I’m just curious as to who is your all time WWII ace I’ll start with and break it down into Nations
USA…Thomas Mcquire
Germany…Adolf Galland
Japan…Saburo Saki
Britan… Douglas Bader
These are just my favs. I’m currently starting work on Saburos’s A6M2 he flew in in 1942 if all goes well i hope to post some pics
Scott
I, too, am soon to start on Saburo Sakai’s A6M2. Just curious, which kit are you going with? I’m told the Hasegawa is the best, but I had trouble finding one with his markings, plus they’re pricey. I’m going to go with the Tamiya and just hand scribe the panel lines. I just finished scribing an old Monogram C-47 and it turned out pretty good.
George Preddy.
It’s a toss-up between Erich Hartmann and Gunther Rall.
For the other nations mentioned…
USA - Gabby Gabreski
Japan - Hiroyoshi Nishizawa
GB - Geoffrey Page
Richard Ira Bong USAAC, Pappy Boyington USMC, Gabby Gabreski USAAC, Tex Hill AVG, and Dick Rossi AVG. Eric Hartman Germany. Saburo Sakia Japan.
They are all men who did their jobs for their country, but then so did the thousands of other men and women (Russia) thrust into the war.
Gedenke, I’m going to use Tamiya’s 1/48 A6M2 it has the decals for V-103 which was shot down while Saki was recovering after his confortation with some Avengers, careful with the scribing though alot of the Zero’s was raised rivit lines mainly on the fuselage not sure if im going to super detail it or OOB my skills are years lacking but we’ll see
Scott
One of the pilots in Pierre Clostermann’s The Big Show said it best: ‘whoever first painted insignia on a plane was a swine’. In that spirit, I have to vote for probably the best pure shooter of WWII, Hans-Joachim Marseille. Not only that, but he was a bad boy with attitude.
I’ve never met any of them so can’t have a favourite, but since Foss told the TSA to shove it, I think he’ll probably get my long-distance vote.
NTM
Swanny has a good tutorial on scribing, here’s the link: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Scribing.html . I found a decent alternative to raised rivets, which are inevitably leveled if one was to do any sanding. After scribing and sanding, carefully take the point of your scribe and gently “poke” where you want a “rivet” to be. By doing this, one can lay out a decent “rivet pattern” that goes along nicely with your recessed panel line, at least by my ametuer standards.
And as for my fav ace, obviously I am impressed with Saburo Sakai for Japan. But to tell the truth, I am a bit of a novice when it comes to individual pilot’s stories, but so far, Dick Bong’s record stands out, and I like what Tex Hill was doing with the Flying Tiger’s. As for the Brit’s, I have no idea.
george buerling
28 planes in 14 days of fighting can not be argued with
How about John D Landers, an ace in two theatres!
Right now, I would say Helmut Lent. But that’s just because I’m currently reading his book, The Lent Papers. Pretty good read. Had 110 kills in a Bf-110, almost all at night.
PTO: 1. USN: Edward “Butch” O’Hare of St. Louis, Missouri. O’Hare’s most famous flight occurred on February 20, 1942. He was on board the aircraft carrier Lexington, which had been assigned the dangerous task of penetrating enemy-held waters north of New Ireland. While still 400 miles from the harbor at Rabaul, was discovered by a Japanese flying boat and a group of Japanese torpedo planes attacked the task force. As section leader and pilot of VF-3, O’Hare single-handedly shot down 5 or 6 planes and helped to save the ship. For this act he was promoted to lieutenant commander and awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of his country. 2. USAAF: Maj. Carrol C. “Snuffy” Smith and his R/O, Lt Philip Porter, flying his Northrop P-61 Black Widow, “Times’A’Wastin”. Maj. “Snuffy” Smith was the highest ranking American nocturnal ace in World War II with the total of 7 kills. Four of them were achieved in this plane during the course of one night, December 29, 1944, when he shot down two Irvings, one Rufe, and one Frank, while expending only 382 rounds. Tom T [C):-)] |
|---|
For me it would have to be Gunther Rall. Amazing pilot, great career, awesome person. [^]
275 kills, shot down 8 times, broken back in 3 places on one of those but flew again 9 months later and continued racking up the kills. Was shot down by P-47s of the 5th fighter group where he lost part of his thumb. After the war he went on to fly F-84 Thunderjets and F-104 Starfighters. You’ll see him from time to time on History and Military channel shows when they interview German fighter pilots. Remakable individual.
I’m going to build up the 1/32 Hasegawa ME109G-6 as one of his aircraft.
If I had to chose a favourite, it would be Douglas Barder. Even though horribly injured, without his legs he was still determined to serve his country in its time of need. He was a hands on leader and never gave his enemy a break. They did not like him but they respected him, even allowing the RAF to drop him some new tin legs after he had been captured, which he promtly used to escape!
Cripes a mighty, it has to be George Preddy in his blue nose P-51D Mustang. There is an on-line petician to change the name of Pope AFB in North Carolina to Pope-Preddy AFB.
Go to Preddyfoundation.com to sign. Thanks
emo07
Pappy Boyington.
Sorry to pull out a cleche… but Dick Bong did rack up 40 kills. Tommy Maguire was in a close second. Im a P-38 fan. And for germany…definately Adolf Galland.
-graham
In the 7 years I spent as an air museum director in NJ, I had the honor of hosting 4 fight pilot symposiums and attending several P-47, P-51 Pilot’s Association reunions at West Point. In addition, participating in the Gathering of Eagles reunions back in the 80s and 90s offered some great opportunities to meet some great fliers. That being said, all were very nice, although I must have caught Gen. Galland on a bad day, he was quite arrogant when we spoke.
One of the nicest people I’ve ever met isn’t an ace…but flew P-51s with the 99th FG, the famed “Tuskegee Airmen”. His name is Calvin Spann, he lives in NJ, and not only loves everything about flying, but loves life in general.
Another is American Arthur Raymond Brooks, a gentleman I had the honor of knowing, and at the time of his passing in 1991 was America’s last WW1 ace. He flew the Spad “Smith IV” that resides in the NASM. He wanted to name the plane after his girlfriend, but chose her college, Smith College instead, because he never wanted to announce that Louise (his girlfriend) had her tailfeathers shot off…
American Alex Vraciu - perhaps the nicest person I’ve ever met.
Germans Walter Krupinski and Gunther Rall - another pair of easy-going, down-to-earth people.
I can’t comment on other nations, as I’ve never had the priviledge of meeting an RAF or IJN/IJA ace.
I guess when you use the term “favorite”, there’s alot of factors to think about. I look at it this way…they were all experts in their field, so defining a personal favorite is based on my conversations and friendships with some of these great men.
Jeff
Pappy Boyington.
Crusty, earthy, and a Marine with a down-to-earth view of heroes.