Kill Stats for U.S. Fighters vs. Japanese

[Shuckins]

Just ran across these kill statistics in an old copy of Flight Journal.  Thought I would post them for discussion or for those would just like to know:

Listed for each aircraft are the number of victories and the number of aces who earned their kills while these aircraft:

F6F Hellcat              5,156 kills                306 aces

F4U Corsair             2,140                       93

P-38 Lightning         1,700                       90

F4F/FM Wildcat        1,006                        58

P-40 series                 706                        27

P-47 Thunderbolt        697                        32

P-51 Mustang              296                        5

P-39 Airacobra             243                        1

P-61 Black Widow         63                         1




Regards, Shuckins

[Shuckins]

Aw, CRAP!  That didn't turn out too well.  Let's try again.



F6F Hellcat, 5,156 kills and produced 306 aces.

F4U Corsair, 2,140 kills and produced 93 aces

P-38 Lightning, 1,700 kills and produced 90 aces

F4F/FM Wildcat, 1,006 kills and produced 58 aces

P-40 series, 706 kills and produced 27 aces

P-47 Thunderbolt, 696 kills and produced 32 aces

P-51 Mustang, 296 kills and produced 5 aces

P-39 Airacobra, 243 kills and produced 1 ace

P-61 Black Widow, 63 kills and produced 1 ace



Sorry about that!

Embarssed, Shuckins:o

[senna]

This is interesting. Something like this was posted before I belive except didnt have Army AF planes, just Navy. What about the stats going the other direction. For lufftwaffe vs US or British and IJ vs US or Allied. Do you have kill stats for other wars also? Just curious.

[Shuckins]

Senna,

I've read a lot of combat material over the years but I have NEVER seen that kind of kill statistic posted for the Axis fighters.  Perhaps they did not keep such statistics, although that seems unlikely.


Regards, Shuckins.

[whgates3]

not to be a complete jerk, but i have to defend one of my favorite planes (IMHO, possibly the most capable of WWII), the P-61...it shot down 65 in the PTO (not including at least 1 B-29 - see "P-61 Bags a Superfort" at flightjournal.com)

squadron.......kills
----------------------
6th NFS...........16
418th NFS.......18
419th NFS.......5
421st NFS.......14
547th NFS.......6
548th NFS.......5
549th NFS.......1
550th NFS.......0

[HeLLcAt]

Shukins...I think the P51 had WAY more kills than that. P51 had 295 aces, almost as much as the F6F. I think you could check up on that a little bit more, but I will check up on it later.

~BlueiceJ/Wildkat~

[Guppy]

Check the topic, Hellcat. Those figures are only for the Pacific. The P-51 didn't enter that war in strength until very late, so its kill totals aren't all that impressive.

[F4UDOA]

BlueIce

Hey bud. Those are just PTO Numbers. Funny think is if you watch the History channel you would think that the P-51 won the Pacific too.

[whgates3]

does the original list include numbers from the CBI & Aleutian theater, or just the PTO proper?

[Guppy]

A magazine article quoted 13th AF ace Rex Barber (who, sadly, passed away recently) as saying that, when he flew P-38s in China during his second tour, keeping proper kill records wasn't really bothered with.

Can't say whether that applied across the whole CBI theatre, though. Can anyone shed any light?

[Badboy]

Originally posted by Shuckins
Just ran across these kill statistics in an old copy of Flight Journal.  Thought I would post them for discussion or for those would just like to know:

Regards, Shuckins

Hi Shuckins,

Was there any information regarding the scope of those statistics, for example, are those figures limited to the PTO? Without more information about the theatre and time period covered, those figures can be misleading.

For example, they quote the P-51 as only having 296 victories, but if you consider every theatre of operations for the entire war you get much more credible figures. The 15,486 mustangs produced during WWII were flown by about 3,750 pilots who shot down approximately 5,800 enemy aircraft, and about 300 of those pilots became Aces and two of them won the Medal of Honor. That would put the Mustang at the very top of the list. Not close to the bottom.    

Just saying, statistics can be misleading, that's all...

Badboy

[Guppy]

Badboy,

The original poster did specify (in the post topic) that the above figures are for victories scored against Japanese aircraft only.

[Badboy]

Originally posted by Guppy
Badboy,

The original poster did specify (in the post topic) that the above figures are for victories scored against Japanese aircraft only.

Yep, sorry about that. Also, it was mentioned in posts before mine... Mea Culpa.

Badboy