 The possible reason for the discrepancy was that the mercenary American pilots in his unit were highly paid for their salaries and extra for their kills (US $1,000 in 1936), while the Spanish pilots were receiving some ten times less salary and no money for any kill.Lacalle was intentionally not keen in confirming any claims except the very obvious ones and so it went for his own kills.By the end of 1938 Lacalle found himself in an extremely hard position, desperately running out of equipment, material, planes, and mainly experienced pilots.