Aerial victory standards of World War I

This article is about World War I aerial victory claim accuracy. For World War II aerial victory claim accuracy, see Confirmation and overclaiming of aerial victories during World War II.
René Fonck, the highest scoring ace to survive the war, standing beside his Spad XIII

During World War I, the national air services involved developed their own methods of assessing and assigning credit for aerial victories. For various reasons, all belligerents engaged in overclaiming aerial victories to a greater or lesser degree.[1] The accuracy of reported aerial victories varied widely according to definitions and terminology, how strict the standards of verification were defined and upheld, and how well they were able to control for all sorts of cognitive biases in assessing the evidence of aerial victory claims.[1]

  1. ^ a b Ralph 2008, p. 1.