Aces

[Louis]

Egon Mayer - 102 kills in 353 missions, including 26 4-engined bombers, 51 Spitfires, and 12 Thunderbolts. He was the first to score 100 victories on the Western Front. He also developed the head on attack as the most effective tactic vs. Allied daylight combat-box bomber formations. This tactic helped the Luftwaffe pilots reduce their exposure to defensive fire from the bomber stream, and inflict maximum damage on the lightly armored front of their targets.
Mayer was finally shot down and killed by unseen Thunderbolts, who jumped him and hammered his FW190. His aircraft was seen taking hits on the nose and cockpit area, snap rolled onto its back and dove into the ground.

From axiswarprize

 

[Louis]

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was gaunt and sickly looking, but in the cockpit of his Zero fighter he became ‘the Devil.’

Some sources list as many as 150 victories for Nishizawa. It is generally believed that he scored at least 87 victories.
One of his comrades in arms, Saburo Sakai, wrote that ‘one felt the man should be in a hospital bed. He was tall and lanky for a Japanese, nearly five feet eight inches in height. He had a gaunt look about him; he weighed only 140 pounds, and his ribs protruded sharply through his skin.’

Nishizawa underwent a remarkable metamorphosis in the cockpit of his Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter. ‘To all who flew with him,’ wrote Sakai, ‘he became ‘the Devil’….Never have I seen a man with a fighter plane do what Nishizawa would do with his Zero. His aerobatics were all at once breathtaking, brilliant, totally unpredictable, impossible, and heart-stirring to witness.’ He also had the hunter’s eye, capable of spotting enemy aircraft before his comrades knew there was anything else in the sky.

Even when a new generation of American aircraft was wresting the Pacific sky from the Japanese, many were convinced that as long as he was at the controls of his Zero, Nishizawa was invincible. But not, on October 26, 1944 he was killed in the crash of a transport plane en route to Mabalacat from Cebu Island.


Synthesis and edition of article in Historynet.

 

[Louis]

Soviet tank commander Dmitry Lavrinenko was given only several months to prove that he was the best Allied tank ace of WWII with 52 victories. With such amazing effectiveness he would definitely have defied the legendary German aces, if only he had lived until the end of the war.

Lavrinenko entered battle in Oct 1941. On the Oct. 6, 1941, a group of four tanks under his command fought several dozen tanks of the 2nd Panzer Army near Pervy Voin village in the Orlov Region. The German tanks were ready to crush the Soviet infantry unit, when Lavrinenko arrived. Using the element of surprise, the Soviet tanks terminated 15 German machines, and allowed the soldiers to retreat.

Lavrinenko, left member T34 crew.

On Dec. 5, Lavrinenko was awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union for destroying 37 German heavy, medium and light tanks during a 2-month period of permanent battles.

Dmitry Lavrinenko not only clashed with the enemy in open fighting, but organized skillful ambushes. General Dmitry Lelyushenko recalled: “Lieutenant Dmitry Lavrinenko scrupulously disguised his tanks by mounting logs which looked like tank guns. The fascists opened fire on these dummy targets. Luring them to approach within range, he unleashed hell from his ambush position and terminated nine tanks, two guns and numerous soldiers.” (D. Lelyushenko, “Dawn of Victory,” 1966).

Before going on the attack, Lavrinenko always carefully scrutinized the future battlefield and organized proper reconnaissance. He used the advantages of the landscape to perfection, hiding his T-34 behind trees, hills and uneven terrain to suddenly appear in unexpected places and cause maximum damage to the enemy.

The Soviet tank ace was killed by mortar shell shrapnel near Volokolamsk in the Moscow Region on Dec. 18, 1941.

Synthesis and edition of article in es.rbth.com

 

[Louis]

Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare was born in St. Louis. Graduated from the Western Military Academy in 1932, the following year he went on to the USN Academy at Annapolis. Graduated and appointed an Ensign on June 3, 1937, he served two years on board the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40). In 1939, he started flight training at NAS Pensacola in Florida, learning the basics on Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-1 "Yellow Peril" and Stearman NS-1 biplane trainers, and later on the advanced SNJ trainer. On the nimble Boeing F4B-4A, he trained in aerobatics as well as aerial gunnery. He also flew the SBU Corsair and the TBD Devastator. Was designated a Naval Aviator in May 1940, after flight training at Naval Air Station, Pensacola.

On 20 Feb 1942, while defending USS Lexington in a F4F "Wildcat" fighter, O'Hare encountered an advancing formation of nine Japanese bombers east of the enemy base at Rabaul, New Britain. Alone and unaided, he repeatedly attacked the enemy aircraft and was credited with shooting down five of them, and damaging a sixth, before they reached their intended target. He had used only sixty rounds of ammo for every bomber he had destroyed.

O'Hare was 29 when he died in combat on Nov. 26, 1943, during one of the earliest nightfighter missions flown from an aircraft carrier. Operating in darkness without radar, he and the other pilots in his Black Panther squadron briefly flicked on their cockpit lights while stalking enemy planes near Tarawa. For Butch, that turned into a "fateful rendezvous": His Hellcat , the authors speculate, was picked off by a "Betty" bomber Japanese.

He thus became the first naval recipient of the Medal of Honor during WW2. Was declared dead a year later and his widow received her husband's posthumous decorations, a Purple Heart and the Navy Cross on Nov 26, 1944.

The Orchard Depot Airport in Chicago was renamed the O’Hare International Airport in his honor. A model of the plane he flew during World War II remains on display in Terminal 2 at the airport, serving as a tribute of his service to his country.

This Aircraft was salvaged from Lake Michigan, lost there as a result of a training incident, and restored to replicate and honour "White F-15", an identical aircraft flown by O'Hare.

 

[Gunner]

I wonder how many of the millions of people who travel through O'Hare know of this.
I knew it was named after a Medal of Honor pilot but didn't know the level of detail.
Good post.

 

[Louis]

Makoto Ogawa (born Feb 1917), known for achieving flying ace status against Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Aboard your Nakajima Ki-44 he downed the highest number of B-29s among the pilots in his air group—seven confirmed—and also two P-51 Mustangs. Was awarded the Bukosho, the highest award given by the Imperial Japanese Army to living soldiers who demonstrated exceptionally valorous action in combat. It is said that he still lives in Tokyo.

 

[Louis]

Left, Group Capt. Robert Wendell "Buck" McNair, RCAF. (1919-1971)

 

[Louis]

Heinrich Ehrler (1917/1945), an Ace of the Luftwaffe during the WW2, was the ninth best German pilot on the Eastern Front, and the tenth with the absolute number of wins. Of these 208 hits, 8 were achieved at the controls of a Me 262.

He scored his first victory in May 1940 in Norway, as part of Jagdgeschwader 77, later restructured as JG 5 and was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class. A year later, in September 1942, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross for 64 aerial victories. By June the following year, the 27-years-old Group Commander’s tally rose to a hundred, becoming the 40th Luftwaffe pilot to reach the mark.

On 25 May 1944, he achieved nine victories in one day, bringing his tally up to 155. In Aug., he was appointed to Wing Commander of JG 5 and at the same time was promoted to Major. His rise seemed unstoppable.

But... on 12 Nov. that year, Ehrler was tasked with protecting the battleship Tirpitz when he received a message reporting inbound British bombers. He hurried to intercept the enemy but was too late. The British Lancasters sank the Tirpitz and its thousand sailors. Ehrler was accused by ground control of attempting to get his 200th victory instead of leading his fighters.

Scapegoated for the loss of the battleship, Ehrler – who had been nominated for the prestigious Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords prior to the disaster – was court-martialed, stripped of his command and sentenced to three years and two months of honorable imprisonment. Further investigation proved that the reason for the failure was poor communication between the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe. Proven innocent, Ehrler’s sentence was commuted and his loss of rank rescinded.

On 4 April 1945, during the Defense of the Reich campaign, he was to fly his final mission: Ehrler managed to shoot down two Allied bombers for his final two victories, before running out of ammunition. In a split second, he decided to destroy the third by ramming into it. In his last transmission over the Squadron Radio Network Ehrler told his comrade: ‘Theo, I have run out of ammunition. I’m going to ram this one. Goodbye. We’ll see each other in Valhalla.’

(In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those who die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr.)

 

[Louis]

Boleslaw Gladych born in Warsaw on May 17, 1918, had not completed his aviation training by the time Germany unleashed its Blitzkrieg. Fleeing to Romania, Gladych was briefly detained at Turnu Severin, a Romanian internment camp, before escaping to France. On June 10, 1940, whilst flying for the French, Gladych’s plane was badly damaged during a duel with a Messerschmitt. The German, with the call code “13,” seeing that the Pole was in a helpless situation, waved his wings and disengaged. Upon French surrender, Boleslaw fled to England, joining 303 Polish Sq. He claimed his first kill on April 26, 1941, five days after completing training.

On June 23 of that year, Gladych was shot down and injured. In the spring of 1943, during a heated battle, the Pole downed a Focke-Wulf but was badly damaged by another. The German pilot flew close, waved his wings and disengaged, with a “13” on the fuselage. The pilot was the same one which had already spared his life once.

In the Autumn of 1943, Gladych narrowly avoided accidentally shooting down an aircraft carrying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and was grounded by the RAF. Not wanting to miss out on the action, Boleslaw joined the US 56th Fighter Group. On Feb 21, 1944, he downed two Messerschmitts in a single mission. On March 8, whilst escorting bombers to Berlin, Gladych faced a group of three Focke-Wulfs. Claiming one, he was already low on ammo and fuel. The two remaining planes, one of whom was call code “13,” held their fire and signaled to Boleslaw to land at a nearby airfield. The Polish pilot descended, dropped landing gear, and prepared to land. Closing in to land, he suddenly opened fire on the airfield with remaining ammunition. Flak gunners on the ground opened fire, accidentally damaging the escorting German planes and allowing Gladych to escape. After running out of fuel during his escape, he was forced to bail in the English Channel. Surviving the war, his wartime score totaled 17 destroyed. Died on 2011.

 

[Louis]

Some bomber gunners also have their recognition.

Unlike the fighter pilots, individual bomber gunners did not receive official credit for any of their shootdowns. Part of this was for policy reasons– in the USA the Army wanted each gunner to think of himself as part of a larger crew and act as a team, rather than as an individual. A much bigger reason, however, was practical–in a typical B-17 “defensive box” formation, each enemy fighter plane may have had as many as a dozen gunners firing at it simultaneously, and even if it was confirmed that the plane was in fact destroyed (often difficult), it was simply impossible to determine whose shots had actually brought it down.

Nevertheless, some bomber gunners did keep an unofficial count of enemy planes they had shot down, and some individual gunners were even given official recognition (though none was officially credited as an “air ace”).

Master Sgt Michael Arooth (born 1919) shot down 17 enemy aircraft to reach triple “Ace” status. But he wasn’t a fighter pilot. In fact, he wasn’t a pilot at all . Arooth, a tail gunner on the B-17 “Tondelayo” who shot down a total of 17 enemy fighters in the course of 14 missions. Arooth was one of the few bomber gunners who received official recognition, being awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

The bomber crew of which he was a part participated in the infamous Schweinfurt raid in Sept 1943. They encountered flak and enemy fighters, and the aircraft was severely damaged. Sgt Arooth had shot down 3 enemy aircraft on this mission, but now, on the return trip home, more trouble erupted.

The oxygen system of the aircraft was damaged and only partially working, and Sgt Arooth was severely wounded when he discovered one gun was jammed. In spite of the situation, he repaired the gun in time to shoot down his 4th adversary. The aircraft attempted to make it to base, but was eventually ditched in the English Channel, with all hands being saved. For his efforts, Sgt Arooth was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Staff Sergeant Arooth’s official record as a gunner — the greatest in Air Force history — included shooting down at least 17 enemy planes on only 14 missions, though it was estimated he actually downed more than 20 enemy aircraft. In 1958 Arooth was selected as a pallbearer at the ceremonies of the burial of the Unknown Soldier of WW2 at Arlington National Cemetery.

He died in Feb 1990 at the age of 70.

From: mightyeighth.org & findagrave.com

 

[Wellsonian]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington (December 4, 1912 – January 11, 1988) was an American combat pilot who was a United States Marine Corps fighter ace during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.
A Marine aviator with the Pacific fleet in 1941, Boyington joined the "Flying Tigers"(1st American Volunteer Group) of the Republic of China Air Force and saw combat in Burma in late 1941 and 1942 during the military conflict between China and Japan.
In September 1942, Boyington rejoined the Marine Corps. In early 1943, he deployed to the South Pacific and began flying combat missions in the F4U Corsairfighter. In September 1943, he took command of Marine fighter squadron VMF-214("Black Sheep").
In January 1944, Boyington, outnumbered by Japanese "Zero" planes, was shot down into the Pacific Ocean after downing one of the enemy planes. He was captured by a Japanese submarine crew and was held as a prisoner of war for more than a year and a half. He was released shortly after the surrender of Japan, and a few days before the official surrender documents were signed.
The television series Baa Baa Black Sheep was inspired by Boyington and his men in the "Black Sheep" squadron. It ran for two seasons in the late 1970s.

 

[Wellsonian]

I never missed an episode of Baa Baa Black Sheep

 

[mTk]

 

[Wellsonian]

The Corsair was such a cool fighter plane. I was 60% sure I was going into the military after watching that. The when Top gun happened in my high school years, I was 100% sure.

 

[Louis]

Air Marshal Ivan Kozhedub (1920/1991) was one of only two Soviet fighter pilots to be awarded the Gold Star of a Hero of the Soviet Union three times during WW2. The other, Aleksandr Pokryshkin, had flown from the German invasion in the summer of 1941 through the end of the war, but Kozhedub did not fly his first combat mission until March 26, 1943. Kozhedub flew in 330 combat sorties in WW2 and was credited with 62 enemy planes in 120 dogfights. He served on several fronts in the war and was a squadron commander and later a deputy commander of a fighter wing.
On Feb 19, 1945, shoot down a Me-262 jet fighter and, on April 19, 1945, he downed two Focke-Wulf Fw-190s to bring his final tally to 62–the top Allied ace of the war.

 

[Louis]

The “White Lily" Lydia Litvyak, russian ace fighter, only 21 year old. The closest and most cited data is that of 11 individual takedowns and 3 collaborative takedowns in 168 missions, including a german ace who wouldn't believe he was shot down by a woman, until she described details of the fight. She also trained 45 fighter pilots. Lost in battle on Aug 1, 1943. Was awarded the title "Hero of the Soviet union"

 

[Louis]

Dezsô Szentgyörgyi (1915/1971) was the most succesful Hungarian fighter pilot of the WW2 with his 32 individual victories and 1 shared.

Strikingly he shot down his first aircraft on 7 Aug 1942 in a friendly fire accident, while flying to Reggiane Re.2000. The victim being a German He 111 bomber that opened fire on him during while Szentgyörgyi was trying to identify the aircraft.

Things of fate, Szentgyörgyi died in a plane crash while piloting an Ilyushin Il-18 aircraft on 1971.

 

[Gunner]

In case you were wondering.....
The Ilyushin Il-18 is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known and durable Soviet aircraft of its era.
The Il-18 was one of the world's principal airliners for several decades and was widely exported. - Wikipedia

 

[Gnarly]

Things of fate, Szentgyörgyi died in a plane crash while piloting an Ilyushin Il-18 aircraft on 1971.

And he was three weeks away from retirement.....

 

[Louis]

Wilhelm Crinius (2 Dec 1920 – 26 April 1997)
On 23 Sept 1942, Crinius became the only German fighter pilot to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves simultaneously.
Was credited with 114 victories in approximately 400 missions. He recorded 100 victories over the Eastern front. Of his 14 victories recorded over the Western front, one was a four-engined bomber.