Comments on: Best fighter pilots of all time

By: Gord

Gord — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 20:52:06 +0000

In reply to A E G. 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..

By: Arsham

Arsham — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 11:59:38 +0000

In reply to Nathan Adamson.

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

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 00:19:51 +0000

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.

By: Daniel Orenge

Daniel Orenge — Sun, 11 Jun 2023 21:37:26 +0000

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

By: Udo

Udo — Fri, 05 May 2023 10:13:00 +0000

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.

By: Niko

Niko — Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:33:18 +0000

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

By: George Elder

George Elder — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 01:32:23 +0000

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)

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 22:51:24 +0000

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

By: Salvador Pais

Salvador Pais — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 19:36:10 +0000

In reply to Ghauri. Tom Cruise is the GOAT

By: R. Carnahan

R. Carnahan — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 18:46:03 +0000

In reply to Richard Rogers.

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.