Warbird Information Exchange

Okay people, here is a challenge. I would be interested in knowing who the top scoring ace by aircraft type flown was during WWII. ie: most kills in a Spitfire, P-51, P-40, 109, Zero etc. Aces who scored kills in two or more types of aircraft will be common but I want just the top scorers in single types. This doesn't mean that the ace had to fly the same type of aircraft throughout the conflict. Lets see how many aircraft we can get added top the list.

OK- I'll submit the easy ones:

Erich Hartmann - Bf 109

Richard Bong - P-38

Hawker Typhoon: G/C John Baldwin -- 15 (all in Typhoons)

Hawker Tempest: S/L David Fairbanks -- 12 (incl 1 in Spitfire)

Joe Foss VMF121, 26 kills in a F4F Wildcat.

Robert M Hanson VMF 215, 25 Kills in a F4U Corsair

David McCambell VF 15, 34 Kills F6F Hellcat

Pretty sure these are correct.

Tim

Spitfire - James E. 'Johnnie" Johnson - 38

Dennis

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, A6M Zero (officially 87 kills, 86 of them with Zeke).

Ivan Kozhedub, top Allied ace, 62 kills, La-5/7.

August

P-47: Francis Gabreski (I think)
P-51: George Preddy
Fw-190: Otto Kittel, maybe?

Lynn

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Wisdom, courtesy of shrike: "In aviation, as well as marriage, it's often just as important to be seen to be doing something as is to do it properly in the first place."

An interesting fact on Allied pilot victories. If you take only air to air fighter to fighter victories, since these may be more difficult than hitting a bomber or a parked target; then Johnnie Johnson with at least 38 in Spitfires would be tops. There doesn't seem to be much doubt that Hartmann and the top 109 pilots are at a level by themselves. The American totals are a fraction of these. Pat Pattle officially credited with 34, perhaps had as many as 41in just 9 months(records lost) ,but not all were in Hurricanes. I'd like to know what the top FW or 262 totals were, also Spit in the Pacific? One can't form a firm conclusion just by these figures since conditions were so different.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Love him or not,

Greg "pappy" Boyington - 22 kills F4U Corsair
and possibly another 2 or 6 in a P-40 Warhawk

Tom P.

Oops, K5083; there is a cold war induced slip of culture! I forgot that the Russians were, at least in theory, on the side of the good guys. Once when some of his countrymen could not stomach cooperating with Stalin, Churchill said that he would "at least make a favorable reference to the Devil on the floor of parliment" if it meant getting a new ally against Hitler. He also told Roosevelt that of Stalin "in his soul , such as he has one, he knows we are right."

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Are you sure all of Joe Foss victories were F4F. Thought some were in Corsair? Anyway he was truly a great guy and I am glad I got to meet him.

P-39 Capt Grigori Rechalov 50 killls in P-39Q
FM-2 Wildcat Lt Ralph Elliot VC-27 9 kills

Yes, all were in F4F-4

Not! 2 kills P-40B Tomahawk 12-16 in F4U realistictly.


If you leave the Russians out then the top Allied ace would be St John Pattle with 40+.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Bill, they not only were the good guys, they did (by historians' estimates of men and materiel expended) roughly 70% of the work in defeating Germany. It is no exaggeration to say that the Soviets won the European war with some help from all the rest of us. We tend to emphasize the daylight bombing campaign and D-Day, often forgetting that none of that would have been remotely possible if two-thirds of German strength had not been diverted to the war in the East, where the tide had already turned against Germany in 1943. Like the ground war, the air war in the East was much more intense than in the West; thus, it is not surprising that several top Soviet pilots had totals higher than any other allies.

On the other hand, it is true that Kozhedub once had to shoot down two P-51Ds because the US pilots mistook his plane for a 190 and wouldn't stop attacking him. I don't think those are counted in his official score though.

August

Eric Hartmann was always flying the top model of the 109, whereas finns were re-equipped with g-6 models in June 1944 just prior to a vast offensive by the soviets.

Lieutenant Hans Wind and his wingman scored more than 44 kills in just a fortnight ( June 10 to June 24th..or 14th to 28th ? )...I recall also mastersergeant Halonen had over 20 kills in the same pace and he was more or less a rookie.

Soviets had some 2000 aircraft flying sorties against Finland day and nite during that period. So lieutenant Wind and his fellows were flying in very target rich environment. The battle was the biggest ever fought in scandinavia; 33 russian divisions were halted in a month.

TB-3 (IL-2 sim) - ME!

LOL


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