I was reading the greatest fighter pilot poll on here and it was funny that no one mentioned Major George Preddy of the 352nd fighter group, the Blue Nosed Bastards Of Bodney. This man in my opinion was the greatest fighter pilot in the ETO with out question! He was the top scoring Mustang fighter pilot and would have probably scored more kill’s if he hadnt been fatally shot down by his own ack ack on Christmas 1944. So to see him not mentioned is sad. But I’m mentioning him!
Steve[}:)]
Douglas Bader…
Read the book “Reach for the Sky”…
I am in no way denigrating the superhuman efforts of all the men and woman mentioned but for every one mentioned there are countless others who deserved praise for their efforts but whose names are lost to history and doubtless all the brave deeds mentioned were done by others. for just one instance Sir Douglas Bader was not the only pilot in the RAF who lost both legs and went on to fly and fight. his book is titled Best foot farward , an exellent read .any man or woman who straps on a combat aircraft and goes to war not knowing if that day will be their last is a great person and deserves to be called a hero…Gregers
I’ll have to go with Naplak on this one. In fact, I just finished reading his book. It’s a funny thing, everyone at my school is talking about the new Harry Potter book. All I tell them is: “You want to see some real magic? read this book(reach for the sky) and you’ll find some real magicians!!!”
Although there is still a place in my heart for Gabby Gabreski and Sailor Malan. And who could forget Screwball Beurling…
Lancaster_lover
Bandit’s!!! 12 O’Clock high!!!
CHUCK YEAGER… May not have had as many kills as others, but was nothing
short of a genius with a P51 (or whatever else he strapped on), and is still flying
on his 80th birthday… Who else can lay claim to that??
Cheers
I would have to say Chuck Yeager also. My second choice would be Duke Cunningham.
Hi Everyone,
Noticed no one mentioned Robert Stanford Tuck, one of the most charismatic fighter pilots there ever was. Shot down 6 times and jumped right back in except the last time when he was captured and met up with Douglas Bader in Colditz late in the war.
I was lucky enough to meet Thelma Bader (Douglas’s Wife)back in 1993, at North Weald Airshow. Not many people know that Douglas, fought the battle of limb loss to the end of his days, helping everyone he could come to terms with it. Thelma carries on that cause in his name.
To me Douglas wins the prize, because he gave his whole life to others even after the flying war was won.
Lo everyone
Hey! We’ve just got army guys & Brits here! How about Cmd.Dave McCampbell USN? I Mean how many pilots have shot down 9 enemy planes in one mission?
Unless I missed him mentioned, Werner Molders with his 115 kills certainally deserves mention. He also developed the ‘finger four’ formation used by the Germans and the RAF. He died after only 2 years of war. Also, Saburo Sakai deserves some credit surviving the war in an obsolete airplane while managing 68 kills.
Tough choice. The wingman that kept the ace alive? The guy that stuck with a damaged bomber until his tanks were nearly dry? How about the guy that circled his downed buddy’s raft until a dumbo arrived and then ran out of fuel and ditched beside the dumbo? Maybe the OS2U Kingfisher (yeah I know it’s not a fighter) pilot that picked up so many downed aviators in Truk lagoon that his tailplanes were in the water and he had to taxi through the Pacific to a sub to unload so he could take off.
I’m a Robert S Johnson man myself. I’ve got a text book from miramar top gun school and the author quotes him over and over again. Johnson wqas one of the most natural fighter pilots that ever lived, his instincts were perfect. In a mock fight one time he beat a higher spit 9 in his jug, stunned the hell out of the spit pilot in the process. Johnson had a higher kill ratio per his first 100 missions than Galland and a couple of the other big time german aces, whose specific names I can’t remember just now 
A huge huge impact he had was training the new guys and educating them on SA and tactics, so his true impact is literally immeasureable.
I also like Joe Foss an awful lot. Gotta love a great USMC pilot and a CMH winner to boot.
Saboro Sakai was a fantastic Nipponese pilot as well.
maddafinga
I have my favorites…but, I have to agree with gregers and claymore on this. Anybody who took to the air deserves to have the recognition for what they have done…high, low, or no kills. They went up to do a job, whether that job was escort (strafing runs, bombing, recon, ferrying, etc…) that is a big task to put your life on the line every day. This also goes for any military personnel who answered the call. Possibly a better title for these posts would be…“who is your favorite…and why?”. No offense anybody…there are a lot of accolades to be given out.
Jerry
I was glad to see that at least one other person mentioned Capt. David McCampbell. Ever since I’ve read about his exploits in the Marianas and heroism over Leyte Gulf I’ve greatly admired him. A 1/32 scale Hasegawa F6F is going to be built up in his markings.
Lietch (Andy),
I actually did mention Tuck’s name, read both his and Baders bio
" Fly for Your Life" (Tuck) and “Reach for the Sky” (Bader). Tucks I read first back in my glory days of high school (many moons ago) and I still have the copy after all these years, His bio is what got me going on flying and read many other bios after word, American, German, Japanese.
I didn’t place him in my No#1, but it was hard for me to choose Tuck or Blakeslee. I am glad to see that someone did, it would be ashame if R.S. Tuck had not shown up in the spot.
Well, I know it ain’t me! [:p]
Fade to Black…
Lo everyone,
I don’t know if I would call him the greatest fighter pilot, but for pure enthusiasm Robert L. Scott would have to get my vote.
Later, Mike
‘It’s the guy you don’t see who’s most likely to cream you’
Tom Blackburn
What game is that screen shot from?
maddafinga
All great answers but no fighter pilot flies and fights alone for very long. As my own Viet Nam experience proved, a lot has to do with luck… not getting drilled by the “golden bee bee” good team work and luck. I must put in a mention for Joe Foss… 26 in an inferior crate at Guadelcanal and sick all the time to boot. COndiser Jack Bolt… a Blacksheep ace in Korea as well. Check Six! Razor
Maddafinga,
They’re from IL-2 Sturmovik, the sim that made me clean out the hard drive and ditch everything else. Although MS CFS3 doesn’t look too bad…
Fade to Black…
I put a plug for Foss in a bit ago, great man. Lets also not forget Randy “Duke” Cunningham, another great pilot, i have some video of a nasty fight he and his wing got in with a whole nest of migs, he made ace that day.
I haven’t played IL-2, but that screen looks good. I’m somewhat afraid that after years of playing online sims against real people, the computer ai is simply not very challenging. I do have a great stick/throttle/rudderpedals setup though, i might need to hook it all back up. Playing against real people is way more intense, give Aces High a shot sometime.
madda