top ten

[NEARY]

i was just wondering who the the top ten aces of WWII were.
if you know can you please list thier name and what plane they flew.

[Pannono]

Pilot                            Service            Kills
Erich Hartmann            Luftwaffe           352                 
Gerhard Barkhorn         Luftwaffe           301
Günther Rall                Luftwaffe           275
Otto Kittel                  Luftwaffe           267
Walter Nowotny          Luftwaffe            258
Wilhelm Batz               Luftwaffe           237
Erich Rudorffer            Luftwaffe           222
Heinz Bär                  Luftwaffe            220
Hermann Graf            Luftwaffe            212
Heinrich Ehrler           Luftwaffe            208

[NEARY]

Pilot                            Service            Kills
Erich Hartmann            Luftwaffe           352                 
Gerhard Barkhorn         Luftwaffe           301
Günther Rall                Luftwaffe           275
Otto Kittel                  Luftwaffe           267
Walter Nowotny          Luftwaffe            258
Wilhelm Batz               Luftwaffe           237
Erich Rudorffer            Luftwaffe           222
Heinz Bär                  Luftwaffe            220
Hermann Graf            Luftwaffe            212
Heinrich Ehrler           Luftwaffe            208

what planes did they fly?i was also kind of hoping for just for top ten british and american

[Pannono]

Allied leaders

Ivan Kozhedub                         Soviet Air Force      62
Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshin    Soviet Air Force      59
Grigoriy Rechkalov                    Soviet Air Force      58
Nikolay Gulayev                       Soviet Air Force       57
Kirill Yevstigneyev                   Soviet Air Force        53
Marmaduke Pattle                   Royal Air Force         51
Dmitriy Glinka                         Soviet Air Force        50
Arseniy Vorozheikin                 Soviet Air Force        46 
Alexandr Koldunov                  Soviet Air Force        46
Nikolay Skomorohov               Soviet Air Force         46

[Pannono]

RAF and USA

Marmaduke Pattle       Royal Air Force     51
Dick Bong                  USAAF                40
James Johnson           Royal Air Force     38
Thomas McGuire         USAAF                38
David McCampbell       U.S. Navy            34
Pierre Clostermann      Royal Air Force     33
Brendan Finucane       Royal Air Force     32
Adolph Malan             Royal Air Force     32
George Beurling          Royal Air Force     31
Robert Tuck              Royal Air Force      29

[Pannono]

I dont seem to have data on the aircraft they used. Sorry. Anything else? I have time to waste, waitin on logs for scenario to be posted 

[Zazen13]

I wonder how the outcome of the air war in Europe/Africa would have been dramatically different if German super-aces were "retired" from combat to train new pilots like the Allies did. It seems the steadily declining fighter pilot quality had the indirect effect of making the Allies strategic bombing of aircraft manufacture/infrastructure related industrial targets more successful as the war went on. More aircraft were lost in combat and German fighters became less and less capable of dealing with the better trained and therefore increasingly more numerous Allied escort fighters.

[Lusche]

I wonder how the outcome of the air war in Europe/Africa would have been dramatically different if German super-aces were "retired" from combat to train new pilots like the Allies did. It seems the steadily declining fighter pilot quality had the indirect effect of making the Allies strategic bombing of aircraft manufacture/infrastructure related industrial targets more successful as the war went on. More aircraft were lost in combat and German fighters became less and less capable of dealing with the better trained and therefore increasingly more numerous Allied escort fighters.

I'm afraid not that much that it would have caused a big change. Training suffered not only from lack of trainers, but also planes and most important: fuel.

All resources were completely overstressed from a very early point on the war, in times of crisis often the only manpower the Luftwaffe could fall back on was coming fom the schools and academies. For example during the Stalingrad crisis they grazed all transport schoools for planes & pilots, many of them never to return again.

[angelsandair]

Allied leaders

Ivan Kozhedub                          Soviet Air Force      62
Aleksandr Ivanovich Pokryshin    Soviet Air Force      59
Grigoriy Rechkalov                    Soviet Air Force      58
Nikolay Gulayev                       Soviet Air Force       57
Kirill Yevstigneyev                   Soviet Air Force        53
Marmaduke Pattle                   Royal Air Force         51
Dmitriy Glinka                         Soviet Air Force        50
Arseniy Vorozheikin                 Soviet Air Force        46 
Alexandr Koldunov                  Soviet Air Force        46
Nikolay Skomorohov               Soviet Air Force         46

It's still very debated over the top ace for these two. Pokryshkin's squad would give a day's kills to a fallen squad mate so the extra money could be sent to his family. His unoffical score (as Soviet scoring only counted if they could find the wreckage) is actually 100+ kills, not to mention the ones he didn't count when he'd give the kills. Offical is Kozhedub, unoffical (and reality) is probably Pokryshkin.

[Zazen13]

I'm afraid not that much that it would have caused a big change. Training suffered not only from lack of trainers, but also planes and most important: fuel.

Yea, I remember toward the end some new pilots were only allowed something stupid like 15-20 solo hours due to fuel shortages. But, what if the Germans had done it from the Battle of Britain onward before the Allies got long range escort fighters. The Allies already had to suspend daylight strategic bombing as it is for a few months.  Losses for Allied bombers would have been much worse. If the Allies could then only bomb at night which was not nearly as accurate, German fuel refineries and aircraft manufacturing would not have been nearly as devastated nearly so quickly...

[Lusche]

Yea, I remember toward the end some new pilots were only allowed something stupid like 15-20 solo hours due to fuel shortages. But, what if the Germans had done it from the Battle of Britain onward before the Allies got long range escort fighters. The Allies already had to suspend daylight strategic bombing as it is for a few months.  Losses for Allied bombers would have been much worse. If the Allies could then only bomb at night which was not nearly as accurate, German fuel refineries and aircraft manufacturing would not have been nearly as devastated nearly so quickly...

That wouldn't have been so easy to accomplish. Even at that point Luftwaffe was lacking in manpower, especially wiith the upcoming invasion of Russia, Also there already was a shortage of fuel and planes even in that early stage.

[Zazen13]

It's still very debated over the top ace for these two. Pokryshkin's squad would give a day's kills to a fallen squad mate so the extra money could be sent to his family. His unoffical score (as Soviet scoring only counted if they could find the wreckage) is actually 100+ kills, not to mention the ones he didn't count when he'd give the kills. Offical is Kozhedub, unoffical (and reality) is probably Pokryshkin.

Yea, that's an important point. Each country counted kills differently so it's hard to compare one country to another.

[Motherland]

Off the top of my head,

Pilot                            Service            Kills
Erich Hartmann            Luftwaffe           352                 
Gerhard Barkhorn         Luftwaffe           301
Günther Rall                Luftwaffe           275
Otto Kittel                  Luftwaffe           267
Walter Nowotny          Luftwaffe            258
Wilhelm Batz               Luftwaffe           237
Erich Rudorffer            Luftwaffe           222
Heinz Bär                  Luftwaffe            220
Hermann Graf            Luftwaffe            212
Heinrich Ehrler           Luftwaffe            208

Hartmann flew the 109, Barkhorn flew the 109 and the 190, Rall flew the 109 and maybe the 190?, Kittel I think flew the 190, Nowotny flew the 190 and the 262, Batz comes to my memorry as 109 (not sure), never heard of Rudorffer, Baer flew the 109 and 262, Graf flew the 109, and I've never heard of Ehrler.

It's still very debated over the top ace for these two. Pokryshkin's squad would give a day's kills to a fallen squad mate so the extra money could be sent to his family. His unoffical score (as Soviet scoring only counted if they could find the wreckage) is actually 100+ kills, not to mention the ones he didn't count when he'd give the kills. Offical is Kozhedub, unoffical (and reality) is probably Pokryshkin.

I've read that all Soviet squadrons do this. One way or another, Soviet kill claims were greatly exaggerated.
I've also seen Rechkalov placed over Pokryshkin.

From the Soviet list, I recognize Kozhedub, who flew Lavochkins, Rechkalov, who flew the P39, and Pokryshkin, who flew the MiG3, Yak1, and P39.

[angelsandair]

Yea, that's an important point. Each country counted kills differently so it's hard to compare one country to another.

Both were Soviet pilots. Kozhedub didn't see nearly as much fighting as Pokryshkin did, in the last 2 years of the war, the soviets only let Pokryshkin shoot down like 6 planes...

[Zazen13]

That wouldn't have been so easy to accomplish. Even at that point Luftwaffe was lacking in manpower, especially wiith the upcoming invasion of Russia, Also there already was a shortage of fuel and planes even in that early stage.

Yea, part of the motivation for attacking Russia was to capture the oil rich Caucasus(sp?) region...But, a lot like the Brits in the Battle of Britain the Germans had the benefit of being able to ditch and eject to preserve pilots and planes while not having fly long-distances...But, I see your point, once access to Africa was cutoff and the  Russian offensive stalled they reached a point where they could not sustain a static air defense sufficient to inflict enough losses, even if they had better trained pilots...