The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII... Finalized....

The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII..........


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hmmmmmmm not real sure Les if I agree about lesser numbers of aces confronting the US fly boyz.
the Germans being against the 8th AF was not a cake walk as they have said it was easy to punch out Soviet flyers, US was another story though far easier to acheive a kill as there were so many targets available.
 
I think Marseille and his kill totals are misleading.. Yea the guy was skilled. But against what kinda aircraft??? P-40's?????

I wouldn't doubt the P-40 so much. I vite for Clive Caldwell, altough he's not on the list. Here's some reasons why:
-Downing 5 bombers in one engagement:
"I received radio warning that a large enemy formation was approaching from the north-west. No 250 Squadron went into line astern behind me and as No 112 Squadron engaged the escorting fighters we attacked the JU's from the rear quarter. At 300 yards I opened fire with all my guns at the leader of one of the rear sections of three, allowing little deflection and hit No.2 and No.3, one of which burst into flames immediately, the other going down smoking...I then attacked the leader of the rear section from below and behind, opening fire with all guns at very close range. The enemy aircraft turned over and dived steeply...I opened on another again at close range, then enemy caught fire and crashed in flames.

-Caldwell shot down Marseille:
On 21 February 1942, one of the Luftwaffe's most successful desert fighter pilots Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt was shot down in flames by Clive Caldwell.
A quote from Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt (59 Victories).
"One of the leading Kittyhawks (Caldwell) had suddenly pulled up into a vertical position, hung briefly on it's propeller and fired just one burst".

A quote from Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 Victories) who witnessed Caldwell's adventurous attack.
"It was a fabulous shot".

A quote from Bobby Gibbes (10 Victories)
"I saw what you were trying to do but never thought you could do it".

-Surviving 109's
While flying top cover for supply planes inbound for Tobruk, two Bf-109's led by the 114-victory ace Werner Schroer ambushed him. The German planes punched 108 machine gun bullets and five 20mm shells into the hapless fighter, damaging its instrument panel, controls, tail, wings, and wounding Caldwell in the back, shoulder and leg.

Instead of crashing to the ground, the Tomahawk managed to stay airborne. And instead of attempting to escape, the Sydney-born Caldwell turned into his attackers and returned fire. He shot down Schroer's wingman, unnerving Schroer to the point that he ran for home. The Australian ace made it home.


...All with 'just a P40'
 
Something called pilot skill........ How did so many Finnish pilots shoot down Bf-109's in their Brewster Buffalos???

Pilot skill....... A great pilot can make a POS fly like the wind.......

Like i stated above, maybe Schroer was bingo fuel and had to make it back to his lines.....
 
I don't know Les, I really wouldn't call the P-40 a total piece of crap, maybe a little sh*tty. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to face an ME-109 or a -190 in one, but the "Tigers" did do well with it, but as you pointed out earlier, "PILOT SKILL."

Many Commonwealth nations used the P-40 and it served them well. In the ground support role, it did well considering it was available in numbers. From what I understand, it was easy to maintain, easy to fix (I know, it probably had a lot of holes to patch up) and had a huge logistic support network. I don't know, if I had a choice between a P-40 and a P-39, I think I would go for the 40.

You know maybe that's a good idea for a new topic?!? "If you had to fly a piece of crap, which one would you fly?" ;)
 
by the way Marseille shot down 76 P-40's.

what the heck is a P-46 as this craft was opposed by I./JG 27 pilots in Afrika ?

Marseille though was a brilliant deflection shot but personally he would of been KIA in the Reichsverteidigung with his gruppe....
 
no, P-46 as it is listed in the German Abschüsse listings. U maybe right about a P-36 but this is what they have written down. quite a few claimed by the I./JG 27 Afrika boyz
 
Erich said:
no, P-46 as it is listed in the German Abschüsse listings. U maybe right about a P-36 but this is what they have written down. quite a few claimed by the I./JG 27 Afrika boyz

The RAF decided that its Mohawks were not suitable for the European theater, and sent 72 of them to the South African Air Force where they were flown by the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th Squadrons which operated in East Africa. Perhaps this explains these claims?
 
that probably is correct....

I./JG 27 claimed :

262 P-40's

37 P-46's

this for their time in Afrika till November 15, 1942, when Fw. Gustav Sturm shot down a B-24 for his 1st victory south of El Agheila and the last of the I. gruppe in Afrika, returned to the West and fighting in March of 43 against RAF and US forces over France.
 

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