| Re: Who is your favorite WWII Ace?
No hesitation in my mind, Georgiy Kostylev. An embodiment of why the Red Army turned the tide of the war and and hoisted the Soviet flag over Reichstag. Most of his kills, at least 20 individual plus 34 shared (most were actually his, but he tried to boost morale of young pilots by either sharing his kills or letting the youngsters take the credit). He flew every crappy aircraft available to the equipment-starved Baltic Fleet Naval Aviators, but was shot down just once with a minor injury. He was assigned "inspector" job by mid-1943, which followed his stint at penalty battalion. He only faced the best Luftwaffe and Finns had to offer (quite a few Grunherz flyers met their end at the hands of Kostylev) and came out a winner in the gloomy days of 1941 -1942.
Regards,
Sergey |