Who were some of the most famous pilots of World War 1?

Answer 1

Manfred von Richthofen of Germany, Rene Fonck of France, William Bishop of Canada, Edward Mannock of Britain, Robert Little of Australia and George McElroy of Ireland all had 47 or more confirmed kills. Eddie Rickenbacker was the most famous US pilot with 26 kills.

Major Edward C. "Mick" Mannock was the highest British ace with 73 kills. He was mysteriously killed by a lone rifle bullet while leading a training flight over the front. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously in 1919.

Major Lanoe G. Hawker was a famous British pilot who was in a dogfight with the top German ace Oswald Boelcke when the German accidently collided with his wingman and fell to his death. Major Hawker, now known as the English Boelcke, fought a duel to the death with Manfred von Richthofen in Nov 1916.

Captain Oswald Boelcke(Germany) was the ace who trained Manfred von Richthofen and died in a mid-air collision with his wingman.

Max Immelmann was another of the early German aces who had a short career. He was affectionally called "the Eagle of Lille" He was an exceptional pilot and helped develope the tactics using the Fokker Eindecker monoplane that was the first operational fighter to use a gun that fired through the propellor arc. He developed the "Immelmann turn" is an aerobatic maneuver that still carries his name. While flying a mission with the latest version of the Eindecker, he was killed---many Germans would not admit he was shot down and attributed it to mechanical failure.

Herman Goring took over Richthofen's squadron after his death. Goring became the head of the German Luftwaffe in WW2. He first flew an Albatros with a black fuselage and wings in the camo of green/purple. Later he flew an all-white Fokker D-VII.

Captain Godwin Brumowski was Austria-Hungary's highest ace with 40 kills. He copied the "Red Baron" and painted his Albatros all red with white skulls.

Major Francesco Baracca was the highest Italian ace with 34 kills before he was killed in combat in June 1918 . He usually flew a SPAD that had a prancing horse emblem painted on the side. His mother gave the emblem to a friend Enzo Ferrai who used the symbol on his racing cars---which became the company logo for Ferrai.

Lt Wiley Coppens was the highest scoring ace of Belgium with 37 kills. Most of his kills were observation balloons and he held the record for highest number of balloons destroyed for any pilot in WW1.

Eugene Jacques Bullard was a black American who made his way to England and boxed to make a living. He joined the French Army and became a flyer. Since he was American, he was assigned to the Lafeyetter Escadrille. He may be the first black American to fly fighter aircraft in combat. After WW1, he remained in France where he assisted the French Resistance in WW2. (There is a thread of truth to the Hollywood movie "Flyboys".)

Lt. Quentin Roosevelt was the son of a US President who was shot down over France. He is buried at the American Cemetery at Normandy(Collieville sur Mir) next to his brother, General Ted Roosevelt, of the 4th Infantry Division.

Captain Elliot W. Springs was an American who was sent to fly with a British Squadron. He gained a lot of experience before most of the American had arrived to the War. He survived the war with 12 kills and wrote many articles and books about his experience. He assisted in publishing the memoirs of John MacGavock Grider, who was killed in combat, entitled "War Birds".

Captain Frederick Christiansen was a German ace who scored 21 kills flying a 2-place seaplanes. His score included the British submarine C-25 and the British airship C-25, for which he was awarded the Blue Max medal. During WW2, he headed the National Socialist Flying Corps.

Captain Rudolph Berthold the 6th highest German ace. After the war he was involved in food riots and a mob strangled him with his own Blue Max ribbon.

Lt Werner Voss was the highest scoring German ace early in the war and every pilot including Manfred von Richthofen were trying to top his score. He received one of the prototype Fokker Dr-1 Triplanes and flew it in combat against 7 British SE-5s, where he was shot down. Total kills 48.

Lt. Ernst Udet was the 2nd highest scoring German ace with 62 victories. In WW2 he served in the Luftwaffe and attained the rank of Generaloberst and was Chief of the Technical Office of the Luftwaffe. However, in Sept 1941, Udet committed suicide with a pistol given to him during his days as a Hollywood stunt pilot.

Captain Adolf Ritter von Tutschek was a well-known German ace with 27 victories.

Lt. Karl Wolff was a German ace with 33 kills.

Lt(Reserves) Peter Rieper held a unique record as being the only balloon pilot to be awarded the coveted Blue Max.

Flight Sub-Lt R. A. J. Warneford was the firstpilot to attack and destroy a German Zeppelin. He attacked the Zeppelin with a Morane-Saulnier L "Parasol" using a bomb, which nearly blew him out of the sky. Later that evening, he received a telegram informing h im the King George would award him the Victoria Cross. On 18 June 1915, he took off in a Henri Farman pusher and crashed to his death before receiving his award.

Flight Lt Raymond Collishaw was a famous British ace who lead the newly formed British Naval squadron No. 10 of Sopwith Triplanes called the "Black Flight" and ended the war as a Lt-Colonel with 60 victories.

Captain Albert Ball was a British pilot who took an active part in the design of new aircraft and weapon placement. He assisted with one aircraft such that it was named the Austin-Ball A.F.B.1. He was assigned to Squadron 56 which was the first unit to fly the SE-5 in April 1917 and was shot down a month later.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen was known as the 'Red Baron' and was the most successful pilot of WWI with 80 confirmed kills before he was shot down during the Battle of the Somme

Answer 2

Some of the famous pilots during World War II included Erich Hartmann from Germany. He was best known for having the most aerial victories during the war. Other famous pilots include Walter C Beckham from the United States and Takemizu Takeo from Japan.

Answer 3

JE 'Johnny' Johnson; Adolf Galland; James Doolittle; Adolf 'Sailor' Malan; 'Pat' Pattle; Guy Gibson; Douglas Bader; Leonard Cheshire....

Answer 4

Eddie Rickenbacker