Best fighter pilots of all time

by | Oct 1, 2015 | Fighter Flights, Military Aviation | 90 comments

We know this is a hard question and easy to criticise – as they flew at different times, had different material etc. We do compare apple and oranges here, and we know it. This list is more entertainment than science, so take it with a pinch of salt. One of the main differences in aerial battle score is that German pilots (as well as Japanese) kept flying and gaining experience until they were killed themselves, while successful Allied pilots where “rewarded” by sending them home where they took over the training of young pilots and passing their skills and experience over to them. So the list with top kills is actually extremely dominated by Nazi German fighter aces, with the top Allied pilot being Lev Shestakov with 66 kills ranks as 231. So the top 230 fighter pilot aces are ALL axis power pilots. Below the top 30 fighter aces of WWII, so you get an idea of the German scores.

Top WWII Fighter Aces

The most remarkable Fighter Aces

However, we try to create the list of most remarkable fighter aces not solely based on kills, but also on fame, influence, and value the factor that it matters at what time one was active (WWI vs WWII).

1. Erich “Bubi” Hartmann

Erich Hartmann

Erich Hartmann

Erich Hartmann is the most successful fighter pilot of all times – with 352 kills. A number that will never be surpassed. His nickname “Bubi” means “little boy” – and it’s easy to find out why he was called like that. He was also called “The black devil”. Hartmann flew a Messerschmitt Bf 109.

Hartmann flew a total of 1404 missions and wasn’t not only never shot down in this huge number of aerial battles, but he also never lost a wingman.
He was active as a flight teacher for the West German Luftwaffe after the War. Later on, he became a civilian flight instructor.

Here is the last interview with Erich “Bubi” Hartmann in 1993 – it shows what an interesting personality Hartmann had.

2. The Red Baron

Fighter Ace Manfred from Richthofen

Manfred from Richthofen

The so-called “Red Baron” –  Manfred von Richthofen – is probably the best-known fighter pilot in general. Red Baron is a household name, even for non-aviation fans. The Red Baron scored 80 kills in WWI – with his Fokker Dr.I. triplane. Wonder where his name is coming from? His three-winged Fokker was painted in bright red – so he would scare the shit out of his enemies once they spotted him. He trained and flew with a unit called “The Flying Circus” – by far the most feared by Allied forces. The Red Baron was finally shot and injured, but still managed to land his plane before he died.

3. Douglas Bader

Douglas Bader

Douglas Bader

The British fighter ace Douglas Bader might surprise you a bit so high up this list. What is so remarkable about Bader? After all, he has only 20 aerial kills, along with 4 shared, 11 damaged and a probable. But Bader lost his legs when he crashed a plane in his earlier aviation career, 8 years before WWII. And he achieved all this kills later on, despite having no legs, before the Germans shot him down and captured him in 1941. Luckily, he was so respected that the Germans asked for his prosthesis to be sent over from the UK

4. Adolf Galland

Adolf Galland

Adolf Galland

German fighter ace Adolf Galland is not even in the top 30 list above. So why is he here? His achievement and battlefield bravery were so outstanding that he was promoted general after 104 aerial victories – and therefore banned from the flying service before he turned 30. Adolf Galland flew a total of 705 combat missions. As opposed to Erich Hartmann, Galland was shot done several times as he took a great risk. Galland was known for his fairness, he refused to shoot at pilots parachuting out of their planes once he hit them.

 

5. Hans-Joachim Marseille

Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille

Fighter Ace Hans-Joachim Marseille

Marseille was nicknamed “Star of Africa” thanks to his aerial battles at the North African campaign. Marseille was a Bohème and often stayed out at night so long that he wasn’t allowed to fly the next day. As a result, he was sent a unit heading to Africa. Only there, under his new commander, they (and he himself) discovered his huge talent – and he quickly developed his abilities and became a real ace. Hans-Joachim Marseille flew the Messerschmitt Bf 109 during his entire career and shot down the most Western Allied aircraft: 158 official kills. On September 1st 1942 alone, Marseille shot down 17 Allied aircraft.
Marseille died at only 22 years old – when he had to leave his Messerschmitt after an engine failure, and hit the vertical stabiliser.

 

6. Chuck Yeager

Fighter Ace Chuck YeagerThe American Yeager was “Ace in a Day” – despite two of the planes actually had a mid-air collision after Yeager went into shooting position behind them. A total of 11.5 scores, this outstanding pilots kills include the first air-to-air victory over a jet fighter, a German Messerschmitt Me-262 (the first jet-to-jet kill was in the Korean War, by a MiG-15). But the main reason he is so famous is that he was the first human to break the sound barrier in 1947, in a Bell X-1. Yeager is still alive and recently broke the sound barrier again, in an F-15, to mark the 65th anniversary of the first supersonic flight.

7. Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer

Fighter Ace Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer

Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer

Schnaufer, nicknamed “Spook of Sint-Truiden makes the list for being the highest scoring night fighter ace in history. Sint-Truiden or St. Trond was the place where Schnaufer was based – in occupied Belgium. All his 121 aerial victories are at night, most of them against large British four-engine bombers. Schnaufer started to score not before 1942 – before he was in training and then in support of the breakout of German ships from Brest. Schnaufers crew was so successful that every member got the Knight’s Cross.

8. Ernst Udet

Ernst Udet

Ernst Udet

Udet is the top German fighter Ace who survived WWI – with 62 confirmed victories. He was also the second highest overall ace – right after the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen. Udet flew together with the Red Baron in his famous “Flying Circus”. After the War he was an aircraft manufacturer, playboy and stunt pilot before joining the Nazis in 1933. He had an important role in building up the Luftwaffe – but finally ended tragically with alcoholism and finally suicide, during WWII.

9. René Fonck

Fighter Ace Rene Fonck

Rene Fonck

The French René Fonck was the Top Allied fighter ace in WWI and also he scored the most Allied kills in WWI and WWII combined. So he holds the title “All time Allied Ace of Aces”. The official, confirmed number is 75 kills. Fonck was known as anti-social and 72 out of his 75 are solo kills. Fonck himself claimed not less than 142 kills – but even by his friends, Fonck was considered a braggart and shameless self-promoter. He seemed to overcompensate his shyness by constantly mentioning his (exaggerated) kills – which annoyed anyone around him. The actual number of Fonck’s kills might be somewhere in between the official 75 and his claimed 142.

10. Adolphe Pégoud

Adolphe Pégoud

Adolphe Pégoud

The French Adolphe Pégoud makes the list as the first flying ace in history with a total of six aerial combat kills, and for being the first pilot who made a loop. The loop is an aerobatics manoeuvre very popular when doing MiGFlug flights with customers. Tragically, he was shot down by a German pilot who learned to fly with Pégoud during his time as an aviation instructor – before WWI started.

 

11. Edward ‘Mick’ Mannock

Mick Mannock

Mick Mannock

The Irish-born Edward ‘Mick’ Mannock was not only known for being one of the best fighter aces of WWI, but also for his legendary hatred of the Germans and his delight of seeing them burn to death. He joined the Royal Flying Corps and became a flying ace during WWI. He scored at least 61 victories, but didn’t care too much about it and didn’t even count them. Mannock was one of the world’s first theorists of aviation tactics. Over time, he had many phobias, including brning to death himself – which he finally did after flying too low and being exposed to ground fire.

12. James Doolittle

James H. Doolittle

James H. Doolittle

Doolittle is known for the “Dolittle Raid” (aka Tokyo Raid) in WWII. The Dolittle Raid was an air raid on Tokyo. It was to strike back after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, but also the first attack on mainland Japan – an important psychological raid – to show the Japanese that they could be attacked.  Doolittle organized the strike, known from the Movie “Pearl Harbour”. It was an important US propaganda victory – even though Doolittle himself saw it as a failure because of the losses.

 

13. Anatoly Kvochur

Anatoly Kvochur

Anatoly Kvochur

We already write a recent blog post about The Russian fighter pilot Anatoly Kvochur. Kvochur is widely recognized as one of the best Russian fighter pilots ever, and for his stunning airshow performances including incredible low-level flying. In 1989, he had to eject from his MiG-29 Fulcrum in Paris after a bird strike – steering the Fulcrum away from the crowd and getting off the plane just seconds before impact. That’s heroism. Kvochur is currently the Deputy Chief of the Gromov Flight Research Institute – where MiGFlug offered flights in Su-27 Flanker, MiG-25 Foxbat and MiG-29 Fulcrum – see here.

14. Robin Olds

Robin Olds

Robin Olds

Robin Olds was a triple ace, with a total of 16 victories in WWII and the Vietnam War. Olds is widely seen as the best wing commander in the Vietnam War – for his reputation of being a brilliant combat leader as well as for his air fighting skills. Olds was often at odds with the leadership, and his career was slowed down by his heavy drinking as well as his maverick views: “There are pilots and there are pilots; with the good ones, it is inborn. You can’t teach it. If you are a fighter pilot, you have to be willing to take risks.” Olds was a popular person and married to Hollywood actress Ella Raines – he was also well known for his trademark “bullet-proof moustache” that was often copied by other pilots.

Who else should be on this list?

Now it is your turn – we presented outstanding fighter pilots – for different reasons. Which fighter pilot would you like to be included in this list? Please write in comments below – at the bottom of this post.

Who had how many kills in WWII?

Below we have a list of all fighter aces from Second World War II.

Name – Country – Air Force – WWII kills
Erich “Bubi” Hartmann  Germany Luftwaffe 352
Gerhard Barkhorn  Germany Luftwaffe 301
Günther Rall  Germany Luftwaffe 275
Otto Kittel  Germany Luftwaffe 267
Walter “Nowi” Nowotny  Germany Luftwaffe 258
Wilhelm Batz  Germany Luftwaffe 237
Erich Rudorffer  Germany Luftwaffe 222
Heinz Bär  Germany Luftwaffe 220
Hermann Graf  Germany Luftwaffe 212
Heinrich Ehrler  Germany Luftwaffe 208
Theodor Weissenberger  Germany Luftwaffe 208
Hans Philipp  Germany Luftwaffe 206
Walter Schuck  Germany Luftwaffe 206
Anton Hafner  Germany Luftwaffe 204
Helmut Lipfert  Germany Luftwaffe 203
Walter Krupinski  Germany Luftwaffe 197
Anton Hackl  Germany Luftwaffe 192
Joachim Brendel  Germany Luftwaffe 189
Max Stotz  Germany Luftwaffe 189
Joachim Kirschner  Germany Luftwaffe 188
Kurt Brändle  Germany Luftwaffe 180
Günther Josten  Germany Luftwaffe 178
Johannes Steinhoff  Germany Luftwaffe 176
Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert  Germany Luftwaffe 174
Günther Schack  Germany Luftwaffe 174
Emil Lang  Germany Luftwaffe 173
Heinz Schmidt  Germany Luftwaffe 173
Horst Ademeit  Germany Luftwaffe 166
Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke  Germany Luftwaffe 162
Hans-Joachim Marseille  Germany Luftwaffe 158
Heinrich Sturm  Germany Luftwaffe 158
Gerhard Thyben  Germany Luftwaffe 157
Hans Beisswenger  Germany Luftwaffe 152
Peter Düttmann  Germany Luftwaffe 152
Gordon Gollob  Germany Luftwaffe 150
Fritz Tegtmeier  Germany Luftwaffe 146
Albin Wolf  Germany Luftwaffe 144
Kurt Tanzer  Germany Luftwaffe 143
Friedrich-Karl Müller  Germany Luftwaffe 140
Karl Gratz  Germany Luftwaffe 138
Heinrich Setz  Germany Luftwaffe 138
Rudolf Trenkel  Germany Luftwaffe 138
Franz Schall  Germany Luftwaffe 137
Walter Wolfrum  Germany Luftwaffe 137
Horst-Günther von Fassong  Germany Luftwaffe 136
Otto Fönnekold  Germany Luftwaffe 136
Karl-Heinz Weber  Germany Luftwaffe 136
Joachim Müncheberg  Germany Luftwaffe 135
Hans Waldmann  Germany Luftwaffe 134
Alfred Grislawski  Germany Luftwaffe 133
Johannes Wiese  Germany Luftwaffe 133
Adolf Borchers  Germany Luftwaffe 132
Adolf Dickfeld  Germany Luftwaffe 132
Erwin Clausen  Germany Luftwaffe 132
Wilhelm Lemke  Germany Luftwaffe 131
Gerhard Hoffmann  Germany Luftwaffe 130
Heinrich Sterr  Germany Luftwaffe 130
Franz Eisenach  Germany Luftwaffe 129
Walther Dahl  Germany Luftwaffe 128
Franz Dörr  Germany Luftwaffe 128
Rudolf Rademacher  Germany Luftwaffe 126
Josef Zwernemann  Germany Luftwaffe 126
Dietrich Hrabak  Germany Luftwaffe 125
Wolf-Udo Ettel  Germany Luftwaffe 124
Herbert Ihlefeld  Germany Luftwaffe 123
Wolfgang Tonne  Germany Luftwaffe 122
Heinz Marquardt  Germany Luftwaffe 121
Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer  Germany Luftwaffe 121
Robert Weiß  Germany Luftwaffe 121
Friedrich Obleser  Germany Luftwaffe 120
Friedrich Wachowiak  Germany Luftwaffe 120
Erich Leie  Germany Luftwaffe 118
Franz-Josef Beerenbrock  Germany Luftwaffe 117
Hans-Joachim Birkner  Germany Luftwaffe 117
Jakob Norz  Germany Luftwaffe 117
Walter Oesau  Germany Luftwaffe 117
Heinz Wernicke  Germany Luftwaffe 117
August Lambert  Germany Luftwaffe 116
Wilhelm Crinius  Germany Luftwaffe 114
Werner Schröer  Germany Luftwaffe 114
Hans Dammers  Germany Luftwaffe 113
Berthold Korts  Germany Luftwaffe 113
Kurt Bühligen  Germany Luftwaffe 112
Helmut Lent  Germany Luftwaffe 110
Kurt Ubben  Germany Luftwaffe 110
Franz Woidich  Germany Luftwaffe 110
Reinhard Seiler  Germany Luftwaffe 109
Emil Bitsch  Germany Luftwaffe 108
Hans Hahn  Germany Luftwaffe 108
Bernhard Vechtel  Germany Luftwaffe 108
Viktor Bauer  Germany Luftwaffe 106
Werner Lucas  Germany Luftwaffe 106
Günther Lützow  Germany Luftwaffe 105
Adolf Galland  Germany Luftwaffe 104
Eberhard von Boremski  Germany Luftwaffe 104
Heinz Sachsenberg  Germany Luftwaffe 104
Hartmann Grasser  Germany Luftwaffe 103
Siegfried Freytag  Germany Luftwaffe 102
Friedrich Geisshardt  Germany Luftwaffe 102
Egon Mayer  Germany Luftwaffe 102
Max-Hellmuth Ostermann  Germany Luftwaffe 102
Josef Wurmheller  Germany Luftwaffe 102
Herbert Rollwage  Germany Luftwaffe 102
Werner Mölders  Germany Luftwaffe 101
Rudolf Miethig  Germany Luftwaffe 101
Josef Priller  Germany Luftwaffe 101
Ulrich Wernitz  Germany Luftwaffe 101
Paul-Heinrich Dähne  Germany Luftwaffe 99
Leopold Steinbatz  Germany Luftwaffe 99
Wolfgang Späte  Germany Luftwaffe 99
Heinrich Bartels  Germany Luftwaffe 99
Hans Schleef  Germany Luftwaffe 99
Horst Hannig  Germany Luftwaffe 98
Gustav Rödel  Germany Luftwaffe 98
Helmut Rüffler  Germany Luftwaffe 98
Helmut Mertens  Germany Luftwaffe 97
Hermann Schleinhege  Germany Luftwaffe 97
Diethelm von Eichel-Streiber  Germany Luftwaffe 96
Heinrich Höfemeier  Germany Luftwaffe 96
Siegfried Lemke  Germany Luftwaffe 96
Leopold Münster  Germany Luftwaffe 95
Ilmari Juutilainen  Finland Finnish Air Force 94
Rudolf Müller  Germany Luftwaffe 94
Rudolf Resch  Germany Luftwaffe 93
Heinrich Klöpper  Germany Luftwaffe 93
Helmut Bennemann  Germany Luftwaffe 93
Edmund Roßmann  Germany Luftwaffe 93
Siegfried Schnell  Germany Luftwaffe 93
Gerhard Loos  Germany Luftwaffe 92
Oskar Romm  Germany Luftwaffe 92
Anton Resch  Germany Luftwaffe 91
Georg Schentke  Germany Luftwaffe 91
Heinz Kemethmüller  Germany Luftwaffe 89
Josef Jennewein  Germany Luftwaffe 86
Anton Mader  Germany Luftwaffe 86
Ulrich Wöhnert  Germany Luftwaffe 86
Gerhard Köppen  Germany Luftwaffe 85
Walter Zellot  Germany Luftwaffe 85
Heinz Ewald  Germany Luftwaffe 84
Peter Kalden  Germany Luftwaffe 84
Werner Quast  Germany Luftwaffe 84
Heinrich Prinz zu Sayn-Wittgenstein  Germany Luftwaffe 83
Otto Weßling  Germany Luftwaffe 83
Hans Grünberg  Germany Luftwaffe 82
Emil Darjes  Germany Luftwaffe 82
Hans Götz  Germany Luftwaffe 82
Helmut Missner  Germany Luftwaffe 82
Franz Beyer  Germany Luftwaffe 81
Hugo Broch  Germany Luftwaffe 81
Willi Nemitz  Germany Luftwaffe 81
Wilhelm Philipp  Germany Luftwaffe 81
Rudolf Wagner  Germany Luftwaffe 81
Tetsuzo Iwamoto  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 80
Herbert Bachnick  Germany Luftwaffe 80
Otto Würfel  Germany Luftwaffe 79
Georg-Peter Eder  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Wolfgang Ewald  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Heinrich Krafft  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Max-Hermann Lücke  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Johann-Hermann Meier  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Karl-Gottfried Nordmann  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Alexander Preinfalk  Germany Luftwaffe 78
Hubertus von Bonin  Germany Luftwaffe 77
Josef Haiböck  Germany Luftwaffe 77
Walter Ohlrogge  Germany Luftwaffe 77
Hans-Joachim Kroschinski  Germany Luftwaffe 76
Maximilian Mayerl  Germany Luftwaffe 76
Alfred Teumer  Germany Luftwaffe 76
Edwin Thiel  Germany Luftwaffe 76
Hans Wind  Finland Finnish Air Force 75
Johannes Bunzek  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Gustav Frielinghaus  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Helmuth Grollmus  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Johann Pichler  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Hans Röhrig  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Waldemar Semelka  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Joachim Wandel  Germany Luftwaffe 75
Otto Gaiser  Germany Luftwaffe 74
Friedrich Haas  Germany Luftwaffe 74
Karl-Heinz Meltzer  Germany Luftwaffe 74
Wilhelm Herget  Germany Luftwaffe 73
Anton Lindner  Germany Luftwaffe 73
Gerhard Michalski  Germany Luftwaffe 73
Otto Schultz  Germany Luftwaffe 73
Shigeo Fukumoto  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 72
Klaus Mietusch  Germany Luftwaffe 72
Wilhelm Mink  Germany Luftwaffe 72
Karl Heinz Schnell  Germany Luftwaffe 72
Hans Fuß  Germany Luftwaffe 71
Adolf Glunz  Germany Luftwaffe 71
Alfred Heckmann  Germany Luftwaffe 71
Günther Scheel  Germany Luftwaffe 71
Shoichi Sugita  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 70
Karl Hoffmann  Germany Luftwaffe 70
Hermann-Friedrich Joppien  Germany Luftwaffe 70
Heinz Lange  Germany Luftwaffe 70
Rudi Linz  Germany Luftwaffe 70
Emil Omert  Germany Luftwaffe 70
Lutz-Wilhelm Burckhardt  Germany Luftwaffe 69
Armin Köhler  Germany Luftwaffe 69
Ernst Weismann  Germany Luftwaffe 69
Eugen-Ludwig Zweigart  Germany Luftwaffe 69
Kurt Dombacher  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Walter Höckner  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Herbert Huppertz  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Heinrich Jung  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Herbert Kaiser  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Richard Leppla  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Fritz Losigkeit  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Günther Freiherr von Maltzahn  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Hans Strelow  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Ernst Süß  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Otto Tange  Germany Luftwaffe 68
Fritz Dinger  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Herbert Findeisen  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Karl Fuchs  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Heinrich Füllgrabe  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Karl Hammerl  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Reinhold Hoffmann  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Erbo Graf von Kageneck  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Franz Schieß  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Franz Schwaiger  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Hubert Strassl  Germany Luftwaffe 67
Erwin Fleig  Germany Luftwaffe 66
Werner Streib  Germany Luftwaffe 66
Berthold Graßmuck  Germany Luftwaffe 65
Karl Kempf  Germany Luftwaffe 65
Manfred Meurer  Germany Luftwaffe 65
Lev Shestakov  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 65
Ivan Kozhedub  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 66
Bernd Gallowitsch  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Jürgen Harder  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Rolf Hermichen  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Walter Lindner  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Viktor Petermann  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Erhard Peters  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Günther Radusch  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Heinz Rökker  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Rudolf Schoenert  Germany Luftwaffe 64
Franz Götz  Germany Luftwaffe 63
Heinrich Hoffmann  Germany Luftwaffe 63
Gerhard Homuth  Germany Luftwaffe 63
Wilhelm Schilling  Germany Luftwaffe 63
Hermann Staiger  Germany Luftwaffe 63
Kurt Welter  Germany Luftwaffe 63
Heino Cordes  Germany Luftwaffe 62
Wilhelm Hübner  Germany Luftwaffe 62
Helmut Neumann  Germany Luftwaffe 62
Gerhard Beutin  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Hans-Ekkehard Bob  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Horst Carganico  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Franz Czech  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Alfred Franke  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Franz Hrdlicka  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Kurt Kelter  Germany Luftwaffe 60
August Mors  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Karl Munz  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Alfred Rauch  Germany Luftwaffe 60
Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshkin  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 59
Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt  Germany Luftwaffe 59
Walter Borchers  Germany Luftwaffe 59
Franz Eckerle  Germany Luftwaffe 59
Karl Steffen  Germany Luftwaffe 59
Paul Zorner  Germany Luftwaffe 59
Hermann Buchner  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Martin Becker  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Herbert Broennle  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Siegfried Engfer  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Herbert Friebel  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Wilhelm Freuwörth  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Gerhard Raht  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Hannes Trautloft  Germany Luftwaffe 58
Hiromichi Shinohara  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 58
Grigoriy Andreevich Rechkalov  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 58
Nikolay Dmitrievich Gulayev  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 57
Heinrich-Wilhelm Ahnert  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Konrad Bauer  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Walter Brandt  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Hugo Dahmer  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Kurt Ebener  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Adolf Kalkum  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Herbert Puschmann  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Johannes Seifert  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Hermann Wolf  Germany Luftwaffe 57
Constantin Cantacuzino  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 56
Manfred Eberwein  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Gustav Francsi  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Horst Haase  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Heinz Hackler  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Erich Hohagen  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Helmuth Holtz  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Eduard Isken  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Kurt Knappe  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Josef Kraft  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Helmut Schönfelder  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Günther Seeger  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Heinz Strüning  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Edmund Wagner  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Helmut Wick  Germany Luftwaffe 56
Eino Luukkanen  Finland Finnish Air Force 56
Karl-Heinz Bendert  Germany Luftwaffe 55
Wilhelm-Ferdinand Galland  Germany Luftwaffe 55
Herbert Bareuther  Germany Luftwaffe 55
Hans-Dieter Frank  Germany Luftwaffe 55
Gabriel Tautscher  Germany Luftwaffe 55
Takeo Okumura  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 54
Johann Badum  Germany Luftwaffe 54
Hans Ehlers  Germany Luftwaffe 54
August Geiger  Germany Luftwaffe 54
Wilhelm Hauswirth  Germany Luftwaffe 54
Heinz Leber  Germany Luftwaffe 54
Siegfried Simsch  Germany Luftwaffe 54
Heinz Vinke  Germany Luftwaffe 54
Kirill A. Yevstigneyev  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 53
Albert Brunner  Germany Luftwaffe 53
Heinz-Edgar Berres  Germany Luftwaffe 53
Hans-Joachim Heyer  Germany Luftwaffe 53
Willy Kientsch  Germany Luftwaffe 53
Carl Sattig  Germany Luftwaffe 53
Julius Meimberg  Germany Luftwaffe 53
Franz Barten  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Martin Drewes  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Alfred Gross  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Ludwig Häfner  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Heinz Knoke  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Rudolf Pflanz  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Friedrich Rupp  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Heinrich Wefers  Germany Luftwaffe 52
Hermann Greiner  Germany Luftwaffe 51
Werner Hoffmann  Germany Luftwaffe 51
Egmont Prinz zur Lippe-Weißenfeld  Germany Luftwaffe 51
Fritz Lüddecke  Germany Luftwaffe 51
Otto Schulz  Germany Luftwaffe 51
Satoru Anabuki  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 51
Yasuhiko Kuroe  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 51
Dmitri Hlinka  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 50
Hans-Joachim Jabs  Germany Luftwaffe 50
Emil Knittel  Germany Luftwaffe 50
Frank Liesendahl  Germany Luftwaffe 50
Herbert Lütje  Germany Luftwaffe 50
Karl Willius  Germany Luftwaffe 50
Heinz Arnold  Germany Luftwaffe 49
Rudolf Ehrenberger  Germany Luftwaffe 49
Reinhard Kollak  Germany Luftwaffe 49
Klaus Quaet-Faslem  Germany Luftwaffe 49
Richard Quante  Germany Luftwaffe 49
Friedrich Beckh  Germany Luftwaffe 48
Paul Gildner  Germany Luftwaffe 48
Johannes Hager  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Werner Stumpf  Germany Luftwaffe 48
Franz Schwaiger  Germany Luftwaffe 48
Heinz-Gerhard Vogt  Germany Luftwaffe 48
Ernst-Georg Drünkler  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Heinz Golinski  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Eckhard Hübner  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Herbert Kutscha  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Erich Schmidt  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Georg Seidel  Germany Luftwaffe 47
Alexandru Şerbănescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 47
Arseniy Vasilievich Vorozheikin  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 46
Aleksandr Ivanovich Koldunov  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 46
Nikolay Mikhailovich Skomorohov  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 46
Hans-Heinz Augenstein  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Ludwig Becker  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Wolfgang Böwing-Treuding  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Günter Fink  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Erwin Laskowski  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Karl Rammelt  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Karl Schnörrer  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Franz Schulte  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Paul Semrau  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Alfred Surau  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Kurt Tangermann  Germany Luftwaffe 46
Ernst Düllberg  Germany Luftwaffe 45
Rudolf Frank  Germany Luftwaffe 45
Gerhard Schöpfel  Germany Luftwaffe 45
Franz Stigler  Germany Luftwaffe 45
Otto Vinzent  Germany Luftwaffe 45
Ion Milu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 45
Urho Lehtovaara  Finland Finnish Air Force 44½
Mato Dukovac  Croatia Croatian Air Force 44
Oiva Tuominen  Finland Finnish Air Force 44
Hans Frese  Germany Luftwaffe 44
Karl-Wilhelm Hofmann  Germany Luftwaffe 44
Reinhold Knacke  Germany Luftwaffe 44
Wilhelm Steinmann  Germany Luftwaffe 44
Walther Wever  Germany Luftwaffe 44
Vladimir Bobrov  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 43
Karl Borris  Germany Luftwaffe 43
Ludwig Franzisket  Germany Luftwaffe 43
Hubert Mütherich  Germany Luftwaffe 43
Josef Pöhs  Germany Luftwaffe 43
Dietrich Schmidt  Germany Luftwaffe 43
Olli Puhakka  Finland Finnish Air Force 42
Norbert Hannig  Germany Luftwaffe 42
Jürgen Brocke  Germany Luftwaffe 42
Tudor Greceanu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 42
Rudolf Schmidt  Germany Luftwaffe 42
Herbert Schramm  Germany Luftwaffe 42
Robert Olejnik  Germany Luftwaffe 41
Werner Baake  Germany Luftwaffe 41
Leopold Fellerer  Germany Luftwaffe 41
Wilhelm Balthasar  Germany Luftwaffe 40
Richard I. Bong  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 40
Rudolf Busch  Germany Luftwaffe 40
Peter Bremer  Germany Luftwaffe 40
Wolf-Dietrich Huy  Germany Luftwaffe 40
Hermann Neuhoff  Germany Luftwaffe 40
Günter Steinhausen  Germany Luftwaffe 40
Marmaduke ‘Pat’ Pattle  South Africa Royal Air Force 40
Iyozo Hujita  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 39
Eckart-Wilhelm von Bonin  Germany Luftwaffe 39
Cvitan Galić  Croatia Croatian Air Force 38
Ernst Borngen  Germany Luftwaffe 38
Detlev Rohwer  Germany Luftwaffe 38
Eduard Tratt  Germany Luftwaffe 38
James Edgar “Johnnie” Johnson  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 38
Thomas B. McGuire  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 38
Ivan Babak  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 37
Klaus Neumann  Germany Luftwaffe 37
Heinz Bretnutz  Germany Luftwaffe 37
Waldemar Radener  Germany Luftwaffe 37
Maximilian Volke  Germany Luftwaffe 37
Sergey Luganski  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 37
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 36
Olavi Puro  Finland Finnish Air Force 36
Nils Katajainen  Finland Finnish Air Force 35½
Gunther Bertram  Germany Luftwaffe 35
Petr Hnido  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 34
Paul Brandt  Germany Luftwaffe 34
David McCampbell  United States U.S. Navy 34
Toshio Ota  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 34
Ivan Stepanenko  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 33
Pierre Clostermann  France Free French Air Force;Royal Air Force 33
Heinz Beyer  Germany Luftwaffe 33
Lauri Nissinen  Finland Finnish Air Force 32½
Brendan Eamon Fergus “Paddy” Finucane  Ireland Royal Air Force 32
Ján Režňák  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force[4] 32
Kyösti Karhila  Finland Finnish Air Force 32
Sugino Kazuo  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 32
Isami Kashiwade  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 32
Adolph ‘Sailor’ Malan  South Africa Royal Air Force 32
George F. “Buzz” Beurling  Canada Royal Air Force 31⅓
Hans-Karl Mayer  Germany Luftwaffe 31
Alexandr Kumanichkin  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 31
Jorma Karhunen  Finland Finnish Air Force 31
Dezső Szentgyörgyi  Hungary Royal Hungarian Air Force 30½
Amet-Han Sultan  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 30
William Vale  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 30
Franz Blazytko  Germany Luftwaffe 30
Max Bucholz  Germany Luftwaffe 30
Erich Bartz  Germany Luftwaffe 30
Friedrich-Karl “Nasen” Müller  Germany Luftwaffe 30
Kaneyoshi Mutoh  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 30
Tateo Kato  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 30?
Ryotaro Jobou  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 30
Emil Vesa  Finland Finnish Air Force 29½
Walter Adolph  Germany Luftwaffe 29
Robert Roland Stanford Tuck  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 30
Dezső Szentgyörgyi  Hungary Hungarian Air Force 29
Bob Braham  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 29
Clive Caldwell  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 28½
Tapio Järvi  Finland Finnish Air Force 28½
Izidor Kovárik  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 28
Hans-Heinrich Koenig  Germany Luftwaffe 28
Ernst Andres  Germany Luftwaffe 28
Alfred Burk  Germany Luftwaffe 28
Anton Benning  Germany Luftwaffe 28
“Ginger” Lacey  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 28
Francis “Gabby” Gabreski  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 28
Gregory “Pappy” Boyington  United States U.S. Marine Corps 28
Saburō Sakai  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 28 (including shared)
Colin Falkland Gray  New Zealand Royal Air Force 27½
Neville Duke  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 27
Karl Beckmann  Germany Luftwaffe 27
Emil Clade  Germany Luftwaffe 27
Constantin Rozariu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 27
Robert S. Johnson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 27
Charles H. MacDonald  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 27
Junichi Sasai  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 27
Sadaaki Akamatsu  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 27
George E. Preddy, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 26.83
Eric Lock  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 26½
Nobuo Ogiya  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 26
Ján Gerthoffer  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 26
Klaus Alakoski  Finland Finnish Air Force 26
Joseph J. Foss  United States U.S. Marine Corps 26
Lajos Tóth  Hungary Royal Hungarian Air Force 26
Russell Bannock  Canada RCAF 25½
Egon Albrecht  Germany Luftwaffe 25
Ludwig Bellof  Germany Luftwaffe 25
Wolfgang Lippert  Germany Luftwaffe 25
Robert M. Hanson  United States U.S. Marine Corps 25
Boris Safonov  Soviet Union Soviet Naval Aviation 25
Naoshi Kanno  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 25
Frank Reginald Carey  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 25
John C. Meyer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 24
Cecil E. Harris  United States U.S. Navy 24
Raymond H. Littge  United States U.S. Air Force 23½
Marcel Albert  France Free French Air Force 23
Douglas Bader  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 23
Eugene A. Valencia  United States U.S. Navy 23
Kalevi Tervo  Finland Finnish Air Force 23
Jorma Saarinen  Finland Finnish Air Force 23
Lance C. Wade  United States Royal Air Force 23
Horst Patuschka  Germany Luftwaffe 22
Eero Kinnunen  Finland Finnish Air Force 22½
David C. Schilling  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 22½
Rolf Pingel  Germany Luftwaffe 22
Teresio Vittorio Martinoli  Italy Regia Aeronautica 22
Leonardo Ferrulli  Italy Regia Aeronautica 22
Fritz Müller  Germany Luftwaffe 22
Artur Beese  Germany Luftwaffe 22
Edward F. Charles  Canada RCAF 22
Alan Christopher Deere  New Zealand Royal Air Force 22
Gerald R. Johnson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 22
Neel E. Kearby  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 22
Jay T. Robbins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 22
Ion Mucenica  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 22
Dominic S. Gentile  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 21.83
Donald Kingaby  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 21
Antti Tani  Finland Finnish Air Force 21½
William V. Crawford-Crompton  New Zealand Royal Air Force 21½
Raymond Brown Hesselyn  New Zealand Royal New Zealand Air Force 21½
Fred J. Christensen  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 21½
Raymond S. Wetmore  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 21¼
Branse Burbridge  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 21
Archie McKellar  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 21
Jean Demozay  France Royal Air Force 21
Franco Lucchini  Italy Regia Aeronautica 21
Theodor Rossiwall  Germany Luftwaffe 21
Franz von Werra  Germany Luftwaffe 21
John J. Voll  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 21
Kenneth A. Walsh  United States U.S. Marine Corps 21
Paavo Myllylä  Finland Finnish Air Force 21
Walker ‘Bud’ Melville Mahurin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 20.75
Evan Mackie  New Zealand Royal Air Force 20
Helmut-Felix Bolz  Germany Luftwaffe 20
Helmut Baudach  Germany Luftwaffe 20
Rudolph Anter  Germany Luftwaffe 20
Paul Becker  Germany Luftwaffe 20
Hans Berschwinger  Germany Luftwaffe 20
Michael Crossley  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 20
Donald N. Aldrich  United States U.S. Marine Corps 20
Thomas J. Lynch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 20
Henry W. McLeod  Canada RCAF 20
Robert B. Westbrook  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 20
Cristea Chirvasuta  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 20
Geoffrey Allard  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 19
Viktor Pyötsiä  Finland Finnish Air Force 19½
Väinö Suhonen  Finland Finnish Air Force 19½
Franco Bordoni  Italy Regia Aeronautica 19
Roy Dutton  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 19
Luigi Gorrini  Italy Regia Aeronautica 19
John “Cat’s Eyes” Cunningham  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 19
Glenn E. Duncan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 19
Patrick D. Fleming  United States U.S. Navy 19
Cornelius N. Nooy  United States U.S. Navy 19
John Lucian Smith  United States U.S. Marine Corps 19
Alexander Vraciu  United States U.S. Navy 19
Erik Teromaa  Finland Finnish Air Force 19
Constantin Lungulescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 19
Stanisław Skalski  Poland Polish Air Force/RAF 18.91
Arthur J. Benko  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18½
Marion E. Carl  United States U.S. Marine Corps 18½
Lauri Pekuri  Finland Finnish Air Force 18½
Leonard K. Carson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18½
Glenn T. Eagleson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18½
Wilbur J. Thomas  United States U.S. Marine Corps 18½
Wakamatsu Yukiyoshi  Japan Imperial Japanese Army 18+
Karel Kuttelwascher  Czechoslovakia Royal Air Force 18
Harry von Bülow-Bothkamp  Germany Luftwaffe 18
Witold Urbanowicz  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 18
Walter C. Beckham  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18
Herschel H. Green  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18
John C. “Pappy” Herbst  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18
Charles H. Older  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 18
Takemizu Takeo  Japan Imperial Japanese Navy 18
Pierre Le Gloan  France French Air Force 18
Hubert Zemke  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17.75
John B. England  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17½
Duane W. Beeson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17⅓
Jouko Huotari  Finland Finnish Air Force 17½
John F. Thornell  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17¼
Henry W. Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17.2
Rudolf Božík  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 17
Ugo Drago  Italy Regia Aeronautica 17
William “Willie” McKnight  Canada Royal Air Force 17
Josef Frantisek  Czechoslovakia Royal Air Force 17
Jorma Sarvanto  Finland Finnish Air Force 17
Yrjö Turkka  Finland Finnish Air Force 17
Gerald W. Johnson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17
James S. Varnell, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 17
Bolesław Gładych  Poland Polish Air Force/U.S. Army Air Forces 17
Keith Truscott  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 17
Alois Vasatko  Czechoslovakia Royal Air Force 17
Eugeniusz Horbaczewski  Poland Polish Air Force/RAF 16½
William T. Klersey  Canada RCAF 16½
Aulis Lumme  Finland Finnish Air Force 16½
James MacLachlan  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 16½
Eero Riihikallio  Finland Finnish Air Force 16½
Nigel Cullen  Australia Royal Air Force 16½
John T. Godfrey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 16⅓
Adrian Goldsmith  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 16¼
Clarence E. Anderson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 16¼
Paul Galland  Germany Luftwaffe 16
Les Clisby  Australia Royal Air Force 16
Franjo Dzal  Croatia Croatian Air Force 16
Douglas Baker  United States U.S. Navy 16
James Francis Edwards  Canada RCAF 16
Eero Halonen  Finland Finnish Air Force 16
Bill Harris  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 16
Robert W. McNair  Canada RCAF 16
John Plagis  Rhodesia Royal Air Force 16
Ioan Dicezare  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 16
Ira C. Kepford  United States U.S. Navy 16
Charles R. Stimpson  United States U.S. Navy 16
Stan Turner  Canada RCAF 16
George Welch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 16
Edmond Marin la Meslée  France French Air Force 16
Mario Visintini  Italy Regia Aeronautica 16
Vasile Gavriliu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 16
Raymond Harries  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 15
Ernest Mason  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 15+
John Lloyd Waddy  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 15½
Donald M. Beerbower  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15½
Richard A. Peterson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15½
William T. Whisner, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15½
James E. Swett  United States U.S. Marine Corps 15½
David Lee “Tex” Hill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15¼
František Cyprich  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 15
John “Jack” Frost  South Africa South African Air Force 15
Stoyan Stoyanov  Bulgaria Royal Bulgarian Air Force 15
Martti Alho  Finland Finnish Air Force 15
Ljudevit Bencetic  Croatia Croatian Air Force 15
Paterson Hughes  Australia Royal Air Force 15
Geoffrey Page  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 15
Jack T. Bradley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Samuel J. Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Edward “Porky” Cragg  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Kenneth H. Dahlberg  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
William D. Dunham  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Robert W. Foy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Ralph K. Hofer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Cyril F. Homer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 15
Harold L. Spears  United States U.S. Marine Corps 15
Dan Vizanti  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 15
Donald H. Bochkay  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14.84
Donald J. Blakeslee  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14½
John D. Landers  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14½
Aaro Nuorala  Finland Finnish Air Force 14½
Joseph H. Powers, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14½
Johnnie Checketts  New Zealand Royal New Zealand Air Force 14½
Henry Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Force 14½
Charles Scherf  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 14½
Mario Bellagambi  Italy Regia Aeronautica 14
Svein Heglund  Norway Royal Air Force 14
Sophus Baagoe  Germany Luftwaffe 14
Günther Wegmann  Germany Luftwaffe 14
František Brezina  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 14
Bruce W. Carr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
Robert C. Curtis  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
Robert M. DeHaven  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
Archie G. Donahue  United States U.S. Marine Corps 14
Wallace N. Emmer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
James A. Goodson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
Arthur R. Hawkins  United States U.S. Navy 14
Arthur F. Jeffrey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
Edward O. McComas  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
Elbert S. McCuskey  United States U.S. Navy 14
Daniel T. Roberts, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 14
John L. Wirth  United States U.S. Navy 14
William Henry Franklin  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 13½
George C. Duncan  United States U.S. Navy 13½
Pekka Kokko  Finland Finnish Air Force 13½
Heimo Lampi  Finland Finnish Air Force 13½
Roger W. Mehle  United States U.S. Navy 13½
Donald J. Strait  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13½
George Carpenter  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13.4
Donald S. Bryan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13.3
Helmut Lennartz  Germany Luftwaffe 13
Darrell S. Cramer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
John Wong Pan-Yang  United States Chinese Nationalist Air Force(USA-born volunteer) 13
James L. Brooks  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Jan Zumbach  Poland Polish Air Force 13
Safet Boskic  Croatia Croatian Air Force 13
Mervyn Shipard  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 13
Daniel A. Carmichael, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 13
James N. Cupp  United States U.S. Marine Corps 13
Clyde B. East  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Robert E. Galer  United States U.S. Marine Corps 13
John F. Hampshire  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Bruce K. Holloway  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
William P. Marontate  United States U.S. Marine Corps 13
Willard. W. Millikan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Glennon T. Moran  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Robert Neale (pilot)  United States AVG 13
Robin Olds  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
James O’Meara  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 13
Yrjö Pallasvuo  Finland Finnish Air Force 13
Harry A. Parker  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Roy W. Rushing  United States U.S. Navy 13
Edward O. Shaw  United States U.S. Marine Corps 13
AJ “Jackie” Sewell  United Kingdom Fleet Air Arm 13
Robert W. Stephens  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
John R. Strane  United States U.S. Navy 13
Robert Lee Scott, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Wendell V. Twelves  United States U.S. Navy 13
Anthony Charles Bartley  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 13
Felix D. Williamson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 13
Tiberiu Vinca  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 13
Ioan Maga  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 13
Henryk Pietrzak  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 12½
Lasse Aaltonen  Finland Finnish Air Force 12½
Ted Thorn  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 12½
Hugo Armstrong  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 12½
Andrew “Nicky” Barr  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 12½
Tony Gaze  Australia Royal Air Force 12½
Lowell K. Brueland  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12½
Kenneth D. Frazier  United States U.S. Marine Corps 12½
David Charles “Foob” Fairbanks  United States RCAF 12½
Eino Koskinen  Finland Finnish Air Force 12½
Onni Paronen  Finland Finnish Air Force 12½
Urho Sarjamo  Finland Finnish Air Force 12½
Per-Erik Sovelius  Finland Finnish Air Force 12½
James C. Stewart  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12½
Quince L. Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12⅓
Luigi Baron  Italy Regia Aeronautica 12
Mato Culinovic  Croatia Croatian Air Force 12
Eduard Martinko  Croatia Croatian Air Force 12
Veca Mikovic  Croatia Croatian Air Force 12
Zlatko Stipcic  Croatia Croatian Air Force 12
Marian Pisarek  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 12
John Dundas  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 12
John Freeborn  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 12
Jozef Štauder  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 12
Pavol Zeleňák  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 12
Bruce Bretherton  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 12
Charles Crombie  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 12
Peter Turnbull  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 12
John Yarra  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 12
Anton Matúšek  Slovak Republic Slovak Air Force 12
Leo Ahokas  Finland Finnish Air Force 12
Michael Brezas  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Levi R. Chase  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Clement M. Craig  United States U.S. Navy 12
David B. Eastham  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Loren D. Everton  United States U.S. Marine Corps 12
Luigi Giannella  Italy Regia Aeronautica 12
George W. Gleason  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Leroy E. Harris  United States U.S. Navy 12
Coatsworth B. Head, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Roger R. Hedrick  United States U.S. Navy 12
William E. Henry  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Howard D. Hively  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Kenneth G. Ladd  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Lydia Litvak  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 12
William J. Masoner, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 12
Pierce W. McKennon  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Robert W. Moore  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Michael J. Quirk  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Attilio Sanson  Italy Regia Aeronautica 12
LeRoy A. Schreiber  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Harold E. Segal  United States U.S. Marine Corps 12
James A. Shirley  United States U.S. Navy 12
Norman C. Skogstad  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
William J. Sloan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Giorgio Solaroli di Briona  Italy Regia Aeronautica 12
Eugene A. Trowbridge  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Richard E. Turner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
James A. Watkins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Richard L. West  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 12
Nicholas Megura  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11.84
George R. Carr  United States U.S. Navy 11½
James A. Clark, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
Paul A. Conger  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
Olin E. Gilbert  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
William T. Halton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
William J. Hovde  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
John A. Kirla, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
William N. Snider  United States U.S. Marine Corps 11½
Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11½
Liu Chi-Sheng /Liu Zhesheng  China Chinese Nationalist Air Force 11.3
Howard Mayers  Australia Royal Air Force 11.3
Louis H. Norley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11.3
Philip C. DeLong  United States U.S. Marine Corps 11.2
Richard John Cork  United Kingdom Fleet Air Arm 11
Ian Bedford Nesbitt Russell  Australia Royal Air Force 11
Albin Starc  Croatia Croatian Air Force 11
Josip Helebrant  Croatia Croatian Air Force 11
Stjepan Martinasevic  Croatia Croatian Air Force 11
Harold W. Bauer  United States U.S. Marine Corps 11
John T. Blackburn  United States U.S. Navy 11
William A. Dean, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 11
Geoff Fisken  New Zealand Royal New Zealand Air Force 11
Carl M. Frantz  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
James B. French  United States U.S. Navy 11
Robert J. Goebel  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Phillip L. Kirkwood  United States U.S. Navy 11
John B. Lawler  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Hemmo Leino  Finland Finnish Air Force 11
Francis J. Lent  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Leland P. Molland  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
William L. Leverette  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
John S. Loisel  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Wayne L. Lowry  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Carlo Magnaghi  Italy Regia Aeronautica 11
Charles M. Mallory  United States U.S. Navy 11
Alexei Petrovich Maresiev  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 11
Charles M. McCorkle  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Norman L. McDonald  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Hamilton McWhorter III  United States U.S. Navy 11
John W. Mitchell  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Urho Nieminen  Finland Finnish Air Force 11
James V. Reber, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 11
Elmer W. Richardson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Robert H. Riddle  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
James F. Rigg  United States U.S. Navy 11
Donald E. Runyon  United States U.S. Navy 11
Donald H. Sapp  United States U.S. Marine Corps 11
Murray Shubin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Cornelius Smith, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Giorgio Solaroli di Briona  Italy Regia Aeronautica 11
Kenneth C. Sparks  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 11
Richard E. Stanbrook  United States U.S. Navy 11
Virgil K. Meroney  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Stanley W. Vejtasa  United States U.S. Navy 11
Mario Veronesi  Italy Regia Aeronautica 11
Ioan Malacescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 11
Teodor Zabava  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 11
George T. Burgard  United States AVG 10.75
Frank Q. O’Conner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10.75
Charles F. Anderson, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
Marshall U. Beebe  United States U.S. Navy 10½
George F. Ceulleers  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
Jack E. Conger  United States U.S. Marine Corps 10½
George A. Doersch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
Niilo Erkinheimo  Finland Finnish Air Force 10½
William J. Hovde  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
Martti Kalima  Finland Finnish Air Force 10½
Kullervo Lahtela  Finland Finnish Air Force 10½
Raymond H. Littge  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
Kai Metsola  Finland Finnish Air Force 10½
Edward Rector  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
Russell E. Reiserer  United States U.S. Navy 10½
John A. Storch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10½
John C. Symmes  United States U.S. Navy 10½
John V. Newkirk  United States AVG 10½
Kai Metsola  Finland Finnish Air Force 10½
Eino Peltola  Finland Finnish Air Force 10½
Robert E. Murray  United States U.S. Navy 10.4
Ralph E. Elliot  United States U.S. Navy 10.3
Fred W. Glover  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10.3
Bobby Gibbes  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 10¼
William D. McGarry  United States AVG 10¼
Robert W Aschenbrenner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Wilfred Arthur  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 10
Virgil Brennan  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 10
Colin Parkinson  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 10
Frank B. Baldwin  United States U.S. Marine Corps 10
Wayne K. Blickenstaff  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Archie Boyd  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 10
Joseph E. Broadhead  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Carl A. Brown, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 10
Thaddeus T. Coleman  United States U.S. Navy 10
William K. Giroux  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Walter J. Goehausen, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Ernest A. Harris  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Iro Ilk  Germany Luftwaffe 10
Alwin M. Juchheim, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Veikko Karu  Finland Finnish Air Force 10
Mauno Kirjonen  Finland Finnish Air Force 10
Ahti Laitinen  Finland Finnish Air Force 10
Herbert H. Long  United States U.S. Marine Corps 10
Edward E. Lines  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Thomas H. Mann, Jr.  United States U.S. Marine Corps 10
Joseph L. Mansker  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Harris E. Mitchell  United States U.S. Navy 10
Mikko Pasila  Finland Finnish Air Force 10
Steve Pisanos  Greece Royal Air Force/U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Robert J. Rankin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Thomas H. Reidy  United States U.S. Navy 10
Andrew J. Reynolds  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Robert L. Scott, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Arthur Singer, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 10
John M. Smith  United States U.S. Navy 10
Claudio Solaro  Italy Regia Aeronautica 10
Paul M. Stanch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Josef Stehlík  Czechoslovakia Royal Air Force 10
Elliot Summer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
James S. Swope  United States U.S. Navy 10
Ennio Tarantola  Italy Regia Aeronautica 10
Adriano Visconti  Italy Regia Aeronautica 10
Robert V. Westermark  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 10
Ion Dobran  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 10
Nicolae Polizu-Micsunesti  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 10
Dumitru Ilie  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 10
Fletcher E. Adams  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9 ½
Ernest E. Bankey, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9 ½
Leonard J. Check  United States U.S. Navy 9 ½
Edward Coate  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 9 ½
Ernest C. Fiebelkorn  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9 ½
Aleksander Gabszewicz  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 9 ½
Michał Maciejowski  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 9 ½
Dale F. Spencer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9 ½
Robert C. Coats  United States U.S. Navy 9 ⅓
Mirosław Ferić  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 9 ⅓
Henryk Szczęsny  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 9 ⅓
Charles R. Bond  United States AVG 9 ¼
Stephen W. Andrew  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
William M. Banks  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9 ½
Lee “Buddy” Archer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Aleksander Chudek  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 9
Emanuele Annoni  Italy Regia Aeronautica 9
Jan Falkowski  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 9
Roderick Bowes  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 9
James Timothy Kearney  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 9
Edgar R. Bassett  United States U.S. Navy 9
Norman R. Berree  United States U.S. Navy 9
William R. Bland  United States U.S. Navy 9
George E. Bostwick  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Mark K. Bright  United States U.S. Navy 9
Paul D. Buie  United States U.S. Navy 9
Henry A. Carey, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 9
Frederick F. Champlin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Frank J. Collins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
William M. Collins, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 9
Richard L. Cormier  United States U.S. Navy 9
Louis E. Curdes  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Perry A. Dahl  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Jefferson J. DeBlanc  United States U.S. Marine Corps 9
Richard W. Dunkin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Richard T. Eastmond  United States U.S. Navy 9
Robert A. Elder  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Eugene H. Emmons  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Grover E. Fanning  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Edward L. Feightner  United States U.S. Navy 9
Sylvan Feld  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Joseph M. Forester  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Marvin J. Franger  United States U.S. Navy 9
Doris C. Freeman  United States U.S. Navy 9
Kenneth W. Gallup  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Thomas S. Harris  United States U.S. Navy 9
Frederick R. Haviland, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Allen E. Hill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Frank D. Hurlburt  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
George C. Kiser  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Joseph J. Lesicka  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Christopher L. Magee  United States U.S. Marine Corps 9
Louis A. Menard, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 9
Virgil K. Merony  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Stanley B. Morrill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Walter Omiccioli  Italy Regia Aeronautica 9
Edmund F. Overend  United States U.S. Marine Corps 9
Lloyd J. Overfield  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Joel B. Paris III  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Harvey P. Picken  United States U.S. Navy 9
Eugene D. Redmond  United States U.S. Navy 9
William N. Reed  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Daniel R. Rehm, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 9
Eugene P. Roberts  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Hans-Ulrich Rudel  Germany Luftwaffe 9
Meryl M. Smith  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Robert T. Smith  United States AVG 9
Natalino Stabile  Italy Regia Aeronautica 9
James S. Stewart  United States U.S. Navy 9
John S. Stewart  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Franklin C. Thomas, Jr.  United States U.S. Marine Corps 9
Arthur Van Haren, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 9
Benjamin F. Warmer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Robert H. White  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Norman. F Williams  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 9
Judge E. Wolfe  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
Gheorghe Popescu Ciocanel  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 9
Stefan Greceanu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 9
Gheorghe Cocebas  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 9
Andrei Radulescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 9
Charles E. Watts  United States U.S. Navy 8.75
Zdzisław Henneberg  Poland Polish Air Force 8½
Stanisław Brzeski  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 8½
Wacław Król  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 8½
John L. Banks  United States U.S. Navy 8½
William E. Bryan, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
James B. Cain  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Charles J. Cesky  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Oscar I. Chenoweth  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Arthur Chin /Chen Ruitian  United States Chinese Nationalist Air Force(USA-born volunteer) 8½
Frank A. Cutler  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Carl C. Foster  United States U.S. Navy 8½
John F. Gray  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Everett G. Hargreaves  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Thomas L. Hayes, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
John H. Hoefker  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Otto D. Jenkins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Arthur G. Johnson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Frank L. Lawlor  United States AVG 8½
Gregory K. Loesch  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8½
Carl J. Luksic  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Donald McDowell  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Bernard J. McGrattan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Sanford K. Moats  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
John L. Morgan, Jr.  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8½
George W. Pigman  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Claude W. Plant  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Albert L. Schlegel  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8½
Larry R. Self  United States U.S. Navy 8½
Antoni Głowacki  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 8⅓
Eugeniusz Szaposznikow  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 8⅓
John Fraser Drummond  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 8⅓
James H. Howard  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8⅓
Franklin T. Gabriel  United States U.S. Navy 8¼
George B. McMillan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8¼
Adolf Pietrasiak  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 8.1
Erich Mix  Germany Luftwaffe 8
Erich Büttner  Germany Luftwaffe 8
Hans-Dieter Weihs  Germany Luftwaffe 8
John M. Ainlay  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
John R. Alison  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
David W. Allen (USAAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Frederick A. Bardshar  United States U.S. Navy 8
Lloyd G. Barnard  United States U.S. Navy 8
Walter G. Benz, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
William J. Bonneau  United States U.S. Navy 8
Robert J. Booth  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Roy O. Burnett, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 8
Walter J. Carroll, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
William N. Case  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
J. D. Collinsworth  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Arthur W. Cruikshank  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Fernley H. Damstrom  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
John F. Dobbin  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
Landis E. Doner  United States U.S. Navy 8
Frederick J. Dorsch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Walter F. Duke  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
William C. Edens  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
John L. Elder  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Eric A. Evenson  United States U.S. Navy 8
Arthur C. Fielder, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Francis M. Fleming  United States U.S. Navy 8
James M. Fowle  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
William A. Gardner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Frank Gaunt  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Francis R. Gerard  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Clement D. Gile  United States U.S. Navy 8
Maxwell H. Glenn  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Mathew M. Gordon  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Richard J. Griffin  United States U.S. Navy 8
Leroy V. Grosshuesch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Fred E. Gutt  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
Mayo A. Hadden, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 8
Frederick A. Harris  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Kenneth F. Hart  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Edwin J. Herman (or Hernan), Jr.  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
George L. Hollowell  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
Angus Horne  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 8
Jack E. Ilfrey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Michael J. Jackson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Byron M. Johnson  United States U.S. Navy 8
John M. Johnson  United States U.S. Navy 8
John L. Jones  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Claiborne H. Kinnard  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Charles M. Kunz  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
William N. Leonard  United States U.S. Navy 8
William H. Lewis  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Elvin L. Lindsay  United States U.S. Navy 8
Thomas E. Maloney  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
William R. Maxwell  United States U.S. Navy 8
Earl May, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 8
Johnnie G. Miller  United States U.S. Navy 8
William W. Momyer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Douglas W. Mulcahey  United States U.S. Navy 8
Alva C. Murphy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Joseph L. Narr  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
George P. Novotny  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 9
John G. O’Neill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Edward M. Owen  United States U.S. Navy 8
Nathan T. Post  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
Luther D. Prater, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 8
Edward F. Roddy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Robert R. Rowland  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Philip Sangermano (FO)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Charles W. Sawyer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Glenn D. Schiltz Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
David A. Scott  United States U.S. Navy 8
Dale E. Shafer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Robert M. Shaw  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
William A. Shomo  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Robert H. Smith  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Gordon A. Stanley  United States U.S. Navy 8
Arland Stanton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
John L. Sublett  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
James B. Tapp  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Philip E. Tovrea  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
James O. Tyler  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
John W. Vogt, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Boyd D. “Buzz” Wagner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Victor E. Warford  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Arthur T. Warner  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
Charles E. Weaver  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 8
Rex Kerslake Wilson  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 8
Theodore H. Winters, Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 8
Donald K. Yost  United States U.S. Marine Corps 8
Dan Scurtu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 8
Traian Dirjan  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 8
Eugen Cameceanu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 8
Mihai Mihordea  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 8
Ioan Panaite  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 8
Joseph L. Lang  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7.83
Everett W. Stewart  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7.83
Józef Jeka  Poland Polish Air Forces/Royal Air Force 7½
Henryk Pietrzak  Poland Polish Air Forces/Royal Air Force 7½
Howard M. Burriss  United States U.S. Navy 7½
Kenneth J. Dahms  United States U.S. Navy 7½
Harry W. Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Noel le Chevalier Agazarian  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 7
Hugh C. Godefroy  Netherlands/ Canada Royal Air Force/RCAF 7
Walter Prues  Germany Luftwaffe 7
Alfred Ambs  Germany Luftwaffe 7
Karl-Heinz Becker  Germany Luftwaffe 7
Franz Köster  Germany Luftwaffe 7
Helmut Eberspächer  Germany Luftwaffe 7
Roger Haberman  United States U.S. Marine Corps 7
Bolesław Drobiński  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 7
Marian Bełc  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 7
Stanisław Karubin  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 7
Furio Niclot Doglio  Italy Regia Aeronautica 7
Liu Chui-Kang /Liu Cuigang  China Chinese Nationalist Air Force 7
Sydney S. Woods  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
William Anderson  Sweden U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Robert A. Dibb  United States U.S. Navy 7
Edward “Butch” O’Hare  United States U.S. Navy 7
Sammy A. Pierce  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Arval J. Roberson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Ferruccio Serafini  Italy Regia Aeronautica 7
Ernest Shipman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Robert E. Woody  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Gordon M. Graham  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Bert W. Marshall, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 7
Iosif Moraru  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 7
Parsifal Stefanescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 7
Constantin Pomut  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 7
Liviu Muresan  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 7
Giuseppe Oblach  Italy Regia Aeronautica 7
Karol Pniak  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 6.75
Basil Gerald “Stapme” Stapleton  South Africa Royal Air Force 6.66
Russell Foskett  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 6½
Theo Osterkamp  Germany Luftwaffe 6
GianLino Baschirotto  Italy Regia Aeronautica 6
Remy Van Lierde  Belgium Royal Air Force 6
James B. Dalglish  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
Livio Bassi  Italy Regia Aeronautica 6
Yekaterina Budanova  Soviet Union Soviet Air Force 6
Guido Fibbia  Italy Regia Aeronautica 6
Norman E. Olson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
Fred R. Haviland, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
James P. Hagerstrom  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
Le Yi-Chin / Le Yiqin  China Chinese Nationalist Air Force 6
William B. Freeman  United States U.S. Marine Corps 6
Ludwik Paszkiewicz  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 6
James Henry Whalen  Canada RCAF 6
Stefan Janus  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 6
Norman W. Mollard, Jr.[7]  United States U.S. Navy 6
Henry S. Bille  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
Lynn E. Witt, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
William E. Whalen  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 6
Horia Agarici  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 6
Florin Alexiu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 6
Constantin Ursachi  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 6
Ioan Vornica  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 6
Radu Reinek  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 6
Gheorghe Tutuianu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 6
Dean (Diz) S. Laird  United States U.S. Navy 5¾
Gordon B. Compton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5½
Norman J. Fortier  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5.83
Walter J. Koraleski  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5.54
William Cundy  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 5½
Charles W. Lenfest  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5½
Leslie D. Minchew  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5½
Laurence Stark  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 5½
Kazimierz Rutkowski  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 5½
Stefan Witorzeńć  Poland Polish Air Force/Royal Air Force 5½
James E. Duffy, Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5.2
Raymond B. Myers  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William J. Cullerton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Hayden A. “Buck” Gregory  United States U.S. Navy 5
Joseph Heim  Germany Luftwaffe 5
Alfred Schreiber  Germany Luftwaffe 5
Ulrich Steinhilper  Germany Luftwaffe 5
Pentti Tilli  Finland Finnish Air Force 5
Robert W. Abernathy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Fred T. Ackerman  United States U.S. Navy 5
Oliver L. Adair  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert H. Adams (USAAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John W. Agnew  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William H. Allen (USAAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Stuart C. Alley Jr  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Ernest J. Ambort  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert H. Ammon  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Benjamin C. Amsden  United States U.S. Navy 5
Leslie E. Anderson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Richard H. Anderson (USAAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lester L. Arasmith  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lee Archer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William E. Aron  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Richard W. Asbury  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Abner M. Aust  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Eugene D. Axtell  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald A. Baccus  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Jack A. Bade  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Oscar C. Bailey  United States U.S. Navy 5
Raphael F. Baird  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald L. Balch  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Robert P. Baldwin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Raymond W. Bank  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Bruce M. Barackman  United States U.S. Navy 5
Rex T. Barber  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert M. Barkey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Truman S. Barnes  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Albert Baumler  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Aaron L. Bearden  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edward H. Beavers Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Louis Benne  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Jack S. Berkheimer  United States U.S. Navy 5
Richard L. Bertelson  United States U.S. Navy 5
James D. Billo  United States U.S. Navy 5
Lewis S. Bishop  United States AVG 5
Walter D. Bishop  United States U.S. Navy 5
Foster J. Blair  United States U.S. Navy 5
William K. Blair  United States U.S. Navy 5
Richard B. Blaydes  United States U.S. Navy 5
Victor E. Bocquin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John W. Bolyard  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert R. Bonebrake  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert R. Bonner Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Guy P. Bordelon  United States U.S. Navy 5
Clarence A. Borley  United States U.S. Navy 5
Ernest O. Bostrom  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Wilbur L. Bowen  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Fred E. Bowker  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John L. Bradley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Richard L. Braun  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Gerald A. Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Jasper R. Brown  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Paul J. Bruneau  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert L. Buchanan  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert G. Burns  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert L. Byrnes  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John B. Carder  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William A. Carlton  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Nial K. Castle  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Henry K. Champion  United States U.S. Navy 5
George T. Chandler  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Van E. Chandler  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph J. Cielinski  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Arthur B. Cleaveland  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald C. Clements  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert E. Clements  United States U.S. Navy 5
Dallas A. Clinger  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Vivian A. Cloud  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Paul R. Cochran  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William F. Collins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Philip E. Colman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harold E. Comstock  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harry L. Condon  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Merle M. Coons  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Leland B. Cornell  United States U.S. Navy 5
Ralph L. Cox  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Niven K. Cranfill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William S. Crombie  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John O. Cross  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Omer W. Culbertson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Arthur C. Cundy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Warren D. Curton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William A. Daniel  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Clarence E. Davies  United States U.S. Navy 5
Leonard K. Davis  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
George E. Dawkins Jr  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Roald Dahl  United Kingdom Royal Air Force 5
William C. Day Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Richard S. Deakins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
George Della  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Reuben H. Denoff  United States U.S. Navy 5
Frederick E. Dick  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Michael Dikovitsky  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harry W. Dorris  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Cecil J. Doyle  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Charles W. Drake  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Daniel B. Driscoll  United States U.S. Navy 5
Willie Driscoll  United States U.S. Navy 5
Francis E. Dubisher  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles H. Dubois  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
James E. Duffy (USN)  United States U.S. Navy 5
Richard E. Duffy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph L. Egen Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Hugh M. Elwood  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
James W. Empey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lyle A. Erickson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Herman E. Ernst  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles D. Farmer  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert A. Farnsworth Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
William Farrell (USMC)  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Richard D. Faxon  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Marion C. Felts  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
James E. Fenex Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William Fiedler (USAAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Virgil C. Fields Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Howard J. Finn  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Charles R. Fischette  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harry E. Fisk  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Nelson D. Flack Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Kenneth A. Flinn  United States U.S. Navy 5
Ralph E. Foltz  United States U.S. Navy 5
Paul J. Fontana  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Claude E. Ford  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Kenneth M. Ford  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
George Formanek Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
Dwight B. Galt  United States U.S. Navy 5
Warner F. Gardner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Noel Gayler  United States U.S. Navy 5
Steven N. Gerick  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Grover D. Ghelson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert D. Gibb  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Cyrus R. Gladen  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lindley W. Godson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Norman D. Gould  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Giorgio Graffer  Italy Regia Aeronautica 5
Robert F. Graham  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Vernon E. Graham  United States U.S. Navy 5
Hayden A. Gregory  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert C. Griffith  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William Grosvenor Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Cheatham W. Gupton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Albert E. Hacking  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Samuel E. Hammer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harry T. Hanna  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Christopher J. Hansenman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Walter R. Harman  United States U.S. Navy 5
Thomas L. Harris (USAAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Raymond E. Hartley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Herbert B. Hatch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles D. Hauver  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Russell C. Haworth  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Frank R. Hayde  United States U.S. Navy 5
Frank C. Hearrell  United States U.S. Navy 5
Charles F. Held Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Paul M. Henderson Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
Randall W. Hendricks  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
James E. Hill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Richard Hope Hillary  Australia Royal Air Force 5
Donald E. Hillman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Kenneth G. Hippe  United States U.S. Navy 5
Edwin M. Hiro  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Myron M. Hnatio  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John B. Hoag  United States U.S. Navy 5
William R. Hodges  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Cullen J. Hoffman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Louis Hoffman  United States AVG 5
Herbert N. Houck  United States U.S. Navy 5
Edward R. Hoyt  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Mark E. Hubbard  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Howard R. Hudson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Alvaro J. Hunter  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph W. Icard  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Julius W. Ireland  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Clayton M. Isaacson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Hayden M. Jensen  United States U.S. Navy 5
Evan M. Johnson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Wallace R. Johnson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Curran L. Jones  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Frank C. Jones  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lynn F. Jones  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Warren L. Jones  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph W. Jorda  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William M. Julian  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles Kendrick  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Daniel Kennedy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert H. Kidwell  United States U.S. Navy 5
Melvin B. Kimball  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John R. Kincaid  United States U.S. Navy 5
Charles W. King (USAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
David L. King  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Marion F. Kirby  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lenton F. Kirkland  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert H. Knapp  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Carroll S. Knott  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edward H. Kopsel  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William J. Kostic  United States U.S. Navy 5
Wayne W. Laird  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
William E. Lamoreaux  United States U.S. Navy 5
Richard C. Lampe  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Willis Laney  United States U.S. Navy 5
Ned W. Langdon  United States U.S. Navy 5
Thomas G. Lanphier  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Franklin C. Lathrope  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles H. Laughlin  United States AVG 5
George Laven  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Earl R. Lazear  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harold K. Lee  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Richard J. Lee  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Marlow J. Leikness  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles W. Lenfest  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Jack Lenox Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John A. Leppla  United States U.S. Navy 5
Alfred B. Lewelling  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Brooks J. Liles  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Hugh D. Lillie  United States U.S. Navy 5
James W. Little  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles P. London  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald Lopez  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
George G. Loving, Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John F. Luma  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lowell C. Lutton  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John A. Mackay  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Morton D. Magoffin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Keith Mahon  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Jackson C. Mankin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lee P. Mankin  United States U.S. Navy 5
Harry A. March Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
Luigi Mariotti  Italy Regia Aeronautica 5
Lester C. Marsh  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Albert E. Martin Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
Kenneth R. Martin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph L. Mason  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William H. Mathis  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph Z. Matte  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Chester K. Maxwell  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Benjamin I. Mayo  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Paul G. McArthur  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Henry A. McCartney Jr  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Leo B. McCudden  United States U.S. Navy 5
William F. McDownough  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
James N. McElroy  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John L. McGinn  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Selva E. McGinty  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Samuel E. McGuffin  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John W. McGuyrt  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald J. McKinley  United States U.S. Navy 5
George. McMillan  United States AVG 5
Evan D. MacMinn  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald M. McPherson  United States U.S. Navy 5
George L. Merritt Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Frederick H. Michaelis  United States U.S. Navy 5
Everett Miller  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph E. Miller  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert C. Milliken  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles Milton  United States U.S. Navy 5
Marinos Mitralexis  Greece Greek Air Force 5
Arthur P. Mollenhauer  United States U.S. Navy 5
Franklin H. Monk  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert H. Moore  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Paul V. Morriss  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Arthur H. Munson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Jennings S. Myers  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph R. Myshrall  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Leslie D. Nelson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert J. Nelson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Franklin A. Nichols  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edward M. Nollmeyer  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Marvin R. Novak  United States U.S. Navy 5
Jack G. Oberhansky  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Frank O’Brien Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edwin L. Olander  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Austin L. Olsen  United States U.S. Navy 5
Paul E. Olson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Enzo Omiccioli  Italy Regia Aeronautica 5
Eugene W. O’Neill Jr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lawrence F. O’Neill  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Ernest K. Osher  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert J. Overcash  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edward W. Overton Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
Joel A. Owens  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Melvyn R. Paisley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Forrest F. Parham  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edsel Paulk  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Oscar F. Perdomo  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John Petach  United States AVG 5
Costantino Petrosellini  Italy Regia Aeronautica 5
David P. Philips III  United States U.S. Navy 5
Edward A. Phillips  United States U.S. Navy 5
Hyde Phillips  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Kenneth R. Pool  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edward S. Popek  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert B. Porter  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
George H. Poske  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Ernest A. Powell  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
MacArthur Powers  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Jack C. Price  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Royce W. Priest  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Roger C. Pryor  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Donald L. Quigley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert J. Raines  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Orvin H. Ramlo  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
WIlliam C. Reese  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Joseph E. Reulet  United States U.S. Navy 5
Thomas W. Rhodes  United States U.S. Navy 5
Vincent A. Rieger  United States U.S. Navy 5
Andrew Ritchey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Newell O. Roberts  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Leroy W. Robinson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Ross F. Robinson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Franklin Rose  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Gerald L. Rounds  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Henry S. Rudolph  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William A. Rynne  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Hartwell V. Scarborough  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Thomas D. Schank  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Gordon E. Schecter  United States U.S. Navy 5
John L. Schell  United States U.S. Navy 5
Raymond Scherer  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
James F. Schilke  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Louis Schriber  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Duerr H. Schuh  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert B. Schultz  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Harry H. Sealey  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Alexander F. Sears  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert B. See  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Carlo Seganti  Italy Regia Aeronautica 5
Robert K. Seidman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles A. Shields  United States U.S. Navy 5
Lester H. Sipes  United States U.S. Navy 5
Frank Sistrunk  United States U.S. Navy 5
Jack R. Smith  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Kenneth B. Smith (USAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Kenneth D. Smith  United States U.S. Navy 5
Virgil H. Smith  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Irl V. Sonner Jr  United States U.S. Navy 5
James J. Southerland  United States U.S. Navy 5
Arthur Spurgin  Australia Royal Australian Air Force 5
Clyde P. Spitler  United States U.S. Navy 5
William J. Stangel  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Morris A. Stanley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edgar E. Stebbins  United States U.S. Navy 5
Edward J. Stefanski  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Raymond D. Stehle  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Carl V. Stone  United States U.S. Navy 5
Johnnie C. Strange  United States U.S. Navy 5
Richard C. Suehr  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Charles P. Sullivan  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert C. Sutcliffe  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John F. Sutherland  United States U.S. Navy 5
John F. Swinburne Jr.  United States U.S. Navy 5
William J. Sykes  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Stanley Synar  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Oliver B. Taylor  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William W. Taylor (USN)  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert D. Thompson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John A. Tilley  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Edward W. Toaspern  United States U.S. Navy 5
John W. Topliff  United States U.S. Navy 5
Harrison B. Tordoff  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Ross E. Torkelson  United States U.S. Navy 5
Eugene P. Townsend  United States U.S. Navy 5
Clifton H. Troxell  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Peter J. Van Der Linden  United States U.S. Navy 5
Rudolph D. Van Dyke  United States U.S. Navy 5
Robert H. Vaught Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John E. Vogt  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Horace Q. Waggoner  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Walter B. Walker Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lyttleton T. Ward  United States U.S. Navy 5
Jack R. Warren  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Ralph J. Watson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Sidney W. Wheatherford  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Willard J. Webb  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Gregory J. Weissenberger  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Darrell G. Welch  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Albert P. Welles  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Robert G. West  United States U.S. Navy 5
Harry S. White  United States U.S. Navy 5
John H. White (USAF)  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
David C. Wilhelm  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Paul H. Wilkins  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
William F. Wilson  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Russell D. Williams  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert A. Winston  United States U.S. Navy 5
Ralph L. Wire  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Lee V. Wiseman  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
John L. Wolford  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
George L. Wrenn  United States U.S. Navy 5
Max J. Wright  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Vasseure F. Wynn  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert R. Yaeger Jr.  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Robert M. York  United States U.S. Army Air Forces 5
Michael R. Yunck  United States U.S. Marine Corps 5
Aurel Tifrea  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Constantin Popescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Constantin Nicoara  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Petre Cordescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Aurel Tifrea  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Hariton Dusescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Vintila Bratianu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Nicolae Burileanu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Laurentiu Catana  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Erich Selei  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Gheorghe Cristea  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5
Mircea Dumitrescu  Romania Royal Romanian Air Force 5

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90 Comments

  1. Ferenc Tóth

    I’d definitely put Werner Mölders on the list. He was the first to reach 100 victories.

    Reply
    • ASH KING ?

      Respect those legendary people’s who lost their life in War . ??
      Love from india ?? ?????

      Reply
    • Rob

      I agree that Werner Molders needs a consideration.

      Reply
  2. Ross Kapernick

    Finally an explanation why the German Air Force put up such a long term fight despite the fact the AXIS produced only a fraction of the aircraft the Allies did in WW2.
    We never hear just how successful they were in terms of kills per pilot. All we ever hear about is the failure of the Battle of Britain.
    Obviously both German Aircraft and German pilots were very good in there day.

    Reply
  3. Omer Jamil

    Interesting and very informative read, I was hoping you would mention the name of M.M Alam , he holds the record of scoring 5 kills in a minute in the 1960s with an F 86.

    Reply
    • Danny Daemon

      That is a fabrication of the Pakistan Air Force told to keep up the Morale of the Pakistani public and used in the post war inquiry into the performance of the Pakistani Armed Forces against the Forces of India where Pakistan lost a disproportionate amount of men and material in spite of being the aggressor. This has been corrected in the biographies of two Pakistan Air Force Air Marshals Including the then Chief of PAF Asgarh Khan. The circumstances of the earlier claim By M.M Alam with a flight of 11 Sqdn Sabres was impossible, to say the least. This claim has been debunked even by the sqn mates who formed the flight and now M.M Alam is given the credit for one kill.

      Reply
      • Mohammad Hamza

        Danny Daemon . First the Air Chief Marshal on that time was Nur Khan . 2nd Indian Airforce admit 3 kills in that less than 60 second combat . may be its imposible when it is against PAF . But Against Israel and Indian Airforce its not Impositble when Pilots are from PAF

        Reply
        • TejasWagh

          3 kills at that time but alls not by mm Alam… If pakistan has that much potent piolets then how come they lost that conflict against IAf..?
          Your government lies alot they never show burn patches given by India to them.. and that’s why ur so-called potent technology of sending pigs(terrorists) in India are under practice now a days..

          Reply
      • Ghauri

        Yeh yeah yeah Danny, just because you are so butthurt, we would listen to your lies?

        Reply
        • Salvador Pais

          Tom Cruise is the GOAT

          Reply
      • shbz

        Check this international platform to confirm the kills of Great MM Alam, from Pakistan Air Force,Tea was really fantastic though

        Reply
    • Cleetus Farragamo

      Yeketrina? A Soviet chick?

      Reply
  4. Mika

    Nice work, but…
    I would’ve mentioned Ilmari Juutilainen of the Finnish Air Force, the first non-german fighter ace in the list.
    Flying with a modified Brewster Buffalo (a fighter the U.S. thought was out-of-date) and still having an astonishing sum of kills. He’s also the best pilot to score with both the allied-made (the Brewster) and axis-made (Me Bf109) warbirds.
    One should also mention Hans Wind, same plane types, few kills less, but any how, a brilliant pilot also.

    Reply
    • Sakari

      As a further comment on Eino Ilmari (Illu)Juutilainen. He stands out of every other, including all the Germans; while having 94 confirmed kills, his aircraft had never taken a single enemy shot – not even a scratch. To consider that every German top ace lost several planes and obviously took a lot of hits.

      Reply
    • Dan

      and Juutilainen never had any of his aircraft hit by an enemy round though his entire career.

      Reply
  5. Johny

    Geez, these people crazy!

    Reply
  6. Ascalon

    In terms of sheer brilliance and longevity of career, I think Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown should get a mention. His kill list is small, but his achievements as a military aviator are not only unsurpassed, they probably never will.

    Reply
  7. Norm

    Why is William (Billy) Bishop not on this list?
    According to Wikipedia, “Air Marshal William Avery “Billy” Bishop VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED (8 February 1894 – 11 September 1956) was a Canadian flying ace and Victoria Cross recipient of the First World War. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace of the war” and arguably the top Allied ace of WW1.

    Reply
    • TSAthirty

      This list is of the WWII ace’s only

      Reply
      • Dodo

        I realize the second list is only WWII aces (,which may be what you’re referring to) but as Norm says, Billy Bishop had 72 victories, which is a lot compared to many of the others on the main list (thinking James Doolittle here) so I think he deserves a spot there somewhere.

        He was pulled out of combat several times; the last time, when they pulled him out for good, was several months before the war ended. In his last 12 days of combat service, he managed an amazing 25 kills; how many more would he have got if they hadn’t pulled him out? He also holds a VC, as Norm says, for raiding an enemy airbase solo and taking out 5 German planes which took off to defend the base before making good his escape and returning his crippled aircraft to his base. Although he exaggerated his achievements for public relations, his own combat reports often understated his performance. If that’s not reason enough to be on the list, I don’t know what is…
        See also:
        http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vo3/no3/doc/55-60-eng.pdf

        Reply
    • Cleetus Farragamo

      Because as per usual the Yanks have won every single war single handedly.I looked for him too.

      Reply
  8. S Walton

    Wing Commander Roland ‘Bee’ Beamont. 1920 – 2001. Battle of France 1939/40, Battle of Britain 1940, Operation Overlord 1944, Operation Market Garden 1944. PoW 1944-45. Credited with 9 kills. Also ‘killed’ 32 V1 Flying Bombs. Exceptional post-war Test Pilot (Canberra, Lightning, TSR-2), first Briton to fly supersonic (in one of only 2 US XP-86 Sabres) in May 1948. Bloody nice bloke and my Grandfather.

    Reply
  9. S Walton

    Forgot to add…Royal Air Force. CBE, DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar, Croix de Guerre (Belgium)

    Reply
  10. Michel

    Giora Epstein IAF
    The jet age ace ,
    a world record of 17 Jets downed in air to air combat.

    Reply
    • Low Vincent

      Good as gold

      Reply
  11. pl80

    Thanks to the Russians, the Germans have all the top spots on the list 🙂

    Reply
    • Dan

      and thanks to the Germans they constantly flew and did so until they were dead.

      Reply
    • Cleetus Farragamo

      LOL Agreed.Stalin’s boys did fly some awful junk, didn’t they?

      Reply
  12. BigE

    The Finnish pilots should be mentioned however as usual always overlooked. It amazes me how the western nations know almost nothing about the fight for survival of the Finnish people in WW 2. With what the Finns had in 1939 when defending themselves against the ussr and then to defend themselves again against the ussr after Hitler started operation Barbarosa is nothing short of a miracle. Its time for the stories to be told, and I will do just that as a loud and proud Finnish born American raised patriot!

    Reply
  13. Nils-Peter morley

    Heinz Baer-highest scoring jet ACE of WW1
    Marmaduke pattle-most victories in obsolete aircraft and shot down with influenza/pneu.
    Goren epstein-highest scoring ace in jets

    Reply
    • Harlas

      on his last days he flew will being sick. He managed to down 6 planes on his last flight and kept flying with fever! His scores were in 1941 against the properly trained Luftwaffe pilots…

      Reply
    • Dan

      Baer was amongst or at the top while in the west, med, east, FW190, BF109 and top in jets,

      Reply
  14. Nathan Adamson

    Ritchard Ira Bong, or “Dick” Bong. He was the top-scoring American Ace of WWII.

    Reply
    • Arsham

      Where is Iran-Iraq war?!
      Where is Jalil zandi?!
      Where is tomcat aces?!

      Reply
  15. Richard Rogers

    Not inky Billy Bishop but Raymond Collishaw. He had 60 confirmed kills and likely dozens more but attributed those to young flyers to build up their confidence. His squadron, Black Flight, was the most feared and respected by the Germans including the Flying Circus.

    Reply
    • R. Carnahan

      My father an aviation buff whose childhood spanned the 1920s and 30s grew up hearing rumours that Collishaw’s total kill count was well in excess of 100.

      Collishaw had extensive combat experience in several other theaters following World War One where he continued to rack up many more victories. He may have flown missions (clandestinely, in a Hawker Hurricane) well into World War Two.

      Stories abound of Collishaw crediting his own kills to bolster the confidence of novice pilots, or later on, especially after WW1, not recording victories at all. While flying for the White Russian Forces his squadron was constantly retreating from Red Army Forces so proper record-keeping became a total nuisance. In WW2 any combat he might have participated in would have been completely unauthorized.

      Reply
  16. David Johnson

    You need to do more research with respect to WW1 Fighter Pilots.
    William Avery Bishop, VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED (8 February 1894 – 11 September 1956) was a Canadian flying ace of the First World War, Victoria Cross recipient, and Air Marshal. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace of the war.

    Reply
    • TSAthirty

      You do realize this list is of the WWII ace’s only right?

      Reply
      • alex

        ahhh yes, i remember when the vietnam war happened in ww2. It’s not just pilots from the second world war, it just happens that due to the circumstances of ww2 the german pilots managed to get exponentially more kills and this will never be bested as air to air combat has changed so drastically

        Reply
      • Dodo

        so what’re Manfred von Richthofen, Ernst Udet, and Mick Mannock doing there then (just to name a few)? The article’s title is “Best fighter pilots of all time”, not “best fighter pilots of WWII”

        Reply
      • Billy's Boy

        Red Barron wasn’t in the sequel, so yeah, there are WWI pilots here, too.

        Reply
  17. Mike Ratel

    ” Wonder where his name is coming from? His three-winged Fokker was painted in bright red – so he would scare the shit out of his enemies once they spotted him. ” Not very professional to use foul language on an otherwise awesome and valuable resource you have compiled.

    Reply
    • Danny

      Oh good god, go fuck yourself.

      Reply
  18. Bing

    This list is all WW… what about the jet age? AFAIK there’s an Israeli pilot with 17 kills and IIRC all using the French Mirage.

    Reply
    • Johan

      It is difficult to understand or justify that you’ve overlooked Finnish Ilmari Juutilainen, the non-German fighter pilot with the most kills in WWII, 94. The second best non-German was Japanese, Iwamoto, with 14 kills less. Numbers speak for themselves and when one considers he flew much of the time the American Brewster Buffalo that was considered outdated and was not used by the U.S., this does not make his achievement any less remarkable.

      Reply
  19. Marc

    William “Billy” Bishop was the commonwealth’s (Britain/Canada/Australia/New Zealand/South Africa/India) top ace in WW1 with 72 victories- Rene Fonck of France was the top ace of the allies with 75 victories and Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen was the overall leader in WW1 with 80 victories. It is to note that Bishop and Fonck both survived the war when Richthofen did not.

    Reply
    • Judge

      Bishop actually might have 80 victories but five of them were not counted due to the fact that he shot them down when no one else in the 60 squadron could find a German plane

      Reply
      • Judge

        And why not add Barker VC he was the highest scoring ace in Italy during the First World War

        Reply
  20. Bataki

    Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the highest decorated german pilot of WW2. Maybe this should be taken with a slight grain of salt, that Rudel was a dedicated nazi certainly would not have hurt him when it came to rewards, but still.
    Rudel flew ground attack planes like Stukas. These had great tactical significance, especially in the first part of the war. So maybe he would make the list more rounded since I did not see the Close Air Support role represented.

    I heard previously that he only had one kill against other aircraft even if he shows up as having 9 in the list above.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel

    Reply
  21. David

    what about Japanese pilots? I would recomend Saburo Sakai for this list. I believe he had 62 kills against USA, Dutch, and Australlian pilots.

    Reply
    • Jack G. Stiteley

      In fact, Sakai had 64 confirmed kills.

      Reply
      • Paco Cimino

        Sakai had two kills in China before Pearl Harbor (not much competition) and 62 kills against western (US, British Commonwealth and Dutch) planes after Pearl Harbor (the start of the greater Pacific War). Some dispute those numbers now because of author Martin Caidin’s exaggeration in his book on Sakai.

        Reply
  22. arrowBflight

    This is a huge list of fighter pilots and yet, there are many others. Here is an up date on some of the lads. Charley Scherf was an Australian, he served with RCAF No.418.
    In a recent article from VWoC, ” Stocky ” Edwards stated according to his log book, he
    had 20 E/As. CAN/RAF, is by definition a Canadian who enlisted directly in the RAF.
    1820 all ranks, 422 were decorated, 777 KIA, 225 transfered to RCAF. A few of the heavy
    hitters include: Vernon ” Woody ” Woodward 19 + 2 shared, M.A. ” Hilly : Brown 14 + several shared, R.A. Barton, 13 + 6 shared. Douglas Charles Fairbanks ( u.s.) served in RAF 15 all on Tempest V, RCAF: Donald Laubman 15 ( top scorer in 2 TAF from D – Day forward) J MacKay 12.5 + 1 mIG 15 Korea, J F MacElroy 12 + 3 shared, J H Turnball 12.5,
    Claude Weaver 111 American/ RCAF 12.5 + 3 probable ( youngest allied Ace of WWII
    age 19 yrs ), G U Hill 10 + 8 shared, R J Audet 10.5 ( “only Spitfire pilot to become Ace
    5 victories in single sortie), R A Kipp 10.5 +2 ground,J D Mitchner 10.5, D W Schmidt 10.5, J E Walker 10.5, A U ” Bert ” Houle 11, J W Williams 10, D C Gordon 9 + 2 shared,
    I F Kennedy 8 + 4 shared, R D Schultz 8, D A Mac Fadyen 7 + 5 ground + 5 V1s
    J T Cain 5 + 15 ground, Irving Kennedy 6 + 4 shared. A little known fact is that some
    of the ” Best ” pilots never claimed any A/C shot down. They flew # 4 or arse end Charlie. They kept the others….. alive.

    Reply
  23. lawless alan

    Heinz Baer should absolutely be on any list of greatest or most remarkable fighter pilots. Not only did his score of 220 place him in the top ten, but he did so mostly in the western theaters where the opposition quality was much greater. He also performed very well in the early French campaigns and the Eastern and African theaters – and was remarkably close to the awesome Marseille’s core in that theater alone. But wait there’s more – he also was among the highest scoring Me-262 pilots. He did everywhere and his name should be better known.

    Reply
    • John Foreman

      Absolutely. In my opinion Bar was the greatest. Hye fought in all theatres – Phoney War, Battle of Britain, Russia, Africa, then Home Defence. Denied the Diamonds, as “Fat Hermann” disliked him, Went from Gruppenkommandeur to Staffelkapitan – and back again and finally led JV44’s Me262s. What a pilot!

      Reply
  24. A E G

    Robert S. Johnson (ETO-28 claimed air victories), Ray S. Wetmore (ETO-22 claimed air victories), Don S. Gentile (ETO-22 claimed air victories, 8 ground), Charles E. Yeager (ETO-13 claimed air victories), these pilots and other pilots flying for both Allied and Axis powers also possessed another valuable asset which contributed to their God given abilities as great combat pilots: 20-10 vision. When you can see ‘bogeys’ at up to 50 miles away you definitely have the advantage over your enemy. This aided them greatly during missions and ‘dogfights’. Some great combat pilots (Erich Hartmann, Richard Bong, etc.) simply surprised enemy aircraft and closed to 20 or 30 yards before firing which ensures victories. Also- -my vote for arguably the greatest piston engine fighter/bomber combat aircraft of WW2: Dornier Do 335 ‘Pfeil’. What a brilliant design-excellent. Well done Claude Dornier !!! beautiful restoration Daimler Benz Dornier Lindauer 1970s!! on the only one left in the world @ Natl Air & Space.

    Reply
    • DUANE PFEIL

      A remarkable aircraft, such a beauty.

      Reply
    • Paco Cimino

      Johnson had 27 victories and Francis Gabreski had 28. Both flew for the famed 56th FG the “Wolfpack” which flew the P-47 Thunderbolt throughout the war.

      Reply
    • Gord

      the red baron did not shoot down 80 aircraft in a fokker triplane..more than 60 of his kills came flying a red albatros DIII and D V biplane fighter..

      Reply
  25. Henrik

    Jorma Sarvanto, Finnish pilot, shot down 6 Soviet bombers in 4 minutes. Fastest kills ever.

    Reply
  26. Mani

    Why M.M alam is not in this. You dont what he done

    Reply
    • Khizar Baig

      MM Alam is also makes a world record who destroyed 5 Indian fighter Jets in just one minutes

      Reply
  27. Joseph Gannon

    How in the world does Gen. Jimmy Doolittle get on a list of best fighter pilots by commanding a famous BOMBING mission? I don’t believe he ever flew a single sortie in a fighter plane. I’m not denigrating his very real and important contributions to the war in both commanding his famous raid and then commanding air groups in Europe, but what in the world has that got to do with being one of the best fighter pilots ever?

    Reply
  28. JEFFERY RIFENBERY

    I have a question with all those German pilots they’re talking about and all of their kills with the world war if you added all of them up there’s no way that many planes were shot down he probably didn’t even make that you’re talking thousands and thousands of planes it just makes me feel it’s hard to believe that all these German shot down all those planes.. It really seems to be a lot of over exaggerating I mean you understand what I’m trying to say if you add all of those German kills together.. I mean seeing triple or quadruple…lol

    Reply
    • Mackerel

      There were most likely exaggerated claims, no doubt. But the numbers of aircraft produced/lost in combat/written off, particularly in WW2, are simply staggering.

      Reply
    • M.R.

      Hard to believe isn’t it…but true. The Germans had a very strict system for counting aerial victories which included at least one witness, verification plus approval by the squadron commander. They also maintained meticulous records through the end of the war. No half kills were counted etc. If there was a disagreement the action would not be documented/counted at all. They simply had the best fighter pilots that will ever take to the sky. Look at the performance of their soldiers in general. You were not awarded the Knights Cross for one heroic action. You needed to have already distinguished yourself in numerous previous actions, for example…
      (EK2/Ek1/German Cross in Gold/Close Combat Clasp in Bronze-Silver-Gold/Knights Cross/Oak Leaves etc). Despite the repugnance of the regime, there will very likely never again be soldiers of this quality to step onto a battlefield of this magnitude. Ironic isn’t it.

      Reply
    • Volker

      Far more than 600.000 Allied Airplanes in total has been produced during WWII.
      Compare that number with the planes shot down!

      Reply
  29. Mackerel

    There were most likely exaggerated claims, no doubt. But the numbers of aircraft produced/lost in combat/written off, particularly in WW2, are simply staggering.

    Reply
    • Paco Cimino

      There rules were strict but overclaiming still occurred (part fo the nature of the beast) and the Luftwaffe didn’t always follow its own rules especially towards the end of the war.

      The records show that, although the Luftwaffe generally did not accept a “kill” without a witness, some pilots habitually submitted unwitnessed claims and sometimes these made it through the verification process, particularly if they were made by pilots with established records. Unlike all of the other air forces that fought during World War II, the Luftwaffe did not accept shared claims, but sometimes it happened. Each claim should have referred to a particular aircraft, but some victories were awarded to other pilots who had claimed the destruction of the same aircraft. Overall they are the most accurate but not 100%.

      Reply
  30. Sean Mc

    Your list completely neglects the Battle of Britain, which was by far the most important Ariel battle fought on the western front in WW2.
    The British & Foreign fighter pilots, particularly the Poles should be far better represented in your top 10.

    Reply
  31. Chris Gsell

    I’ve heard that German kill claims had to be verified & were among the most stringent & accurate records of the WW2. They flew more missions & had to fight until they died. The number of planes produced was staggering in WW2. The ME 109 German Fighter had over 30,000 plane types produced during the war alone. German kill ratios were very high when comparing men killed. planes destroyed, tanks destroyed…. Remember, two world wars where Germans basically fought everyone & it was a close fight. Plus they had tremendous achievements in some of the best guns & other small arms, first & best jet fighter plane ME 262, Komet Rocket Plane ME 163. first jet bomber Arado, first guided air to ground missiles, first rocket cruise missile V-1 & first continental ballistic missle V2 & best & most advance submarines.

    Reply
  32. M P

    Your list “Greatest Fighter Aces”, number 12. James Doolittle. He wasn’t a fighter pilot, and not an ace. He flew bombers. And the photo is not him. It is his grandson James Doolittle III, who IS a great test pilot!

    Reply
  33. Dinar Khan

    Where is the name of group captain Saiful azam of bangladesh air force who fought for three countries as pakistan, Jordan and Iraq.

    Reply
  34. GORD

    you forgot the top ranked WESTERN allied aCE OF WORLD WAR 2. MARMADuke St. John Pattle, RAF. Pattle scored at least 41 victories in the early days of the North African CAMPAIGN IN A GLOSTER GLADIATOR biplane fighter before being killed in action.. No list ever includes him yet his victories put him above all western allied aCES ( THE RUSSIANS HAD A 61 VICTORY ACE IVAN KOJEDUB). Pattle’s victories were over German and Italian aircraft

    Reply
  35. Leslie C. Taylor

    Ilmari Juutilainen – Top non-German ace. And probably the highest scoring non-officer.

    Reply
  36. Shahrookh Shroff

    Please learn basic MATHS…additions and subtractions will suffice…lol!

    Reply
  37. Albert Batten

    Surely Wing Commander J.E. “Johnny” Johnson should be here, as well as Wing Commander Bob StNford-Tuck, who once put an 8mm shell dead centre down the barrel of an 8mm flak gun.

    Reply
  38. Salim Ahmed

    Pl. read John Feeler book on 1965 war(indo_pak)

    Reply
  39. SAJIB

    SAFUL AZAM ONE OF THE GREATEST FIGHTER PILOT OF YHE WORLD BECAUSE OF HE IS ONLY ONE PILOT WHO LED BY THREE WAR . 1965-1967-1971. THE LIVING EAGLE

    Reply
  40. Eric Rotzoll

    John “Forty Second ” Boyd.

    “During the 1950s, John Boyd dominated fighter aviation in the U.S. Air Force. His fame came on the wings of the quirky and treacherous F-100; the infamous “Hun.” Boyd was known throughout the Air Force as “Forty-Second Boyd,” because he had a standing offer to all pilots that if they could defeat them in simulated air-to-air combat in under 40 seconds, he would pay them $40. Like any gunslinger with a name and a reputation, he was called out many times. As an instructor at the Fighter Weapons School (FWS) at Nellis AFB, he fought students, cadre pilots, Marine and Navy pilots, and pilots from a dozen countries, who were attending the FWS as part of the Mutual Defense Assistance Pact.

    He never lost.

    Boyd was famous for a maneuver he called “flat-plating the bird.” He would be in the defensive position with a challenger tight on his tail, both pulling heavy Gs, when he would suddenly pull the stick full aft, brace his elbows on either side of the cockpit, so the stick would not move laterally, and stomp the rudder. It was as if a manhole cover were sailing through the air and then suddenly flipped 90 degrees. The underside of the fuselage, wings, and horizontal stabilizer became a speed brake that slowed the Hun from 400 knots to 150 knots in seconds. The pursuing pilot was thrown forward and now Boyd was on his tail radioing “Guns. Guns. Guns.”

    The myth of “Forty-Second Boyd” still rankles AF fighter pilots. They say there is no “best” pilot; that everyone has a bad day. But if they went through Nellis in the late 1950s, they know Boyd had no bad days. And they cannot come up with the name of anyone who ever defeated him.

    Boyd was equally famous in the classroom where he developed the “Aerial Attack Study.” Until Boyd came along, fighter pilots thought that air combat was an art rather than a science; that it could never be codified. Boyd proved them wrong when he demonstrated that for every maneuver there is a series of counter maneuvers. And there is a counter to every counter. Afterwards, when fighter pilots attacked (or were attacked), they knew every option open to their adversary and how to respond. “

    Reply
  41. colin

    cant find anything about feldwebel adolf denz 110 pilot

    Reply
  42. Andreas

    Hi,
    Good job, but there are several calls without explanation i.e. [4]
    Also you mention “Slovak Republic”, “Czechoslovakia”, “Ireland Royal Air Force” and other country names and military units that deserves some explanation too.
    In some cases it would be better to include nationality in 1939 and not a “national air force” that didn’t exist during the war.

    Reply
  43. Greg

    Germans shot down 33,544 aircraft and still lost the war? Amazing. And, just a little sus.

    Reply
  44. George Elder

    Ronald Mugs Mckeown first top gun commander… Double mig killer, first operational f14 squadron commander, vx4 pilot (captured mig 17 and 21) ..had a habit of departing the f4 from controlled flight (see air combat mig killers of the midway). Flew NF104 starfighter to 127 k feet, 997 Carrier landings.. Many in f-8 quote (the f4 was easy to land… I was always sure I would get aboard….the f8 I was never sure I would get aboard at night)

    Reply
  45. Niko

    I would add two more German pilots: Oswald Boelcke and Werner Voß. Boelcke downed 40 enemies before he died in an accident and was one of the most famous German aces. Why I would add him to the list are not his kills, though, but his development of aerial combat tactis, He is called “the father of air combat”.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_Boelcke

    Werner Voß, on the other hand, was maybe the best German pilot of WWI and part of one of the most famous aerial battles of WWI. In his last fight, he took on 8 aces from 56 Squadron under James McCudden alone.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Voss

    Reply
  46. Udo

    Concerning Erich “Bubi” Hartmann it should be explained, why the Russians called him the “black devil”.
    The reason was the black painting on the nose of his Me-109, also called the black tulip.

    Reply
  47. Daniel Orenge

    Ooops! Manfred von Richthofen . . . along with his 80 victories . . . seems to be absent !

    Reply
  48. Richard

    Regarding the ‘exagerated’ claims of German pilots – around 105 thousand planes were destroyed during the years 1941 – 1945.

    The Germans generally kept their aces in field whereas the Allies usually removed top pilots (30 – 40) victories and used them as trainers.

    Reply

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