bit of judgment involved, and given the numbers of tanks often destroyed in normal engagements, as well as the numbers credited to ground forces vs air forces, I suspect that the 500+ number is pretty far off the truth.
Example study explains some causes of inaccuracy in the claimed numbers:
http://tankarchives....-of-claims.html
Even with all the glory tales of the A-10, its 30mm cannon is best used against soft targets and light armored vehicles. Anything beyond mid 20th century MBTs will not be destroyed by 30mm rounds. They may be incapacitations, but not destruction.
even if "grossly inflated" lets go crazy and say they were exaggerated times 10, that would still be 52 tanks killed by one oguy. And while there may have been some exaggeration, I highly doubt he was able to make 460 tank Kills.
And to be bluntly honest there is more evidence apparently of his making the kills than of your assertion he didn't. Propaganda can go both ways.
It's actually noted that while the German Tanks were impervious to .50s, and even the upper armor was enough to stop the 20mm (usually, though the engine compartment, drive wheels and even fuel tanks weren't all as heavily armored, depending on model) that the 37mm was signifigantly more poweful round, and outside of the T-34 most of the other Allied tanks didn't have near the armor of late war German tanks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BK_3,7
https://ww2-weapons.com/3-7cm-pak-36/
So at 500m, the 3.7 was capable of penetrating 40mm at a 30 degree angle. The (obviously dead on would be much greater penetration). The T34 which was a big, slow tank, had 16mm on top of the turret, and 20mm on top of the hull, of armor. (compared to 40-44mm top armor on the Tiger II)
Simply put, the 37mm even at a 45 degree angle or worse would have no issue penetrating the the top armor of Soviet Tanks. And the usual dive methodology was quite steep.
So TBH, while there likely was some inflation, I can't agree with your surmise that the Stuka was somehow incapable of it's anti tank role.
Edited by Bishop Steiner, 23 June 2017 - 11:21 AM.