Who Was The Best Fighter Pilot Ever ?

[Azatavrear]

This guy is my hero

Nelson Stepanyan born Shushi, Armenia

WWII Commander of 47th fighter division Soviet Union.

As of November 1942, Stepanyan was reported to having destroyed 78 German trucks, 67 tanks, 63 anti-aircraft guns, nineteen mortars, 36 railroad cars, twenty merchantmen and warships (including a destroyer), thirteen fuel tankers, twelve armored cars, seven long-range guns, five ammunition dumps, five bridges.

Stepanyan was also shot down over enemy lines, although friendly guerrilla fighters aided him to reach back Soviet lines. Stepanyan was awarded twice with the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (the second one was given posthumously).

On his final sortie in Liepāja, Latvia on December 14, 1944, his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and though wounded, he rammed his own plane into a German warship.

 

[Backbencher]

Some statistics:

WW1
Manfred von Richthofen - 80 - top WW1 ace (Germany)
Rene Fonck - 75 - top allied ace (France)
Edward Mannock - 73 top British ace (UK)
Adolphe Pegoud - 6 - first man to achieve ace status in history (France)

WW2:
Erich Hartmann - 352 - top ace of all time (Germany)
Ilmari Juutilainen - 94 - top non German ace (Finland)
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa - 87 - top Japanese ace (Japan)
Ivan Kozhedub - 64 - top allied ace (USSR)
Richard I. Bong - 40 - top US ace (USA)
Johnnie Johnson - 34 - top UK ace, top allied ace on Western front (UK)
Kurt Welter - 63 (25 on Me262) - top jet ace all time (Germany)
Lydia Litvyak - 12 - top female ace all time (USSR)

Post WW2:
Yevgeny Pepelyaev - 23 - top post WW2 ace, top jet vs jet all time (USSR)
Joseph C. McConnell - 16 - top US jet ace (USSR)
Giora Epstein - 17 - top Israeli ace and top supersonic ace all time (Israel)
Nguyen Van Coc - 9 (including 2 UAVs) - top Vietnam war ace (Vietnam)
M M Alam - 9 - top Indo-Pakistan wars ace (Pakistan)
Jalal Zandi - 9 - top Iran-Iraq war ace (Iran)

Now that would certainly help to judge .

 

[Jazzbot]

Some statistics:

WW1
Manfred von Richthofen - 80 - top WW1 ace (Germany)
Rene Fonck - 75 - top allied ace (France)
Edward Mannock - 73 top British ace (UK)
Adolphe Pegoud - 6 - first man to achieve ace status in history (France)

WW2:
Erich Hartmann - 352 - top ace of all time (Germany)
Ilmari Juutilainen - 94 - top non German ace (Finland)
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa - 87 - top Japanese ace (Japan)
Ivan Kozhedub - 64 - top allied ace (USSR)
Richard I. Bong - 40 - top US ace (USA)
Johnnie Johnson - 34 - top UK ace, top allied ace on Western front (UK)
Kurt Welter - 63 (25 on Me262) - top jet ace all time (Germany)
Lydia Litvyak - 12 - top female ace all time (USSR)

Post WW2:
Yevgeny Pepelyaev - 23 - top post WW2 ace, top jet vs jet all time (USSR)
Joseph C. McConnell - 16 - top US jet ace (USSR)
Giora Epstein - 17 - top Israeli ace and top supersonic ace all time (Israel)
Nguyen Van Coc - 9 (including 2 UAVs) - top Vietnam war ace (Vietnam)
M M Alam - 9 - top Indo-Pakistan wars ace (Pakistan)
Jalal Zandi - 9 - top Iran-Iraq war ace (Iran)

I found something similar in wiki:

Flying ace - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[500]

This guy also worth mentioning:

Hans-Joachim Marseille

He is the highest scoring ace on West front with 158 kills. He could shoot down much more if he did not die in accident on 30 sept 1942.

 

[Alexander Johnson]

Yeah, that's very hard question to answer...

My first answer would be Manfred von Richtoffen, but I'm sure there were many other brave guys who fought for freedom, and gave their lives for it.

 

[Babbar-Khalsa]

I think my son has already shed light on Giora kills he has 10 confirmed kills 1 unconfirmed, I was in the vicinity when this happed Where I cant say he shot pilots how had 10 to 15 hours of flight time and no combat experience no wounder he got so many, Plus I am sorry to say that training the Arabs was so difficult because they just didn't get it, In the morning you spent 2 hours training him and in the evening he forgets all. I have students all over the world according to my log book I have a total of 144 students, I have never raised my voice on any one but when training Arabs they brought me to a point where I would just think put my ejection pin in and eject which will throw him out of the plane

The best pilot I have seen my self
Nur khan no one could match his skills.
we have a lot of pilots in PAF who have broken world records of all kind .
In IAF Ratore was the best.

MurdK sir....i think you were talking about Rathore of Indian Air Force.....if yes ..then thanks for mentioning the IAF here .

can you please shed some light on your encounters with IAF ....how did they perform and what do you think about them.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Hans-Joachim Marseille, By Major Robert Tate, USAF

This guy or richtofen.
Gunther wall[282 kills] third highest ace thought marseille was the best marksman in the luftwaffe.

 

[assassin123]

1.Erich Hartmann 352 kills (Germany) WW2
2.Rittmeister manfred albretch (germany) 80 kills WW1.

 

[bigest]

Erich Hartmann,s achievement is amazy in the aircraft area.

 

[Azazel]

IMO,Its The Red Baron,Manfred von Richthofen.80 air combat victories.One of the greatest aircombat tactician of his time.

 

[dekho]

The best fighters pilots also had the advantage technological superiority over their opponents. Without an equally good Fighter aircraft, even a skilled pilot cannot do much.

 

[aghakhan]

I think M.M.Alam is the best fighter ever in the history of war because he destroyed 5 air crafts of Indian less than 30 seconds than who can be better fighter from him.

 

[Kompromat]

I think M.M.Alam is the best fighter ever in the history of war because he destroyed 5 air crafts of Indian less than 30 seconds than who can be better fighter from him.

That is just one parameter - MM Alam is surely one of the best but surely not the best either.

Some statistics:

WW1
Manfred von Richthofen - 80 - top WW1 ace (Germany)
Rene Fonck - 75 - top allied ace (France)
Edward Mannock - 73 top British ace (UK)
Adolphe Pegoud - 6 - first man to achieve ace status in history (France)

WW2:
Erich Hartmann - 352 - top ace of all time (Germany)
Ilmari Juutilainen - 94 - top non German ace (Finland)
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa - 87 - top Japanese ace (Japan)
Ivan Kozhedub - 64 - top allied ace (USSR)
Richard I. Bong - 40 - top US ace (USA)
Johnnie Johnson - 34 - top UK ace, top allied ace on Western front (UK)
Kurt Welter - 63 (25 on Me262) - top jet ace all time (Germany)
Lydia Litvyak - 12 - top female ace all time (USSR)

Post WW2:
Yevgeny Pepelyaev - 23 - top post WW2 ace, top jet vs jet all time (USSR)
Joseph C. McConnell - 16 - top US jet ace (USSR)
Giora Epstein - 17 - top Israeli ace and top supersonic ace all time (Israel)
Nguyen Van Coc - 9 (including 2 UAVs) - top Vietnam war ace (Vietnam)
M M Alam - 9 - top Indo-Pakistan wars ace (Pakistan)
Jalal Zandi - 9 - top Iran-Iraq war ace (Iran)

Joseph C. McConnell was an American.

 

[niaz]

Each battle is fought with different weapon systems and under different conditions. As I have said before, who is the best is very subjective and unless two great pilots fight each other using the same plane and the same armament, it is unfair to call one better than the rest.

Only Tina Turner can sing:

“Baby you are simply the best, better than all the rest. Better than anyone…”

 

[IND151]

In my opinion Captain Bill Shomo was best pilot ever; he downed seven japanese fighters and one bomber in single sortie

This record was not unbroken till gulf war


https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&r...iXRGpLqICcnPfpGRug1ckrA&bvm=bv.53537100,d.bmk