Quote Originally Posted by Franconicus
Kraxis, I do not the details of the system but for fighter aces there was a bonus by shooting a 4 engine plane and a kind of malus for shots at the eastern front. Maybe there was also some bonus for night fighters.
The Russians had few 4-engine bombers, some were used of course (even bombing Berlin shortly after Barbarossa started), but JG52 was a frontline unit solely (one of their gruppen did have a period of protecting Ploesti though). It was not equipped for nightfighting. So it is quite likely that they shot down 1-engine planes most often, with perhaps 2-engine planes at a rate of 1:2-3

In the unit's history I can only find confirmed kills on Liberators (at Ploesti) as 4-engine kills. Of course a few Russian planes here and there is more than likely, but they were few and not likely to make much of an impact.
If we look at the numbers of kills westfront pilots got their KCs and OLs, then it becomes clear that the high command was downplaying the easternfront to make sure the pilots in the west didn't feel neglected (if the eastern pilots hightened the score for a KC and OL then the western pilots would never get them).
Also the extreme divisions of kills makes it clear to me that there was no certain scoreboard used. Often the awards were given at special points (50 for KC, 100 and 120 for OL, 200 and 250 for Swords). Interesting that so many awards were given at those points if a scoreboard was indeed used. It was given to the pilot becasue he crossed a magical mark.