Which WWII Axis nation produced most dangerous pilots?

[Trautloft]

well,i dont wanna discuss allied warcrimes here. sure,not to compare,but they werent new-born sheeps either.like who invented the conc.camps? the british .the a-bombs only to demonstrate it to the soviets.the secret of pearl harbour.
the knowledge about the death camps,but not bombing the railways.everything ,including children and women,hunting-strafing them for fun,but not these railways.

about rape and murder,the victors did it ,all the time.but the victorious never gets punished.offtopic,sorry. it was a dirty war,and there are brave men who fought like knights on both sides,and also murders and ill minded.

 

[Hunter368]

Lets keep this on subject before this turns into a huge can of worms. Lets get back to talking about pilots. (old thread or not)

 

[Trautloft]

agreed.
id like to hear your opinions.much depend of the aircraft flown.
a I-16 Rata with a skilled pilot could be indeed dangerous, and a la-7 flown by a noobie,not.

 

[Konigstiger205]

True...a skilled pilot can do a lot more damage with a inferior aircraft than a noob with a more lets say "modern aircraft".And to be honest my country had its share of rather dangerous pilots.And we used I.A.R. 80 and 81 and those weren't so great.Anyway the Finns were definitely dangerous pilots.But in the end a dangerous pilot doesn't have to ram his plane into the enemy but rather to know his plane and to make the best of it.

 

[Trautloft]

i heard the IAR 80 ,compared to Bf-109E (or F,im not sure),flown by a german major, was only slightly inferior in some aspects to the Messer. The I.A.Rs shot down a high number of soviet a/c,and later even 4engined usaaf bombers,even lightnings.
Its based on polish PZL planes,which i particulary like id like to see a test involving the Fiat CR.42, The Gladiator ,the I-153 and the PZL.P.11.
i know the perfomances,armament etc. but how was the handling?

 

[Watanbe]

I dont think you can say the Japanese were more dangerous because they were suicidal or fanatical. Think of it this way, say your in a club or pub and a guy tries to fight you.

Would your rather fight the guy who is crazy angry and brash, or would you rather fight the calm, cool, calculated and skilled fighter who is analysing tactics and thinking about the fight.

Of course a bit of both is preferrable and I think that the Germans had that.

 

[Konigstiger205]

The IAR-80

Wingspan 10.52 m
Length 8.9 m
Height 3.6 m
Weight (empty) 2045 kg
Weight (loaded) 2483 kg
Maximum speed at 5000 m 485 km/h
Climbs to 5000 m 5 min. 27 sec.
Maximum operational ceiling 10500 m
Range 760 km
Engine IAR 14K IVc32 1000A 1000 HP
Machine-guns 4x7.92 mm
Serial numbers 1-50

 

[SoD Stitch]

Gotta got with the Germans; between their martial upbringing (for the most part), their technical expertise, and their experience, they'd be hard to beat in a 1 v 1 situation. Made a lot of technical innovations, too, like the Rotte and Schwarm tactics of four aircraft providing mutual support for each other. By the end of the War, most of the air forces of the world had adopted German flying tactics (though not, obviously, their strategy).

 

[Soren]

Germany did, and you'll only have to look at the scores to find that out.

The experienced IJN pilots were some very tough skilled pilots as-well though.

 

[Brain32]

Don't forget Croats. Very few pilots and many of them aces

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Surely good pilots but I would not say they were the best. Honorable Mention maybe.

My votes would go for:

1. Germany
2. Finnland
3. Japan
4. Italy
5. Romania

 

[Marcel]

Surely good pilots but I would not say they were the best. Honorable Mention maybe.

My votes would go for:

1. Germany
2. Finnland
3. Japan
4. Italy
5. Romania

Not to challenge you, but just from genuine interest: Why Italy on 4?

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

There were many very good Italian pilots but I dont think the Italian Airforce was able to really prove itself nor were her pilots.

 

[Trautloft]

mine is
1.germany
2.finland
3. japan
4. hungary
5. bulgaria (from the view of an allied pilot...how is it if sum1's ramming your bomber?

 

[Brain32]

Surely good pilots but I would not say they were the best. Honorable Mention maybe.

Yes I can't say my guys were the best, but they definitely deserve the mention, we had almost as much aces as Italy did and our top scoring aces made more aerial victories then their did. And all that with one fact in mind - there was only ONE Croatian squadron, the 15.Jg52
Considering the numbers involved and achievements made, I decided to atleast mention them

 

[ToughOmbre]

My two bits...

Early in the war, Germany, Japan.

Later on, none were dangerous, except for the survivors, Hartmann, Galland, Rall, Sakai etc.

The rotation of American combat veterans back to train new pilots gave the US an overwhelming advantage later in the war. The great/dangerous German and Japanese pilots flew till they were killed. The lack of aviation gas alone limited new pilot training.

 

[SoD Stitch]

My two bits...

Early in the war, Germany, Japan.

Later on, none were dangerous, except for the survivors, Hartmann, Galland, Rall, Sakai etc.

By the end of the War, particularly on the Axis side, what you ended up with were pilots that were either really good, or really new; as mentioned above, five years of constant war weeded out the pilots that either couldn't or wouldn't learn (they got killed, basically), and what was left were only the best (Hartmann, Barkhorn, Rall, Nowotny, Steinhoff, etc.), who had learned their lessons well, or the other 90% of the German pilots, who were brand-new and almost worthless, except as cannon fodder for the ever-increasing numbers of Allied fighters.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

My two bits...

Early in the war, Germany, Japan.

Later on, none were dangerous, except for the survivors, Hartmann, Galland, Rall, Sakai etc.

The rotation of American combat veterans back to train new pilots gave the US an overwhelming advantage later in the war. The great/dangerous German and Japanese pilots flew till they were killed. The lack of aviation gas alone limited new pilot training.

You are very mistaken my friend. There were plenty of good German pilots left even until the war was over.

I am sure that if you ask any allied pilot flying in 1944 and 1945 they will tell you than any opponant was very dangerous.

 

[ToughOmbre]

You are very mistaken my friend. There were plenty of good German pilots left even until the war was over.

I am sure that if you ask any allied pilot flying in 1944 and 1945 they will tell you than any opponant was very dangerous.

I probably should have made myself clearer. What I meant was that early in the war ALL of the German and Japanese pilots were well trained, excellent, dangerous. As the war progressed the newer Axis pilots did not get the same level of training/hours that the veteran pilots received. I agree that there were many good pilots left, many more than I named in my post, at the end of the war (German, not so much Japanese). But there was also a higher percentage of under-trained replacements that did not last long when they went up against the well-trained American replacements.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yes in that respect you are correct.