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| Polls Polls and discussion on their results. |
| View Poll Results: The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII.......... | |||
| Ivan Kozhedub, 62 Kills |     | 104 | 7.78% |
| Alexandr Pokryshkin, 59 Kills |    | 46 | 3.44% |
| Hans-Joachim Marseille, 158 Kills |    | 192 | 14.37% |
| Erich Hartmann, 352 Kills |    | 300 | 22.46% |
| Adolf Galland, 104 Kills |    | 82 | 6.14% |
| Heinz Bar, 221 Kills |    | 134 | 10.03% |
| Walter Nowotny, 259 Kills | | 75 | 5.61% |
| Josef Priller, 101 Kills | | 40 | 2.99% |
| Dick Bong, 40 Kills | | 47 | 3.52% |
| David McCampbell, 34 Kills | | 35 | 2.62% |
| Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, 87 Kills | | 66 | 4.94% |
| Saburo Sakai, 64 Kills | | 26 | 1.95% |
| Marmaduke St. John Pattle, 62 Kills | | 96 | 7.19% |
| Johnnie Johnson, 38 Kills | | 53 | 3.97% |
| Thomas McGuire, 38 Kills | | 40 | 2.99% |
| Voters: 1336. You may not vote on this poll | |||
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06-12-2009, 03:02 PM
| #331 |
| Member Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 89
| Among Luft aces for pure skill it's generally agreed Rall was best. If not injured for a year would probably have beat Hartmann. in career aspects other than flight skills, awards, etc, then combining all, Galland has always been my favorite Luft pilot. Happy to have had the chance to meet and speak with him several times. Best night ace and leader, Werner Streib and most overlooked of the higher decorated and scroring Luft aces: Hermann Graf Last edited by DerAdlerIstGelandet; 06-13-2009 at 05:23 AM. Reason: Merged 4 posts into 1 post... |
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06-12-2009, 07:12 PM
| #332 |
| Member  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Texas
Posts: 84
| I dunno, Joe Foss is not on the list as well as some others at Guadalcanal. What he and others did with what they had was amazing. They took on the best the IJN had and at that time they were still VERY good. If we flew our pilots into the ground like the Luftwaffe did, I'm sure some of them would have reached triple digits as well. I recall in another thread that Robert Johnson while in combat got his kills faster than most other aces in their respective time frames. |
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06-13-2009, 12:21 AM
| #333 |
| IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO   Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 16,050
| And he won the poll 
__________________ "IF ITS RED OR DUSTY, DON'T TOUCH IT"  |
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06-13-2009, 05:27 AM
| #334 |
| Der Crewchief  Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Ansbach, Germany
Posts: 33,152
| Heinz Bär was a truly amazing pilot. While is not my favorite (that title does go to Hartmann for certain reasons), I do think he was the greatest pilot of WW2.
__________________  fly boy:"isnt that the first jet bomber becasue i have flown one in a flight sim before and i know how it handles"[/I] |
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06-13-2009, 11:34 AM
| #335 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Texas
Posts: 1,736
| I agree that Heinz Bär might have been the best. He was a great pilot and leader as well. I don't know how any of those German aces survived the war. Bär led his men very well when he was with JG1 against overwhelming odds. He also wasn't afraid to argue with the system, making him unpopular with Goerring. The interesting thing is only 79 of his victories were on the eastern front. All the rest of his victories were against British and American aircraft and pilots. Including 16 in a 262 making him a jet ace as well. That really makes him stand out in my mind. It is hard to look at just score and figure out the greatest though. There are many pilots who did not fly as many missions as Bär orHartmann, but had much higher kill ratios, such as Wilhelm Batz, Gunther Rall and Otto Kittel, who if kill ratio to kills and missions flown are taken into consideration; score very high. Much higher then Hartmann or Bär. Last edited by Amsel; 06-13-2009 at 12:09 PM. |
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06-15-2009, 11:22 PM
| #336 | |
| Member Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 89
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06-16-2009, 03:27 PM
| #337 | |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: oregon
Posts: 3,942
| Quote:
Amsel made the right observation abour Baer however. He fought, scored and survived the war against top notch adversaries throughout his caree, as well as B-17s and B-24s with many opportunities for the 'golden B B". So many Experten scored big in the East and died in the West - but not Baer. Given that Rall was whacked out for rest of the war within a month of Western Ops, one can only speculate on the fate of Hartmann and Barkhorn had they come to the Battle of Germany at the same time. Great pilots but would have faced a pretty rough war in May 1944 over Germany. | |
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07-22-2009, 02:12 AM
| #338 |
| Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Oshawa ON
Posts: 28
| I gotta say Adolph Galland. Not just because of his kill record but because of the kind of person he was. During a war and belonging to a nation that had a lot of barbarity to it, Galland had class. As a general in the LW, when downed allied pilots were brought to his HQ, there was no interrogation. Galland broke out his finest drink, made them as comfortable as possible, and he and the pilot would talk about flying. He figured the pilot was going to be in for a rough enough time AFTERwards. Then again, I may be biased having had the opportnity of meeting him many years ago, and despite the obvious aristocracy in his blood, he was very approachable and answered my many questions. |
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07-22-2009, 03:21 AM
| #339 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 923
| Eino Ilmari Juutilainen - 94 Kills Flying for Finland in a worn out Bf109.
__________________ It's always easy to find reasons why something shouldn't be done, the trick is to find ways to get it done. -- claidemore |
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10-17-2009, 06:32 AM
| #340 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: perth
Posts: 109
| i had to choose Marseille is one of the best fighter pilots of all time his abilities were unique and unmatched in the skys. shame that Australian ace clive "killer"caldwell wasn't on the poll he shot down german and jap fighters. great poll anyways. Gepp |
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10-18-2009, 09:31 AM
| #341 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: nederland zwaag
Posts: 187
| HELMUT LENT 111 airial victory's. kommodore of NJG3. Wore the diamonds to the knight's Cross..the first of only two nightfigthers. looks good in his uniform. Last edited by piet; 10-18-2009 at 04:30 PM. Reason: to help the conversations continue |
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10-18-2009, 11:15 AM
| #342 | |
| Der Crewchief Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Ansbach, Germany
Posts: 33,152
| Quote:
It is much better to tell people why than just blurt out one name posts, it helps the conversations continue...
__________________ fly boy:"isnt that the first jet bomber becasue i have flown one in a flight sim before and i know how it handles"[/I] | |
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10-20-2009, 05:12 PM
| #343 |
| Member  Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 52
| You guys sure think up difficult polls - it's like getting a kid to choose JUST ONE item from a candy store  Anyway, I went for Marseille for the following reasons: 1.) He was a brilliant shot. 2.) He seemed quite happy to"mix it" rather than the standard zoom and boom. 3.) He was innovative. 4.) He liked Jazz 5.) Apparently he was also very popular with the girls. ... what more could one want. |
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10-25-2009, 04:46 AM
| #344 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: perth
Posts: 109
| On what iv read i personally think gunther rall was the best and IMO if Rall didn't have his thumb shot off he would of exceeded hartmann's score of 352 he was very skilled fighter pilot and responsible and smart leader new when to call the shots. The man was tuff as Nails seriously he broke his back in three places Doctors told him was finished as a pilot and he would not be able to walk again but defied the odds and returned to combat almost a year later. now that's determination.
__________________  I was lucky in my first dogfight, but it did give me a hell of a lot of self-confidence ... and a scaring, because I was also hit by many bullets |
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