Legends were carved out in the skies as distinguished pilots made names for themselves by taking off into suicide missions and coming back alive, over and over again. These are some of those men, the ace pilots of early military aviation.
On the list of coolest ever job titles, fighter pilot would undoubtedly be up there. Something about the combination of breathtaking speed, physics-defying hand-eye co-ordination, incredible acrobatics, and the all too real one-mistake-and-you’re-dead danger, gives pilots the kind of street cred the rest of us can only dream of.
But if being a fighter pilot is cool, imagine being a legendary fighter pilot. Not just one of the average. One of the truly extraordinary.
To even begin to earn legendary status, you first have to achieve the feat of becoming an Ace. The standard definition of a fighter Ace is someone who has achieved a minimum of five air combat victories against other pilots. This is proof of your reactions, your mettle and your superior skill. The 10 pilots on this list have all achieved this. But these guys have done more than that. They have performed some of the most remarkable feats ever known in aerial combat. Because the status of Ace has been achieved by around 5,500 pilots in history, there is, by necessity, some subjectivity. But beyond debate, these are some of the greatest fighter pilots that have ever lived.
Here's our list of the greatest fighter aces for all time.
13. Adolphe Pegoud
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| (Adolphe Célestin Pégoud) |
French
(13 June 1889 – 31 August 1915)
Adolphe Célestin Pégoud was a French aviator and flight instructor who became the first fighter ace in history during World War I.
With only five victories to his name, Pegoud is the lowest scoring pilot on our list. He was however, also the very first pilot in history to be awarded the title of Ace, despite only learning to fly in 1913. But he proved a natural and became the second man in history to fly a loop. As well as being the first Ace, he was also the first man to parachute out of an airplane. Pegoud was a popular flying instructor before the outbreak of World War I. Ironically this proved to be his downfall, as in 1915, aged just 26, he was shot down and killed by one of his pre-war students.
12. James "Jimmy" Doolittle
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| (James "Jimmy" Doolittle) |
American
(December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993)
James Harold "Jimmy" Doolittle was an American aviation pioneer. A Reserve officer in the United States Army Air Corps, Doolittle was recalled to active duty during World War II and awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor and leadership as commander of the Doolittle Raid, a bold long-range retaliatory air raid on the Japanese main islands weeks after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. He was eventually promoted to lieutenant general and commanded the Twelfth Air Force over North Africa, the Fifteenth Air Force over the Mediterranean, and the Eighth Air Force over Europe.
James Doolittle is an American Medal of Honor recipient mostly known for his success in what was later named the ‘Doolittle Raid’. He was born in California in 1896 and enlisted in the military in 1917. He served in WWI as a pilot instructor and later moved up the ranks in between the first and second World Wars. The Doolittle Raid took place on April 18th, 1942, and was a bombing raid on the Japanese capital Tokyo. It was the first air strike to ever hit the islands of Japan. Doolittle planned and personally executed the raid, and many of his men and planes were lost. The survivors parachuted into China where the Chinese helped them to reach safety. Doolittle initially thought the raid would be considered a failure, but it damaged the Japanese morale significantly and therefore he was greeted enthusiastically upon his return to the allied forces. He was immediately promoted to Brigadier General and fought the rest of the war as a high-ranking officer. Unlike most pilots, he eventually retired and lived a long life, dying at age 96 in 1993.
11. Edward "Mick" Mannock
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| (Edward Corringham "Mick" Mannock) |
British
(24 May 1887 – 26 July 1918)
Edward Corringham "Mick" Mannock VC, DSO & Two Bars, MC & Bar was a British flying ace in the Royal Flying Corps and in the Royal Air Force during the First World War. Mannock was a pioneer of fighter aircraft tactics in aerial warfare.
Regarded as one of the greatest fighter pilots of the First World War, Edward "Mick" Mannock won the Military Cross twice, was a three-time winner of the Distinguished Service Order and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. It was boasted that he never lost a wingman. He was the top British Ace of WWI with his 61 victories, but his life was dominated by his fear of being burned alive in his cockpit. Tragically, just four days after telling one of his comrades that, "There won’t be any "after the war" for me," Mannock was shot down and killed.
10. Albert Ball
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| (Albert Ball) |
British
(14 August 1896 – 7 May 1917)
Albert Ball, VC, DSO & Two Bars, MC was an English fighter pilot during the First World War. At the time of his death he was the United Kingdom's leading flying ace, with 44 victories, and remained its fourth-highest scorer behind Edward Mannock, James McCudden, and George McElroy.
Albert Ball achieved more in his 20 years on the planet than most people will do in 80. Born in England in 1896 to a wealthy and respected family, he joined the RAF at the outbreak of WWI in 1914. Ball soon rose through the ranks to become one of the most well respected and feared English pilots, developing a reputation amongst both the allied forces and the German ones. A loner, Ball would often choose tending to his garden or practicing violin over socializing with his fellow pilots. His demeanor was reflected in his combat style, in which he would often stray from friendly planes to seek out enemy targets alone. He was last seen pursuing Lothar Von Richthofen, the younger brother of the ‘Red Baron’, into a dark cloud with no support, and at some point during the confrontation he was shot down and killed.
9. René Fonck
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| (Colonel René Paul Fonck wearing the Légion d'honneur) |
French
(27 March 1894 – 18 June 1953)
Colonel René Paul Fonck was a French aviator who ended the First World War as the top Allied fighter ace, and when all succeeding aerial conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries are also considered, Fonck still holds the title of "all-time Allied Ace of Aces".
His 75 confirmed victories — out of 142 claimed — showed him to be a supreme aerial combatant, bettered by a mere five victories by the infinitely better-known Red Baron. This is made all the more remarkable as Fonck had only learned to fly in 1915. Fonck was never wounded, and he claimed that his plane was only ever hit by one bullet. He was regarded as an excellent marksman, who prided himself on using as little ammunition as possible to take down his enemies. He was also Awarded the Legion d’Honneur.
8. John "Jimmy" Thach
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| (John Smith "Jimmy" Thach, circa 1942-43) |
American
(April 19, 1905 – April 15, 1981)
John Smith "Jimmy" Thach was a World War II naval aviator, air combat tactician, and United States Navy admiral. Thach developed the Thach Weave, a combat flight formation that could counter enemy fighters of superior performance, and later the big blue blanket, an aerial defense against Kamikaze attacks.
In his early career, John Thach became an expert in aerial gunnery, and this sort of excellence meant he was often kept grounded to train other pilots, rather than be risked himself. This explains his relatively low numbers. Thach is perhaps best known for developing a flight formation known as the Thach Weave, which enabled American pilots to hold their own against superior Japanese aircraft, as well as creating a defense known as the Big Blue Blanket, which helped defend warships from kamikaze attacks, thus saving many more lives than he took. He is credited with six victories during WWII.
7. James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson
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| (James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson) |
British
(9 March 1915 – 30 January 2001)
Air Vice Marshal James Edgar Johnson, CB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, DFC & Bar, nicknamed "Johnnie", was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and flying ace—defined as a pilot that has shot down five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat—who flew and fought during the Second World War.
Johnnie Johnson was the highest scoring Allied pilot against the Luftwaffe in WWII. A broken collarbone sustained as a youth playing rugby meant that flying was more difficult, and in particularly extreme maneuvers, could numb his right hand. In 515 escapes, he was only hit once, which instantly marks him as one of the true greats. His success in battle, where he was regarded as one of the greatest Spitfire pilots of World War II, saw him climb the ranks rapidly, becoming a Wing Commander by 1943. By the time he retired in 1966, he had reached the rank of Vice Air Marshall.
6. Adolf "Dolfo" Galland
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| (Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland) |
German
(19 March 1912 – 9 February 1996)
Adolf "Dolfo" Joseph Ferdinand Galland was a German Luftwaffe general and flying ace who served throughout the Second World War in Europe. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front and in the Defence of the Reich. On four occasions, he survived being shot down, and he was credited with 104 aerial victories, all of them against the Western Allies.
Just one in a seemingly endless stream of incredible German fighter pilots, Adolf Galland became a general before he was 30 years old. He was a holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (the highest German award to recognize extreme battlefield bravery during World War II). His tally of victories would have almost certainly been higher, but his rank meant that German high command banned him from flying combat missions for long periods of the war. He was shot down on four occasions but survived every time. Galland was also something of a gentleman in combat, refusing to shoot pilots who were parachuting out of their planes.
5. William "Billy" Bishop
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| (William Avery "Billy" Bishop) |
Canadian
(8 February 1894 – 11 September 1956)
Air Marshal William Avery "Billy" Bishop VC, CB, DSO & Bar, MC, DFC, ED was a Canadian flying ace and Victoria Cross recipient of the First World War. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian ace of the war. During the Second World War, Bishop was instrumental in setting up and promoting the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
In 1916, when Bishop qualified to be a fighter pilot, the life expectancy of a newly trained pilot was just 11 days. His was an eventful career. He survived a crash-landing in no-mans land (barely 300 yards from the German trenches), an encounter alone against five German fighters, as well as an engagement with The Red Baron, the pilot with the most victories of any pilot in WWI. Bishop received the Distinguished Service Order for shooting down two enemies, while coming under fire from four others. Described by the German’s as Hell’s Handmaiden, Bishop had an all-or-nothing approach that made him the highest scoring Ace in the British Empire.
4. Douglas Bader
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| (Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader) |
British
(21 February 1910 – 5 September 1982)
Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, FRAeS, DL was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace during the Second World War. He was credited with 22 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable and 11 enemy aircraft damaged.
These numbers alone may not stand up to some of the others on this list but what makes his tally truly remarkable is that he achieved all of this despite having no legs (having lost them in a 1931 plane crash). Having enjoyed plenty of combat success in the early stages of the war, in 1941 his luck deserted him, when he was downed and captured by the Germans. He was held in such high regard though, that his captors, including the great German Ace Adolf Galland, arranged for a new prosthetic leg to be delivered from Britain, while he was incarcerated.
3. Manfred Von Richthofen
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| (Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, The Red Baron) |
German
(2 May 1892 – 21 April 1918)
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte) during the First World War. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
Probably the most feared name in aviation history, the Red Baron is certainly the most famous pilot on our list. With the most victories of any pilot in WWI, Richthofen was a massive thorn in the Allied paw, a fact that earned him near-mythic status in Germany. He was well known as a tactician and marksman. His excellence as a pilot was even demonstrated during his final flight, in which he was fatally wounded by a bullet which caused severe trauma to his heart and lungs. Despite rapid blood loss, he still managed a controlled landing, before reportedly uttering his final word, "kaputt."
2. Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Marseille
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| (Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Marseille) |
German
(13 December 1919 – 30 September 1942)
Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Walter Rudolf Siegfried Marseille was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot and flying ace during World War II. He is noted for his aerial battles during the North African Campaign and his Bohemian lifestyle. One of the most successful fighter pilots, he was nicknamed the "Star of Africa".
Captain Hans-Joachim Marseille was a German fighter pilot of French ancestry with 158 confirmed kills. Marseille shot down more British and American fighters than any other pilot in the war in his sorties against the British Desert Air Force. He may have been more skilled than Hartmann, who usually shot down Russian aircraft piloted by less experienced airmen. But his extravagant nightlife often limited his participation in combat, which led to his transfer to North Africa. His unique combat technique was to infiltrate enemy formations and slow down while turning tightly. Once he was surrounded, he used the low speed of the aircraft and its ability to turn rapidly to spray multiple aircraft with bullets, “blowing up the formation from the inside” in Marseille’s words. Marseille’s WWII service began in 1940, and ended in 1942 when he was killed after attempting to bail out of his damaged aircraft.
1. Erich Hartmann
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| (Erich Alfred Hartmann) |
German
(19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993)
Erich Alfred Hartmann, nicknamed "Bubi" by his German comrades and "The Black Devil" by his Soviet adversaries, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He claimed, and was credited with, shooting down 352 Allied aircraft—345 Soviet and 7 American—while serving with the Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his fighter 14 times due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire. He also claimed that he never saw a wingman killed in action.
While this was a list that involved more than simply high scores, there is one man who towers over everyone in this arena, whose achievements are so vast that we just can’t ignore them. Erich Hartmann has more victories, survived more combat missions and enemy engagements, than everyone else on this list.