# Top Aces by plane



## Bullockracing (Apr 13, 2006)

Can anyone help with a list of top aces by plane, i.e. the most kills in a P-51, the most kills in a P-47, etc? Or possibly the plane flown most by the aces below? I know the easy ones off the top of my head, but not all.

Loomaluft posted this list of aces.

>Name-------------------------------Country Kills
erich hartmann---------------------germany 352 kills - Bf109
eino juutilainen-----------------------finland 94 kills
hiroyoshi nishizawa------------------japan 87 kills killed 26th october 1944

ivan kozhedub-----------------------russia 62 kills
prince constantine cantacuzenne-----romania 60 kills
marmaduke *pat* pattle---------south africa 51 kills killed in action 20/4/41

richard bong-----------------------------USA 40 kills - P-38
mato dukovac------------------------croatian 40 kills
james johnson-----------------------------UK 38 kills
deszo szentgyiorgyi-------------------hungary 34 kills
jan rezoak----------------------------slovakia 32 kills
george beurling------------------------canada 31 kills
clive caldwell-------------------------australia 29 kills
colin gray------------------------new zealand 28 kills
adriano visconti--------------------------italy 26 kills killed 29th april 1945

marcel albert---------------------------france 23 kills
stanislaw skalski------------------------poland 22 kills
karel kuttelwascher------------czechoslovakia 18 kills
svein heglund--------------------------norway 15 kills
li kwei-tan-------------------------------china 12 kills
kaj birksted---------------------------denmark 11 kills
yvan georges du monceau de bergandel--belgium 8 kills
cudomir toplodolski----------------------bulgaria 8 kills


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## Salim (Apr 13, 2006)

I checked out 'Pat' Pattle's small biographies here and there, but I do know that he started flying Gloster Gladiator (biplanes, as we know) and later on moved to Hawker Hurricanes.

I should also mention that some sources I've read rated his victories as much as 65 to as little as 34 as opposed to the 51 that you've rated. I'm not sure which is true, so I guess I should leave it to speculation on people more informed than me.

Anyway, that guy was simply amazing... he got that much in only 9 months of combat before getting KIA... just think of what would have happened had he survived. He could have been the only Allied pilot to get over 100 kills!


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## lesofprimus (Apr 14, 2006)

Most of Marmaduke Pattles records were lost.... There is some slight conjecture in certain cirles, but with all available datas, and log books/plane captains records, his total is figured to be the highest of ALL Allied pilots....

Some may dispute, but in the end, the truth died with Pattle...


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## lesofprimus (Apr 14, 2006)

Heres a listing of what I have......

*Country *
Pilot Victories 

*Germany*
Maj. Erich Hartmann* 352 *
*Austria*
Maj. Walter Nowotny *258*
*Japan*
Chief Warrant Officer Hiroyoshi Nishizawa* 147 *
*Finland*
Flight Master E. I. Juutualainen* 94*
*Denmark*
Prince Heinrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein *83*
*South Africa*
Squadron Leader M. T. St. J. Pattle *62*
*USSR*
Guards Col. Ivan N. Kozhedub* 60*
*Rumania*
Capt. Prince Constantine Cantacuzino *60 *
*Croatia*
Mato Dukovac* 44*
*USA*
Maj. Richard I. Bong* 40 *
*UK*
Group Capt. James E. Johnson *38 *
*Poland*
Jan Poniatowski* 36 *
*Hungary*
2nd Lt. Dezjö Szentgyörgyi* 34 *
*Slovak*
Jan Gerthoffer *33*
*France*
Squadron Leader Pierre H. Clostermann* 33 *
*Ireland*
Wing Comdr. Bredan E. Finucane *32 *
*Canada*
Squadron Leader George F. Buerling *31 *
*Australia*
Group Capt. Clive R. Caldwell *28 *
*Czechoslavakia*
Sgt. Josef Frantisek* 28 *
*New Zealand*
Wing Comdr. Colin F. Gray *27 *
*Spain*
Juan Lario Sanchez *27*
*Italy*
Maj. Adriano Visconti *26 *
*Greece*
Wing Com. Ioannis Agorastos Plagis *16*
*Norway*
Flight Lt. Svein Heglund *16 *
*Belgium*
Rodolphe Ghislain Charles de Hemricourt de Grunne *15 *
*Bulgaria*
Maj. Stoyan Iliev Stoyanov *14*
*Rhodesia*
William Ivan Hartley Maguire* 13*
*China*
Kwei-Tan Li *12*
*Denmark*
Group Capt. Kaj Birksted *10 *
*Holland*
Flt. Lt. Bram van der Stok *8*
*Netherlands*
Lt. Col. van Arkel *5*


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## Dogwalker (Apr 14, 2006)

Capt. Mario Visintini was the top scorer flying only with the CR 42, with 16 individuals and two shared victories (plus one with CR-32 in the Spanish Civil War). He died in a storm on 11 February 1941. At that time he was the Italian top scorer.


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## Salim (Apr 14, 2006)

> Most of Marmaduke Pattles records were lost.... There is some slight conjecture in certain cirles, but with all available datas, and log books/plane captains records, his total is figured to be the highest of ALL Allied pilots....
> 
> Some may dispute, but in the end, the truth died with Pattle...



You're right. It's always a shame when the truth can never be known. Still, what he did was absolutely incredible, it was all up there along with the same type of stories you'd hear about Gunther Rall and Erich Hartmann. Even the Ivan (who I assume, survived the war) couldn't have matched his victories... Pattle did them all in 9 months!

And the interesting thing about Richard Bong is the fact that I've seen a lot of other pilots who could have surpassed his record, but didn't because they were either killed (like Tom McGuire) or didn't serve long enough (like Neel Kerby and the USN leading ace, David McCampbell). He was just lucky enough for that to happen to him so he stayed America's leading ace. Unfortunately for him, he died in a flying accident while testing out the new jet fighters for the USAAF. Who knows what could have happened had he lived? He might have served on in Korea and made ace over there!


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## Twitch (Apr 14, 2006)

Let' see as for top aces in certain planes, these guys scored most of their vics in one plane type- 
Francis Gabreski 28 in P-47
Dick Bong 40 P-38
David McCampbell 34 F6F
George Preddy 26 7/8 P-51
Joe Foss 26 F4F
Bob Hansen 25 F4U
David Hill 18 3/4 P-40
Carroll Smith 7 P-61
Mike Russo 5 A-36
Wm. Feidler 5 P-39


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## loomaluftwaffe (Apr 15, 2006)

Otto Kittel Fw-190 267 kills
Ivan Kozhedub flew the La-7 and the La-5

The highest (and only) P-39 ace ive heard of was Alexander Pokryshkin of Russia
59 kills


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## Salim (Apr 15, 2006)

There were many Russian P-39 aces, not just Pokryshkin. People consider it ironic that the Russians were very sucessful with it while the Americans and British were constantly frustrated by it.

Here's a link: http://www.acepilots.com/planes/soviet_p39_airacobra.html

One thing that I found interesting in the list is the fact that, while Pokryshkin is the highest scoring Russian pilot, he got 48 of his victories in a P-39, while Grigori Rechkalov got 50 in one (and 6 in another aircraft type). That makes him the highest scoring P-39 ace, but not the highest scoring ace over all.


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## lesofprimus (Apr 15, 2006)

Yup....


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## Henk (Apr 15, 2006)

It is really funny that the Russians could fly the P-39 so successfull. Wonder why?

Henk


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## lesofprimus (Apr 15, 2006)

Different tactics....


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## Henk (Apr 15, 2006)

Ok.

Henk


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## MacArther (Apr 15, 2006)

And, if memory serves, they lightened the aircrafts amor, and replaced the 37mm most of the time with a 23mm or a 20mm gun, further lightening the plane. All this brought it closer to its original specification. Added to this, the deflection gun sights (or whatever sight it was) that most Russian planes lacked that pilots were eager to use because it made arial gunery a tad bit easier.


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## Twitch (Apr 15, 2006)

They weren't fighting hordes of maneuverable Zeros. The American P-39's 37mm jammed after 2-3 rounds invariably too while the P-400 export version had a 20 mm.


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## Bullockracing (Apr 15, 2006)

The majority of the battles on the Eastern front were fought at the P-39's operationing altitude as well. A P-39 wouldn't even be able to breathe at altitudes normally used on the Western Front...

<joke> By the way, what's a P-400?


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## FLYBOYJ (Apr 15, 2006)

Bullockracing said:


> The majority of the battles on the Eastern front were fought at the P-39's operationing altitude as well. A P-39 wouldn't even be able to breathe at altitudes normally used on the Western Front...
> 
> <joke> By the way, what's a P-400?


 It's an export version of the P-39. Instead of a 37mm cannon in the nose it had a 20mm...


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## Bullockracing (Apr 15, 2006)

Nah, it's a P-40 with a Zero on it's tail, lol


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## loomaluftwaffe (Apr 16, 2006)

lame joke

russians fought at low altitude, where the V-1710 can breathe it isn't the planes they were against cause the British (who had the P-400) were facing the same kind of plane on their own front, and they even had a more reliable cannon


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Apr 16, 2006)

that joke's been going round for years, that being said it's still about as funny as they come


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## R988 (Apr 18, 2006)

If anyone has read Roald Dahls book going Solo, he was actually in the same Squadron in Greece as Pat Pattle, a bit of a forgotten campaign, the BEF was really outnumbered and outclassed in that one, quite an interesting campaign as well.

On the P-39, there are some other points to consider, most covered in the articles below.

There is a very interesting, often amusing (but rather long!) interview with a soviet pilot who flew many types here, which probably explains most of it, I'll add some quotes below.
http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/golodnikov/part1.htm

and some more articles on Soviet aviation lend lease aircraft here
http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/english/articles/index.htm



> Returning to the Airacobra, it must be noted that the British somewhat underrated it. Soviet pilots preferred the Cobra despite its many shortcomings to any other aircraft received from the Allies, including the Spitifire VB, which the British deigned to give us only in 1943.





> While completing the account of the Airacobra I in Soviet aviation, the following conclusions can be drawn. Despite a number of design deficiencies of this first model of the air frame (undercarriage weakness, engine seizures, inadequate rate of climb, tendency to flat spin), it was a threatening weapon in the hands of skilled aerial warriors. As was written in the summary of the commander of 153d (28th Guards) IAP regarding the combat work in the Voronezh and West Fronts in July-August 1942, "The Airacobra aircraft is considered by the Germans to be the most dangerous enemy and should be engaged in combat only when they [the Germans] have numerical superiority and the advantage in altitude and surprise." Therefore, the decision by the VVS command regarding preliminary serious study of the aircraft and its testing and subsequent delivery to units that had combat experience turned out to be correct. Combat tested and experienced pilots were able to master the correct tactical employment of the airplane in a minimal period of time. They learned to compensate inadequate vertical maneuver with good formation flying, echeloned by altitude (pair above pair with 100-200 meter interval). Mutual fire support also made possible minimal losses and maximum damage to the enemy. The most clear example of this was in the 19th Guards IAP, where group kills were almost three times greater than individual kills. A year later A. I. Pokryshkin, the creator of the celebrated "Kuban' bookshelf", arrived at this same "group" tactic independently and in more complete form. The conclusion regarding whom the Airacobra engaged-slow-moving transports and aging bombers, or Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs of the latest models, can be drawn from the statistics presented above.



and from other articles


> Russians doggedly supported their Army with massive air support.
> Flying the lower altitudes gave the higher flying German aircraft a distinct advantage
> and used well tested Boom and Zoom to pummel the lower flying planes.
> 
> ...





> Regardless of the tactics the Russians lost 2 to 1 over the whole course of the war.
> But Russia could sustain the losses better with new manufactured aircraft
> and their factories were never attacked by the Germans to slow production.
> 
> ...


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## Twitch (Apr 19, 2006)

It all ends up like any aircraft- it was exploited for its strengths by savvy pilots who learned how to avoid its weaknesses and get the most out of it. The relatively few superior Red AF pilots that excelled with it would have excelled with any similar crate since having the right touch, intuitiveness and aggressiveness to win put them above their comrades. For the relative few that stood out with the P-39 staggering amounts of less skilled pilots met their death in it.

Both the Germans and ther Reds were doggedly tied to the old school command idea that air power was some sort of extension of artillery to be used at the whim of army commanders instead of independently. Many was the time that they were bounced while droning around waiting for army orders forbidden to stray from a central point. This spelled annihilation when they couldn't defend themselves adequately by employing normal air combat patrol techniques.

The epitaph of the P-39 and other inadequate aircraft was more in the archaic chain of command and control by the Red Army than by anything else.


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## Pisis (Apr 21, 2006)

I'd only correct the table of Czechoslovak aces.

In the first list, there's that Karel Kuttelwascher scored 18 air victories, but the correct number is 20 (15 night kills on NF Hurricane). He is oficially concerned as a top scoring Czechoslovak ace.
http://cshq-czechs.wz.cz/eng_bio kut.html

In the 2nd, Les' list, there's mentioned Sgt. Josef František with 28 air victories. He is oficially credited with 17 RAF victories (in amazing 3 weeks!, also on Hurricane (Mk.I)). But his Battle of France campaign is covered in unclear fog. All the official documents were lost, and maybe, he even didn't serve under his real name, to avoid oppression by Gestapo against his family in Czechoslovakia. Eye witnesses (Czech Jozef Balejka and Pole Witold Lokuciewski) say he really had another 11 victories (9 airborne, 2 ground (Stukas)). Also in only three weeks!
Sgt. Josef František was - *probably* - Czechoslovak top scoring pilot.


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## plan_D (Apr 21, 2006)

The success of the P-39 on the Eastern Front is simply because of the operating altitudes. It was a adequete machine in combat if kept below 15,000 feet , and most combat on the Eastern Front was anywhere from there to tree-top height. While the combat in the West was amongst the bomber formations at anywhere up to 35,000 feet.


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## Twitch (Apr 21, 2006)

Pisis- yeah I saw that too. Everybody has a different list with varying kill amounts. Bizarre.


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## lesofprimus (Apr 21, 2006)

Actually, the # I posted for Frantisek is the correct #, with 95% of reliable sources counting his final as total being 28.... The only country that is truly undecided is Japan, and the # I have posted for Nishizawa, 147, is the # he told his family members, from his personal logbook, which is pretty much regarded as the most accurate total for him...

Marmaduke Pattle on the otherhand, his total is alittle harder to guess, but his plane captain and best freind has pretty much put a solid # up for him, according to his relativly recent logbook revealing, pretty much making his total of 62 about as accurate as can be figured out....


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## Bullockracing (Apr 22, 2006)

Anyone know of an ace flying the Boomerang?


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## Wildcat (Apr 23, 2006)

An ace or two probably flew the Boomerang, but I'm 99% sure no one became an ace flying a Boomer. If you didn't know the Boomerang wasn't a particulary successful fighter, had good manouverbility but was under powered. Although it lacked as a fighter, it made its mark darting in and around mountains supporting the soldiers on the ground in New Guinea. Was particuly good in flushing out hidden Jap gun emplacements which it would then mark with smoke for other aircraft, notably RNZAF Corsairs, to pound the crap out of.


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## Aggie08 (Apr 24, 2006)

I haven't heard much of the New Zealand AF. Where were they involved and for how long? The Pacific theater, of course, but which engagements?


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## Wildcat (Apr 24, 2006)

Well I can't tell you much, but apart from the many men that fought in Europe, The RNZAF also saw action at Singapore and Malaya, The Solomons and Bougainville that I know of. The RNZAF shot down a total of 103 Japanese aircraft in the Pacific. Some aircraft the RNZAF was equipped with include P-40's, Corsairs, Avengers, Ventura's, Dauntless's, Hudson's and PBY's (That's off the top of my head, I'm sure there are others).


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## Twitch (Apr 24, 2006)

Never heard of anyone scoring 5 in a Boomerang.....


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## Aggie08 (Apr 24, 2006)

Wildcat said:


> Well I can't tell you much, but apart from the many men that fought in Europe, The RNZAF also saw action at Singapore and Malaya, The Solomons and Bougainville that I know of. The RNZAF shot down a total of 103 Japanese aircraft in the Pacific. Some aircraft the RNZAF was equipped with include P-40's, Corsairs, Avengers, Ventura's, Dauntless's, Hudson's and PBY's (That's off the top of my head, I'm sure there are others).



Cool beans.


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## RAFster (Jan 10, 2007)

What about Greg Boyington? 

Major Greg Boyington - USMC - F4U Corsair - 24

22 were credited by the USMC and 2 by the AVG with the Flying Tigers.
Some records dispute the numbers and Boyington felt he had 5.75 victories with the AVG.
With the AVG he and 4 other pilots destroyed 15 aircraft in a raid. The AVG split it among the 6 pilots in the flight (2 provided top cover during the raid) and that reduced the number to 2.5 victories per pilot. Then he had 2 air-to-air victories bringing his total to 5.75 rounded up to 6...thus some records claim 28 victories.

RAFster
David


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Jan 10, 2007)

He was a very good pilot.


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## Brain32 (Jan 11, 2007)

Can't help much with other planes/aces but Mato Dukovac as all Croatian aces flew 109's


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## Pisis (Jan 13, 2007)

Another correction:



> Slovak
> Jan Gerthoffer 33


No, it was *Ján Režňák* from _13.(Slowakei) Staffel/JG52_ (flying Bf 109G-4), credited with *32* (15x LaGG-3, 5x I-16, 3x I-153, 2x MiG-1, 2x MiG-3, 2x DB-3, 1x Pe-2, 1x Jak-1, 1x Jak-3) confirmed and *5* (1x I-16, 1x LaGG-3, 1x Jak-1, ???, ???) unconfirmed airborne kills.


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## GregP (Jan 14, 2007)

There are MANY reasons why the Russians loved the P-39s.

1) They refused to be drawn to high altitude where the P-39 was at a disadvantage. They fought at or below 10,000 feet and ignored the huigh-flying Luftwaffe. If they noticed the German planes, they attacked the german bases at low altitude to stop the raids. Very few planes were as good as the P-39 at low altitide.

2) They were much more interested in reliability, and the Allison was more reliable than the Merlin, and so WOULD have been better liked by the Soviet forces.

3) They replaced the bad armament with good Soviet cannon designs as stated above.

4) They flew mostly in support of ground units. So, there was a lot of friendly flak when needed. Tough to do that in the Pacific theater since there simply isn't much in the way of ground in the ocean. In Europe, we were flying over German-held terrotory while attacking, so all the flak was unfriendly.

5) The P-39, while unliked by the Western Allies, was superior in technology to most Soviet aircraft and was heartily adopted by them. They concentrated in developing tactics which it could use to advantage while we simply proclaimed it to be unsuited to our requirements. Of course, the real culprit was the U.S. Military procurement people who deleted the Supercharger from the aircraft.


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## CharlesBronson (Jan 17, 2007)

Hey ¡¡

What about Otto Kittel from JG 54....more than 200 kills with the FW-190A.


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## Erich (Jan 17, 2007)

CB:

~ Lomma mentioned him just with a sentance and his kill score on the first page

hey, what no night fighter pilots ? .......... this must be a day thing again 8)


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## CharlesBronson (Jan 17, 2007)

Sorry, I overlooked that.  








And yes that could be 121 kills for the Bf-110s, in Schnauffer case.


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## Striker1015 (Aug 6, 2012)

lesofprimus wrote
"Heres a listing of what I have......

Country 
Pilot Victories 

Germany
Maj. Erich Hartmann 352 
Austria
Maj. Walter Nowotny 258
Japan
Chief Warrant Officer Hiroyoshi Nishizawa 147 
Finland
Flight Master E. I. Juutualainen 94
Denmark
Prince Heinrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein 83
South Africa
Squadron Leader M. T. St. J. Pattle 62
USSR
Guards Col. Ivan N. Kozhedub 60
Rumania
Capt. Prince Constantine Cantacuzino 60 
Croatia
Mato Dukovac 44
USA
Maj. Richard I. Bong 40 
UK
Group Capt. James E. Johnson 38 
Poland
Jan Poniatowski 36 
Hungary
2nd Lt. Dezjö Szentgyörgyi 34 
Slovak
Jan Gerthoffer 33
France
Squadron Leader Pierre H. Clostermann 33 
Ireland
Wing Comdr. Bredan E. Finucane 32 
Canada
Squadron Leader George F. Buerling 31 
Australia
Group Capt. Clive R. Caldwell 28 
Czechoslavakia
Sgt. Josef Frantisek 28 
New Zealand
Wing Comdr. Colin F. Gray 27 
Spain
Juan Lario Sanchez 27
Italy
Maj. Adriano Visconti 26 
Greece
Wing Com. Ioannis Agorastos Plagis 16
Norway
Flight Lt. Svein Heglund 16 
Belgium
Rodolphe Ghislain Charles de Hemricourt de Grunne 15 
Bulgaria
Maj. Stoyan Iliev Stoyanov 14
Rhodesia
William Ivan Hartley Maguire 13
China
Kwei-Tan Li 12
Denmark
Group Capt. Kaj Birksted 10 
Holland
Flt. Lt. Bram van der Stok 8
Netherlands
Lt. Col. van Arkel 5"

Holland and the Netherlands are the same country.
Nishizawa with 147? Doubtful. The Japanese were notorious over claimers.
There are two from Denmark on the list. Is the first one listed a typo?


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## Rick65 (Aug 7, 2012)

The Boomerang was a fighter that never scored a kill so impossible to be an ace in one.
Caldwell got his kills in a mix of Tomahawk, Kittihawk and Spitfire.
What is unusual about Caldwell was that he scored against three nationalities.
A profile of his Spitfire VIII A58-484 showed 17 German scores, 3 1/2 Italian (both in Tomahawk/Kittyhawk in the middle east) and 7 Japanese (in the Spitfire V after returning to Australia)


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## Njaco (Aug 7, 2012)

Crikey! Who blew the dust off this 5 year old thread??!!


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## Rick65 (Aug 7, 2012)

Wasn't me - but I should have noticed!


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## Striker1015 (Aug 7, 2012)

Njaco said:


> Crikey! Who blew the dust off this 5 year old thread??!!


Guilty...and I'd do it again!


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## buffnut453 (Aug 7, 2012)

Twitch said:


> Never heard of anyone scoring 5 in a Boomerang.....



That's not surprising since the Boomerang didn't achieve any air-to-air kills. Several aces flew the Boomer but nobody became an ace while flying it.


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## buffnut453 (Aug 7, 2012)

Oops! Someone beat me to it on the Boomerang factoid. Must remember to read the entire thread before contributing.


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## drgondog (Aug 7, 2012)

Twitch said:


> Let' see as for top aces in certain planes, these guys scored most of their vics in one plane type-
> Francis Gabreski 28 in P-47
> Dick Bong 40 P-38
> David McCampbell 34 F6F
> ...



Preddy had at least 3 in P-47 between Sept 14, 1943 through 4-9-44


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## GregP (Aug 10, 2012)

Kozhedub had 62 victories plus 2 kills of P-51 Mustangs that mistakenly attacked his La-7. Both are verified, so it is 64 kills with two being "friendly but hostile."

I have a great print signed by Ivan just before he died. If shows him in an La-5FN shooting down an Me-262 and is a nice print indeeed.


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