WWII Fighter Aces An Ace has 5 or more kills. Some are combined or shared kills giving a decimal point % of a kill. No doubt, the US had a number of excellent fighter pilots. However, had the outcome of the war been determined on fighter pilot victories alone, the Germans would have taken the war hands down. Though various circumstances did contribute to their incredibly high numbers, they were far superior in kills than any other country or countries combined. Their top ace – Erich Hartmann – had more victories than the top ten US pilots combined: 352 vs. 325. In all, Germany had a total of 195 top flying aces in World War II, compared to the United States 25. Germany aside, the Japanese are next on the list regarding total victories scored, followed by the British and Commonwealth aces. However, the United States fighter pilots did tally an impressive number of victories throughout WWII, and no doubt, played a pivotal role in the success of the Allies. One reason for the disparaging numbers is Allied pilots were released from duty after a length of time, number of missions or some other qualification was met. German, Japanese and Russian pilots flew till the wars end or they were killed, as a rule. Erich Hartmann 352 Germany. Hiroyoshi Nishizawa 113*(87-174?)*Some unconfirmed* Japan. Juutilainen, Eino Ilmari 94.17 Finland. Ivan N. Kozuhedub 62 USSR Richard I. Bong 40 USA James E. Johnson 36.91(38?)UK Brendon E. Finucane 32 UK(Irish) A. A. McKellar 21 UK(Scot) R. A. Harries 20.33 UK(Welsh) Clive Caldwell 28.5 Australia. Colin Falkland Gray 27.5 New Zealand George F. Beurling 31.5 Canada Adolf Gysbert Malan 35(32?) South Africa Pierre H. Closterman 26(33?19?)France(Free) Rodolphe de Hemicourt de Grunne 13 Belgium Stoyan Stoyanov 14 Bulgaria Mato Dubovak 40 Croatia Karel Miroslav Kuttelwascher 20 Czech Kaj Birksted 10.5 Denmark(Fr) Paul Sommer 6 Denmark(Na) Brasilios Vassiades 10 Greece Dezso Szentgyorgyi 34 Hungary Thorsteinn Jonsson 8 Iceland Adriano Visconti 26 Italy Gerald A. Kesseler 16 Netherlands Sevin Heglund 14.5(16.3?) Norway Stanislaw Skalski 22 Poland Constantine Cantacuzine 60 Romania Jan Reznak 32 Slovakia Bosko Petrovic 7 Yugoslavia
Posted on: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 02:33:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015