Flying ace

Flying Ace is a term applied to military aviators who have shot down a specified number of aircraft in air-to-air combat. The number of successful takedowns required to achieve ace status has changed since the term was first used in 1915 during World War I, but most often an ace is a pilot who has downed five or more planes. However, as new jet technology made shooting down aircraft in air-to-air combat more difficult, pilots sometimes became aces with as few as three successful air battles.

Background

Airplanes first became part of warfare shortly after the Wright brothers completed their first flight in 1903. Planes were initially used for reconnaissance flights to view enemy positions. Later, planes were equipped with metal darts they could drop on troops on the ground. The first guns fired from aircraft were hand-held revolvers used by two American pilots, Phil Rader and Dean Ivan Lamb, who were fighting on opposite sides during the Mexican War in 1913. The shots caused no significant damage.

The first recorded damage of an enemy aircraft by another plane was recorded during World War I on August 25, 1914, by two French pilots who fired on an enemy plane. The German plane was hit but escaped by diving. A month later, on September 25, Russian Pyotr Nesterov was the first pilot to destroy an enemy aircraft. He rammed his plane into an Austrian-made craft, destroying both aircraft and killing both crews.

The first official shootdown of another plane was recorded by French pilot Sgt. Joseph Frantz and his mechanic/gunner, Louis Quénault. The two took out a German plane over Germany on October 5, 1914. Their plane had an advantage: a plane-mounted 8-millimeter Hotchkiss machine gun. The aerial fight and resulting crash of the German craft were witnessed by many who were able to attest to the feat. As a result, machine guns soon became standard equipment on war aircraft and aerial combat became an important element of warfare.

Overview

The first recorded use of the term ace to refer to a military fighter pilot came in 1915. A French newspaper used the term l’as, or “the ace,” in describing French pilot Adolphe Pegoud after he took down several German planes. The term quickly caught on and was applied to other successful fighter pilots.

At the time, pilots were generally referred to as aces after they recorded ten confirmed takedowns of enemy aircraft. While this frequently meant that the crew of the downed planed died, the important factor was rendering the plane and/or pilot unfit for further combat. However, not all countries recognized ten as the standard. For instance, the United States did not enter the war until 1917, three years after it began and just about a year before it ended. As a result, few American pilots had opportunities to achieve ten shootdowns and they adopted the standard of five.

Many World War I and World War II pilots recorded significantly more than five shootdowns. In addition, the military in different countries sometimes changed the way they recorded confirmed takedowns. For example, during World War II and the Korean War, the American military divided credit for the takedown among the entire crew of the aircraft, allotting them fractions of the point. During the Vietnam War, the pilot and weapons crewmember each earned a takedown for a downed plane. Then, during the conflicts in the Persian Gulf in the 1990s and early 2000s, the American military once again awarded partial points to the entire flight crew after a victorious battle. Modern war technology has made it even more difficult to shoot down aircraft, so in some cases, a pilot is considered an ace after recording three aerial victories.

Notable Aces

The level of ace is one that few pilots ever achieve. Many of those who have achieved it die in combat themselves, sometimes in the process of taking down another plane. It has been noted that during World War II, Germany recorded far more takedowns than even the most successful fighter pilots from other countries. After research, historians believe that much of this can be attributed to the sheer number of combat flights flown by German pilots, who were not given the time off that other pilots received.

Some notable aces include:

• Manfred von Richthofen, who was known as the Red Baron, was possibly the most famous ace of all time. Flying for Germany during World War I, he was credited with eighty victories, the highest number in the conflict. During his final battle, he was shot but managed to land his plane before dying of a gunshot wound to the chest.
• Erich Hartmann, the top ace of World War II, recorded 352 takedowns over the course of 1,404 flights for the German Luftwaffe.
• Richard Ira Bong was America’s top World War II ace. He recorded forty victories in the Pacific Theater and once shot a crocodile from the air when it was threatening American troops attempting a water rescue of a crew member. He died after something went wrong as he took off on August 5, 1945. He was so well respected that his death was reported in newspapers just below the news that America had dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.
• Muhammad Mahmood Alam was a member of the Pakistani Air Force during the Pakistani War of 1965. He was the last person to become an ace in one day when he took down five enemy planes in one minute on September 7, 1945.
• Charles B. DeBellevue served during the Vietnam War and was the first US Air Force Weapons Systems Officer to become an ace. One of only four American aces during the war, DeBellevue recorded six takedowns.
• Giora Epstein recorded seventeen victories while serving with the Israeli Air Force. This is the most of any pilot since the introduction of supersonic aircraft in the late 1940s.
• Cesar Rodriguez became an American ace when he recorded three victories during the Gulf War in the 1990s.

Bibliography

Bennett, Jay. “7 of the Greatest Flying Aces Throughout History.” Popular Mechanics, 29 July 2015, www.popularmechanics.com/flight/g2323/greatest-flying-aces/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

Connor, Gary. “Flying, Fighting and Reflection: The Life and Battle of Britain Fighter Ace, Wing Commander Tom Neil DFC AFC AE.” Air Power History, vol. 66, no. 3, 2019, p. 55. www.proquest.com/openview/81cfb6e11de2c67b659cd44310a21f3c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=779. Accessed 11 Mar. 2022.

“8 Celebrity Air Aces of the First World War.” Imperial War Museum, www.iwm.org.uk/history/8-celebrity-air-aces-of-the-first-world-war. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

Even-Epstein, Giora. Hawkeye: The Enthralling Autobiography of the Top-Scoring Israel Air Force Ace of Aces. Grub Street Publishing, 2020.

Maksel, Rebecca. “What Does It Take to Become an ‘Ace’?” Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine, 6 Apr. 2008, www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/what-does-it-take-to-become-an-ace-35385936/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

McCarthy, Kaylie. “Ace of Aces, Major Richard Bong: Medal of Honor Series.” National World War II Museum, 14 June 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/richard-bong-medal-of-honor. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

Reichardt, Tony. “The First Aerial Combat Victory.” Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine, 4 Oct. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/first-aerial-combat-victory-180952933/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

Sawford, Philip, and Katharine Alston. “How Has War in the Air Changed Over Time?” Imperial War Museum, 7 Dec. 2017, www.iwm.org.uk/learning/resources/how-has-war-in-the-air-changed-over-time. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.

Schmidt, Erik. Black Tulip: The Life and Myth of Erich Hartmann, the World’s Top Fighter Ace. Casemate, 2020.

Simkin, John. “Flying Aces.” Spartacus Educational, Jan. 2020, spartacus-educational.com/FWWflyingaces.htm. Accessed 9 Mar. 2022.