These are the Top 10 Aces of Aces

Comments · 1.8K

• KS

  @Ksozey · 4 years ago

  Funny story of another German ace with over 300 kills (301). After the war, Gerhard Barkhorn also flew with the West German Air Force. While learning to fly a British Harrier jet, he crashed. Allegedly while walking away from the wreckage he said “Well that’s 302 allied aircraft destroyed!”👍😉

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• JA

  @jansvoboda4293 · 4 years ago

  I would include Ilmari Juutilainen. 126 claimed/ 94 confirmed kills.<br>&quot;Juutilainen was the top scoring Finnish fighter pilot. He flew Fokker D.XXI, Brewster Buffalo, and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. He was one of only four people to twice receive the highest Finnish military decoration, the Mannerheim Cross, and is considered the highest scoring non-German ace of all time. Juutilainen finished the war without a single hit to his plane from enemy fighter airplanes (once he was forced to land after a friendly anti-aircraft gun fired at his Bf 109). Like Japanese fighter ace Saburo Sakai, Juutilainen never lost a wingman in combat.&quot;

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• RA

  @RANDALLBRIGGS · 4 years ago (edited)

  Ward: Snoopy did not role-play as the Red Baron. &nbsp;He was &quot;flying a Sopwith Camel&quot; and trying to shoot down the Red Baron.

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• LO

  @louisavondart9178 · 4 years ago

  Hartmann wasn&apos;t forced into retirement. He resigned in protest over the decision to buy the F104. He didn&apos;t want to be responsible for the death of his pilots.

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• AR

  @AreYouEntertainednow · 4 years ago

  As a kid in the 70&apos;s and 80&apos;s my Opa who was a World War II Luftwaffe Bomber Pilot, He-111, would take me to reunions of various Luftwaffe units in Germany and here in the U.S.. I was able to meet people like Eric Hartmann, Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall, and many more legends of that conflict. &nbsp;I have three binders full of autographs, photos, and cards from these veterans. &nbsp;They were all extremely nice and outgoing especially to a kid who was so interested in hearing their stories. &nbsp;Thanks for doing this one Ward! &nbsp;My Opa&apos;s Heinkel is sitting in the Smithsonian Museum in D.C..When they recovered the airplane they found his logbook and other paperwork that identified the crew and so in the 90&apos;s they had the whole family attend the unveiling of the exhibit. It was an emotional event for all.

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• JA

  @jaredthompson7567 · 4 years ago

  I think that an Honorable Mention should go to Franz Stigler. &nbsp;He was credited with 28 victories in WW2, awarded the Iron Cross First Class and was nominated for the Knights Cross. He was also the pilot who not only refused to finish off a badly damaged B-17, but also escorted the plane back through German anti-aircraft batteries to help them get back to England. An amazing story of humanity during a war!

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• RO

  @robertlow85 · 4 years ago

  Did you forget Billy Bishop Canadian WW1 ace and decorated fighterVC, CB, DSO &amp; Bar, MC, DFC, ED was a Canadian flying ace of the First World War. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian and British Empire ace of the war. He was an Air Marshal and a Victoria Cross recipient.

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• AD

  @adenkyramud5005 · 4 years ago

  That story about immelmann truly encapsulates the term knights of the sky. Absolutely amazing.

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• RE

  @retiredfedleo6441 · 4 years ago

  I was lucky to have met Eddie Rickenbacker many times when I was a kid, when he was the President of Eastern Air Lines he believed that his senior executives should be working on Saturday mornings like he did, which included my father. &nbsp;So occasionally I&apos;d go into the EAL offices at 10 Rockefeller Plaza with my dad and play with the old Burroughs electric calculators and marvel at the Xerox machine. &nbsp;Rickenbacker always had time for a visit and would let me spin around in his leather office chair, saying I was the &quot;new boss.&quot; &nbsp;He was also notoriously competitive and a skinflint at the airline, one of my favorite stories was when a decorator was showing him fabric samples to be used on the new Lockheed Constellation and asked, &quot;So Captain Eddie, what would you like to see on those 98 seats?&quot; &nbsp;To which Rickenbacker replied, &quot;98 asses!&quot;

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• ED

  @EdMcF1 · 4 years ago

  My favourite pilot, Finnish Ace with 75 victories in WW2, Hans Wind. The name, the enemy, and he looked like Tintin.

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• CH

  @chriscline374 · 4 years ago

  Ward,<br>I&apos;m a huge Peanuts fan. Just a correction, Snoopy didn&apos;t role play as the &quot;Red Baron&quot;, Snoopy was playing the part of a &quot;World War I flying ace&quot; and his doghouse was his &quot;Sopwith Camel&quot;. He was hunting for the Red Baron, but was often shot down by him instead, subsequently shaking his fist as the victorious Red Baron flew by. Just for clarification.

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• HE

  @HemlockRidge · 4 years ago

  You didn&apos;t mention that Herman Goring shot down 22 Allied Aircraft in WWI. &nbsp;He also commanded the Flying Circus after von Richthofen and Reinhard.

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