[Cruver Collecter]

There has been much discussion as to what aircraft rank at the top of forum members list of favorite WWII aircraft. How about a discussion as to which WWII ace they are most interested in. I have to admit the planes are really cool, but the pilots are the ones that made them famous. The one WWII ace I find to be of most interest is Squadron Leader Marmaduke Thomas St. John "Pat" Pattle (With all that I can see why the shortened it to Pat). His war time career was fairly short, and he did all his scoring in just a nine month period. Over the years his tally of victories has been debated and depending on the source varies. I have seen it listed as high as 51, but other sources point towards a window of between 27 and 44. He does have the distinction of being the highest scoring RAF biplane ace and may very well be the highest scoring Commonwealth Ace as well. His career ended over Athens in 1941 when he was shot down by a BF 110 while attempting to the aid one of his pilots. He scored his victories flying the Gloster Gladiator and Hawker Hurricane Mk.I.



15 Victories in one of these, not to shabby. (Not even the three bladed prop variant.)

[STARMAN 352ND]

You guys already know mine.. George Preddy.
George Preddy was on his way to becoming the leading ace in Europe when tragedy struck...
On Christmas Day, Preddy led 10 of his P-51s on a patrol. They were vectored to a formation of enemy planes, and in the ensuing fight, though the squadron became scattered, Preddy downed two more Bf-109s. He and his wingman, Lt. James Cartee, were then vectored to an unknown number of bandits near Liege. Preddy saw an FW-190 on the deck and went after him at treetop height. As they roared over American AA batteries, Preddy was hit by friendly ground fire and killed, probably by the bullets from the quad 50s.
Almost certainly, he would also have come out as top American ace in Europe had it not been for that tragic error on Christmas Day in 1944. He would no doubt have been a part of the air battle called "Operation Bodenplatte" by the Luftwaffe, when many of his squadron mates shot down as many as five enemy aircraft on New Years Day 1945. At the end of the War, George was credited with 32-1/2 victories. Five of these were enemy aircraft destroyed by strafing, so he had 27-1/2 aerial victories to his credit. In the early 1950s, a Fighter Victory Credits Board was convened by the USAF and his aerial credits were reduced to 25.83. Joe Noah, first cousin, discovered that one of the victories disallowed by the Board was one for which George had been awarded the Silver Star. The USAF corrected that error in 1978 when another Board was convened. His official score is now 26.83 aerial and five ground victories. The USAF gave Preddy credit for 1/3 victory which he never claimed. John C. Meyer said George actually shot down several enemy aircraft he didn't claim.

[smartd]

George "Screwball" Beurling, DSO, DFC, DFM+Bar. 31+ Kills.

Probably the only fighter ace who was thrown out of the Air Force during the war.

[Berkut76]

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

[ZS-VAN]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

There has been much discussion as to what aircraft rank at the top of forum members list of favorite WWII aircraft. How about a discussion as to which WWII ace they are most interested in. I have to admit the planes are really cool, but the pilots are the ones that made them famous. The one WWII ace I find to be of most interest is Squadron Leader Marmaduke Thomas St. John "Pat" Pattle (With all that I can see why the shortened it to Pat). His war time career was fairly short, and he did all his scoring in just a nine month period. Over the years his tally of victories has been debated and depending on the source varies. I have seen it listed as high as 51, but other sources point towards a window of between 27 and 44. He does have the distinction of being the highest scoring RAF biplane ace and may very well be the highest scoring Commonwealth Ace as well. His career ended in over Athens in 1941 when he was shot down by a BF 110 while attempting to the aid one of his pilots. He scored his victories flying the Gloster Gladiator and Hawker Hurricane Mk.I.

Great choice! Very impressive tally given the aircraft he used. He was South African too.

[11SQNLDR]

Mine is Flying Officer Edgar James "Cobber" Kain (27 June1918 - 7 June1940). Kain was the first RAFair ace of the Second World War, and also the first recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross in the Second World War. During the Battle of France in 1940 he claimed 17 confirmed kills.

Cobber was killed doing low-level aerobatics over his airfield in France before returning to England for a rest - he achieved a lot very early in the war & he's my choice not only because he was a Kiwi, but he was born in my hometown of Hastings.

[flyXwire]

WWII: Don Gentile and Dick Bong!

Korean War Tripple Jet ACE: Capt.Joe McConnell!

[Kaptin_Kirk]

My favorite WWII Ace changes from time to time. Right now it is the late General David Lee "Tex" Hill as I am reading his book once more.

[Ara1]

For me, a three-way tie between Gunther Rall, Helmut Wick and Butch O'Hare.

[TopHat]

Pappy Boyington.


I was just going to express dismay that no one listed an Ace with salty wings...then I noticed Ara1 did...