What WW2 ace do you look up to?

[snakemaw]

David Lee "TEX" Hill[/IMG]

18 1/2 Kills and put up one hec of a fight at the Salween gorge. For which he was awarded the DSC. I got to speak to him the other day and he told me that while he was in China, General Stilwell had plans of turning a T-6(Bc-1) into an observation plane for the General.  He made me laugh when he said that he told the General "Sir..are boys see the radial engine on that thing and they are gonna shoot you down!!!" Tex said that the Ge renal then changed his mind.

[TracerX]

Originally posted by Harp00n


Hans-Joachim Marseille
"Star of Africa"

17 confirmed air-to-air kills in one day (Sept. 1st 1942) ...incredible

Have to agree with this one.  Almost universally recognized as the most talented German pilot.  This guy was the equivalent of Fester, BK, Levi, et al. only in real life.  His skills were far greater than any that came before or after him on the German side, including Hartman.  I am American, and have a natural tendancy to favor the US Aces, but I have to hand it to this guy.  He was special.  His death was a National tragedy.

See this link

[Guppy35]

Originally posted by TracerX
Have to agree with this one.  Almost universally recognized as the most talented German pilot.  This guy was the equivalent of Fester, BK, Levi, et al. only in real life.  His skills were far greater than any that came before or after him on the German side, including Hartman.  I am American, and have a natural tendancy to favor the US Aces, but I have to hand it to this guy.  He was special.  His death was a National tragedy.

See this link

Only thing I wonder about is how he'd have done in ETO against roughly equal aircraft and pilots who weren't flying ground attack.  

101 of his kills are against P40s many of them early models of the RAF as well as 30 Hurricane Is.  Even the Spit Vs he'd have flown against were flying with the large Vokes filter which really reduced speed and were not close to his 109F in performance.  He could really control the fight.

Not saying he wasn't a great pilot, clearly he was, I just am hard pressed to see him in the same category as guys like Priller, Glunz etc who fought their entire careers against the best of the Allies out of England.  I think they were in a far more difficult situation in terms of the aircraft they faced, the numbers, quality and experience of the Allied pilots, the circumstances etc.

[TracerX]

Your right that he might not have survived even if his accident never occured.  It is a slim chance in such a deadly environment.  Only the very lucky did survive to tell their stories.  Marseille had skills however that the others did not.  He had the kind of fighting skills that are not found very often in one person.  He was the complete package.  That is why I think he was the best.

Others had experience and survived.  Marseille was skilled and deadly.  He was the ace of aces in his time.

[SaburoS]

Originally posted by BaDkaRmA158Th
Snip~
And like i said before,you can justify it anyway you want,the rule is the rule.
you TAKE life,you are murder.
does not matter if the life you took WAS a murderer.

~Snip

So if someone is trying to kill me or my friends or family, if I kill him first, is that murder or justifiable homicide?

I'm not trying to glorify war (look at my sig line) which brings me back to topic.

My choice is Saburo Sakai.

In this video   it becomes clear that Pug Sutherland should have shot down Saburo Sakai that day.

When I first started in AcesHi, I first tried flying the Zero but found it just too limiting before trying other aircraft. Plus the Zero's imitation of a Zippo lighter when hit in the fuel tanks, I don't like of it (even though it's accurate damage modeling).

[Shiryu]

Saburo Sakai..



and Adriano Visconti


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriano_Visconti

[TracerX]

Originally posted by SaburoS
My choice is Saburo Sakai.

In this video   it becomes clear that Pug Sutherland should have shot down Saburo Sakai that day.

I have to admit that Saburo Sakai is truly a legend, and proved that he was a great man even after the war.  To have had the success he had in the A6M is extraordinary.  

I still think that Hans Joachim Marseille was the most deadly skilled fighter pilot durring WW2.  His short history and unfortunate ending is documented in the link above.  He scored all his kills in North Africa before September 30, 1942.  No one has come close to matching that pace in aerial combat, not even the great Eric Hartmann.

[TracerX]

Originally posted by Guppy35
Only thing I wonder about is how he'd have done in ETO against roughly equal aircraft and pilots who weren't flying ground attack.  

101 of his kills are against P40s many of them early models of the RAF as well as 30 Hurricane Is.  Even the Spit Vs he'd have flown against were flying with the large Vokes filter which really reduced speed and were not close to his 109F in performance.  He could really control the fight.

The material advantage the Allies had in aircraft grew the entire time he was in Africa.  By the end, the numerical advantages the Allies had was more than enough to offset the performance advantages of the 109F.  Besides, his methods of fighting was not simply Boom and Zoom tactics.  He was decisive in his engagements, and his style was clearly different from his contemporaries such that they could recognize him in a fight without the benefit of markings on his plane.  He might not have lived through the war as you say, but I doubt that there was anyone more deadly than he was in a fighter plane.

[P47Gra]

Originally posted by VansCrew1
whos the world war 2 ace that you like them most,and dose what he flew play a part on what you fly in Aces High?

My Grand Dad. P-47 pilot 1942-1944.  Superior JUG pilot.  Knew how to fight the pig.  Remember hearing how he hated to face the 109.  Known for bringing in more holes in the plane than ammo left in the JUG.  Recorded many train kills during last push from the Germans.  I wish I knew about this game when he was alive.  I would love to have him tell his story.  I would stay up into the wee hours listening to his stories.  I have a journal that he kept and some notes I have.    

Great Uncle B-24 commander 20 missions 3 planes shot from him.  Lost 10 crewmembers.  Limped a hurt bird 300 miles with 1 and 4 shot out with little aileron control.

[68bigtex]

Robin Olds

http://www.af.mil/history/person.asp?dec=&pid=123006521

[morfiend]

All the unsung gunners,who flew without control of A/C.
 

May they rest in peace....

[Xasthur]

Josef Priller also deserves a solid mention.

101 kills on the Western front and went on to manage a brewery.

[Timppa]

I am looking up to the foreign volunteers, who came to Finland to help to stem the barbaric assault of the Soviet Union during the "Winter War", and who gave the ultimate sacrifice, for example:

The Danish pilots:

Lt. (Count) Erhard K. J. Frijs, KIA on 19.2.1940.
Lt. C. Knut Kalmberg, KIA on 13.2.1940
Lt. C. Mogens H. Kristensen, KIA on 29.2.1940
Lt. Frits Rasmussen, KIA on 2.2.1940

Swedish:
Ensign John Magnus Sjökvist
Lt. Sten Åke Hildinger
Lt. Anders Robert Zachau.

Italian:
S.Sgt Diego Manzocchi, KIA 11.3.40.

Links:
http://www.geocities.com/finnmilpge/fmp_forpilots.html
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/f19-1.htm

[33Vortex]

Hans-Joachim Marseille

[storch]

Originally posted by 33Vortex
Hans-Joachim Marseille

why?  

he never ran to ack and at least on one ocassion dove into a swarm of P40s alone in real life.  

he had his wingman fly above the fight and relay via radio the relative positions of approaching P40s and not actually be in the fight.  

all I see you do is dive two or better v one.  when your pals get whacked then you run to ack and this is a game.

by me observing your style of game play first hand it seems to me that there would be more admiration of the late war pony horders and not hajo.