Flying ace
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the video game, see Fighter Ace.
Image:Red Baron.jpg A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft.
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[edit] History
Image:Pegoud croix de guerre.jpg Use of the term ace in military aviation circles began in World War I (1914-18), when French newspapers described Adolphe Pegoud, nicknamed "The Foolhardy One", as l’as (French for "ace") after he became the first pilot to down five German aircraft. The term had been popularized in prewar French newspapers when referring to sports stars such as soccer players and bicyclists.
It has been stated that during World War I, the Central Powers and British Empire defined an ace as a pilot with 10 or more confirmed "catastrophic kills", but no authoritative sources support this claim. The German Empire had no ace system as such, but instead publicised aviators who had destroyed the greatest number of Allied aircraft. Britain had no ace system at all and published no victory lists comparable to the French or Germans.
In 1914-18, different air services also had different methods of assigning credit for kills. The German Luftstreitkräfte credited only one pilot for each victory, and only for enemy planes assessed as destroyed or captured. Most other nations adopted the French Armee de l’Air system of granting full credit to every pilot or aerial gunner participating in a victory, which could sometimes be six or seven individuals. The British furthermore credited "moral victories", when enemy planes were seen to be "driven down", "forced to land", and "out of control". To a lesser extent so did the United States Army Air Service. For example, Eddie Rickenbacker's 26 victories included ten planes "out of control", several "dived east", and two observation balloons. None of those would have been credited in later wars. By contrast, a two-member British DH-9 bomber crew, who performed remarkable feats of flying and aerial gunnery, on 23 August, 1918, are not regarded as aces. The Bermudian pilot, Lt Arthur Spurling, and gunner Sgt Frank Bell attacked 30 German Fokker D.VIIs. Spurling destroyed three D.VIIs with the fixed forward-firing machine guns and Bell downed two with his gun. Spurling was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) as a result of his actions.
In World War II, many air forces credited fractional shares of aerial victories, resulting in fractions or decimal scores such as 11½ or 26.83. Some U.S. commands also credited aircraft destroyed on the ground as equal to aerial victories. The Soviets distinguished between solo and group kills, as did the Japanese, though the Japanese Navy stopped crediting individual victories in 1943. The German Luftwaffe continued the tradition of "one pilot, one kill."Image:Erich Hartmann.jpgThe Soviet Air Force had the world's only female aces. During World War II, Katya Budanova achieved 11 and Lydia Litvyak scored 12 victories.
The huge tallies of many German World War II aces, such as Erich Hartmann's all time record of 352 kills, are partly explained by the obsolescent aircraft and poorly-trained pilots often fielded by the Allies, especially the Soviets. In addition, Luftwaffe pilots generally flew many more sorties than their Allied counterparts. Last, but not least, the Nazi practice of rewarding pilots in direct proportion to the number of kills created a material incentive for overclaiming and for their comrades to support such claims.[1]
Despite official figures, very few recognized aces actually shot down as many aircraft as credited to them. The primary reason for inaccurate victory claims is the inherent confusion of three-dimensional, highspeed combat, but competitiveness and the desire for recognition also figure in the mix. Consequently, errors of 50 to 100% and more are common in air combat. In the Korean War, both the U.S. and Russian air arms claimed 10 to 1 victory-loss ratios.
The most accurate figures usually belong to the air arm fighting over its own territory, where wrecks can be counted. It is for this reason that Manfred von Richthofen is known to have shot down at least 73 of the 80 planes credited to him.
The word ace is also used to refer to non-aviators who have distinguished themselves by sinking ships and destroying tanks. (See, for example the article Aces of the Deep.)
[edit] List of prominent aces with 20 kills or more
(Except German aces in World War II; 100 kills or more.)
[edit] World War I
[edit] Spanish Civil War
| Name | Country | Service | Victories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joaquin Morato | Spain | Nationalist Air Force | 40 |
| Lev L. Shestakov | Russia | Republican Air Force | 39<ref> See also World War II.</ref> |
| Sergei I. Gritsevets | Russia | Republican Air Force | 30 |
| Julio Diaz-Benjumea | Spain | Nationalist Air Force | 24 |
| Manuel Claver | Spain | Republican Air Force | 23 |
| Manuel Sagastizabal | Spain | Nationalist Air Force | 21 |
| Leopoldo Rubio | Spain | Republican Air Force | 21 |
| Pavel V. Rychagov | Russia | Republican Air Force | 20 |
[edit] World War II
[edit] Korean War
| Name | Country | Service | Victories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nikolay Sutyagin | Soviet Union | VVS | 21 |
[edit] See also
- List of World War II aces by country
- List of Vietnam War flying aces
- List of flying aces in Arab-Israeli wars
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Kari Stenman & Kalevi Keskinen: Finnish Aces of World War 2, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 23, Osprey Publishing 1998, ISBN 952-5186-24-5
- Fighter ace list (10,000+ names)
- Toliver & Constable. Horrido!: Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe (Aero 1968)cs:Letecké eso
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