Aces

Colonel Clarence E “Bud” Anderson (born January 13, 1922), he’s a WWII Triple Ace, with 16 1/4 kills to his name during his 300 hours flying over the European Theatre during WW2.

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During the war he was the highest scoring flying ace in his P-51 Mustang squadron. Towards the end of Anderson's two combat tours in Europe in 1944 he was promoted to major at 22, a young age even for a highly effective officer in wartime.
He’d also serve in the Korean War and Vietnam in multiple capacities.He retired as a full colonel in 1972, after which he worked in flight test management for McDonnell Douglas.

 
Capt Laurence E. Blumer, the "Fastest Ace in a Day"

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Blumer and his P-38 Lightning ‘Scrapiron IV

"Scrappy" Blumer (1917 – 1997) USAF Pilot during WW2, he was credited with six aerial victories, five of which he gained in a single action lasting no more than fifteen minutes on August 25, 1944, earning him the title of the "Fastest Ace in a Day" and the award of a Distinguished Service Cross. Blumer shot down two FW190 fighters on his first pass and a further three within the next 15 minutes, before the enemy fighters ran for cover. During this engagement, the Luftwaffe lost 25 aircraft destroyed, one probably destroyed and a further 17 suffering damage.
 
Not many kills when compared to German/Russian aces, but still bloody well done!
Perhaps his biggest award? World of Tanks has a medal named after him!
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"Radley-Walters was commissioned in the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment in October 1940. The regiment was redesignated 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) in January 1942 and embarked for England in October 1942. The regiment was part of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade supporting the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division landing in Normandy on D-Day 6 June 1944. Radley-Walters commanded a Sherman tank during the Battle of Normandy. On D-Day + 1, 7 June 1944, in fighting with the 12th SS Panzer Division, near Saint-Germain-la-Blanche-Herbe, Radley-Walters had his first kill, a Panzer IV. Radley-Walters commanded a tank squadron in the regiment. His unit may have been that which killed "tank ace" Michael Wittmann of the 101. Schwere SS-Panzerabteilung, though no definitive proof has ever been provided. This claim has been disputed by 3 Troop, A Squadron, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry tank regiment gunner Joe Ekins, who also claims to have killed Wittmann.
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The investigative TV program Battlefield Mysteries did investigate the competing claims and found that based on the measured ranges and location of the strike on Wittman's tank, one of the Sherbrooke tanks was probably responsible. Their position was 150m from Wittman, and on the same side as the strike. The Northamptonshire tanks were over a kilometer away and on the opposite side.
Radley-Walters was awarded both the Distinguished Service Order and the Military Cross and for his outstanding leadership and gallantry as a squadron commander. He had three tanks destroyed while he was in command of them and was wounded twice.[2] His regiment participated in Clearing the Channel Coast in First Canadian Army, and was too close to the English Channel to be involved in Operation Market Garden[3]. By the end of the war, he was the top tank ace, the ace of aces of the western Allies (and therefore, of Canada), with a total of 18 tank kills and many other armoured vehicles. From July 1945, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, and commanded the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment as part of the Allied Occupation Force.
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After the war, Radley-Walters served on peacekeeping missions in Cyprus and Egypt. In 1957 he became the Commanding Officer of the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's). He attended NATO Defence College in Paris and was assigned to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe from June 1961 to July 1962. He returned to Canada as commandant of the Royal Canadian Armoured School in Camp Borden. In 1966 he became the Director-General Training and Recruiting at Canadian Forces Headquarters in Ottawa. In June 1968 he was promoted to brigadier-general and took command of 2 Combat Group at CFB Petawawa. In 1971 he became the commander of the Combat Training Centre at CFB Gagetown.
Radley-Walters retired in December 1974. He served eight years as honorary colonel of the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise's) and in November 1980 became colonel-commandant of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps." - WIKI
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Better late than never...

Clarence Smoyer he gained a reputation for deadly accuracy as a tank gunner.
On 2019 Smoyer was the last living member of his crew manning a Pershing tank destroyed a German Panther tank in a pivotal battle. Was part of a famous March 6, 1945, battle in Cologne, Germany. Smoyer has been credited with destroying five tanks in the war.

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Smoyer (top middle, no helmet) sits with fellow tank crew members in Cologne, 1945.

Smoyer was told soon after that he would receive the Bronze Star, but a few days later he ran afoul of a minor disciplinary issue that cost him his medal. A military police officer saw him searching his pockets for bubble gum to give to a crowd of German children and charged him with fraternization with the enemy. Meanwhile, Smoyer's tank commander and the military cameraman who filmed the battle received Bronze Stars of their own.

75 years after, on Sept. 18, 2019, Smoyer, 96, receiving the Bronze Star in Washington.

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Better late than never...

Clarence Smoyer he gained a reputation for deadly accuracy as a tank gunner.
On 2019 Smoyer was the last living member of his crew manning a Pershing tank destroyed a German Panther tank in a pivotal battle. Was part of a famous March 6, 1945, battle in Cologne, Germany. Smoyer has been credited with destroying five tanks in the war.

shpm1kU.jpg

Smoyer (top middle, no helmet) sits with fellow tank crew members in Cologne, 1945.

Smoyer was told soon after that he would receive the Bronze Star, but a few days later he ran afoul of a minor disciplinary issue that cost him his medal. A military police officer saw him searching his pockets for bubble gum to give to a crowd of German children and charged him with fraternization with the enemy. Meanwhile, Smoyer's tank commander and the military cameraman who filmed the battle received Bronze Stars of their own.

75 years after, on Sept. 18, 2019, Smoyer, 96, receiving the Bronze Star in Washington.

gSooA08.jpg
There is a book entitled “Spearhead.” A very compelling short read that I highly recommend on this topic.
 
Gustáv Wendrinský (24 Jan 1923, Bratislava, Slovakia), as 17 year old boy he joined Waffen-SS and served in 8. SS Kavallerie Division Florian Geyer. On the Eastern front he destoryed about 41/45 tanks with an AT gun. Two of them he destroyed in close combat with Panzerfaust. Awarded with an Iron cross. Died as 22 year old near Budapest during the attempt of German and Hungarian soldiers to escape from Red Army encirclement.

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At noon on the 6 Jan 1940, in the skies above Kymenlaakso, finnish Lieutenant Jorma Kalevi Sarvanto (1912/1963) aboard his Fokker D.XXI, set a world record by shooting down six Soviet Ilyushin DB-3 bombers in four minutes.

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Sarvanto shows the rudder number of one of the downed DB-3Ms. The photograph was later taken at a press conference at the Immola Officers club, two days after his feat.
 
Edmund Roman Orlik (1918/1982) was a Polish architect, and WW2 tank commander. During the Invasion of Poland by Germany in Sept 1939 he claimed to have destroyed ten German tanks, including one Panzer IV Ausf. B, with a 2.6 tonne TKS tankette armed with a 20mm autocannon.

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(Orlik with his Tankette TKS armed with a 20 mm cannon)
 
You have me curious about the TKS Louis.

I did a little research and found from profile it looks like a little mean machine with the autocannon.

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The gun itself is pretty impressive:
Rate of fire 320-350 rpm
Muzzle velocity 856 metres per second (2,810 ft/s)
Effective firing range 5,000 metres (5,500 yd)/7,000 metres (7,700 yd)
Feed system: box(5/10 rounds)/drum(15/100 rounds)

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This is just to give you an idea of the scale.....

Officer cadet Orlik and his driver, Bronisław Zakrzewski, near their TKS tankette

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And here is a "A burned cannon-armed TKS."

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Flying ace George Cecil Unwin was born in 1913 in Bolton-on-Dearne, Yorkshire. He joined the RAF as a clerk at the age of 16, volunteered to be a pilot in 1935 and flew fighters from Duxford a year later.

Unwin flew out of Duxford on many sorties for the Battle of Britain and was credited with 14 enemy aircraft shot down by the end of 1940. He was awarded the DFM that October with a bar award in December.

At the end of the year Unwin was sent to train as an instructor to the flying school at Cranwell. After the war he remained in the RAF and flew during the Malaya conflict in 1952 and was awarded the DSO for his efforts. He retired from the RAF in 1961. Died in June 2006 at the age of 93.

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Hi Louis,
You're post made me curious about the DFM - Distinguished Flying Medal.
I've heard of the DFC - Distinguished Flying Cross - but not the DFM.
Or if I did I don't remember.

“The Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM) was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and other British Armed Forces, and formerly to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy". The award was discontinued in 1993 when all ranks became eligible for the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) as part of the reform of the British honours system.”

Awarded for Exceptional valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy
Established 3 June 1918
First awarded 1918
Last awarded 1993

- Wikipedia

Only 64 second bars were awarded in that time.

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