Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
These unconfirmed victories were noted, but not included in a pilots score. The Americans generally used the French rules of scoring aerial victories with the exception of the 17th and 148th Aero Squadrons, which were under British control until October, 1918. The pilots flying in those squadrons were scored under British rules.
Germans credited a shared victory to only one pilot, while the French credited full victory to all participants. British, Finnish and US air forces credited fractional shares of aerial victories, resulting in fractions, such as 11½, which might be for example 10 aircraft and three shares with the second pilot.
According to Obermaier, 103 Luftwaffe pilots were credited with more than 100 aerial victories. [3] Further more, the US historian David T. Zabecki states that 105 Luftwaffe pilots were credited with more than 100 aerial victories, [4] adding Friedrich Wachowiak with 140 aerial victories, [5] and Paul-Heinrich Dähne with 100 aerial victories, who were not listed by Obermaier.
All standards had accuracy flaws that led to overclaiming aerial victories. Former Wings editor Wayne Ralph (2008) observed: 'In the First World War, the Second World War and also the Korean War, overclaiming was common; it varied by theatre, nation and individual, but it was inevitable.' [ 2 ]
First aerial victory by a jet fighter and first jet ace in aviation history. [25] Robin Olds United States: August 1943 – 1945 1943-1973 13 P-38 Lightning and P-51 Mustang: Triple ace - Olds was the only pilot to "make ace" in both the P-38 (five victories) and the P-51 (eight victories) in the war.
As aerial combat was a new phenomenon at the war's outbreak, it drew a lot of attention in the press. The idea of "flying aces" (first coined by the French in 1915) who defeated multiple opponents in the skies quickly became popular, but initially there were no rules for determining who "won" an aerial engagement, or what criteria makes someone an "ace". [1]
The scores presented in the list cannot be definitive, but are based on itemized lists that are the best available sources of information. [4] Aces are listed after verifying the date and location of combat, and the foe vanquished, for every victory accredited by an aviator's home air service using their own aerial victory standards.
Hermann Graf, the first fighter pilot to claim 200 aerial victories, shot down ten Soviet aircraft on 23 September 1942. [20] Max Stotz claimed ten Soviet aircraft shot down on 30 December 1942. [21] Walter Nowotny, the first fighter pilot to claim 250 aerial victories, twice shot down ten in one day. On 24 June 1943 and on 1 September 1943 he ...