Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Michael,
Umnak Pass is a strait between Umnak Island and Unalaska Island, in the Aleutian Islands chain. To my knowledge, there is no "Aleutian Island". They are a mostly volcanic extension of the Alaska Peninsula. I have credits for 40 victories for the 11th Air Force, based in Alaska. This includes claims by P-38s, P-39s and P-40s in the period June 1942 to April 1943. It also includes one claim by S/Ldr Boomer, CO of No 111(F) RCAF Squadron.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Good evening Frank,

typo: accidentally I omitted the "s" in Aleutian Islands.
My ADAC atlas indicates that geographically the Aleutian Islands should be assigned to America, not to Asia or Oceania.
Thus, all aircraft types that have scored there are candidates for the title five-continent-fighter.

40 kills of the 11. Air Force in Alaska ?
This website shows only 33,5:
http://www.cieldegloire.com/bataille..._us_alaska.php
the top scorer being the P-38 pilot Frederick Moore.

Can you tell if the P-38, the P-39 or the P-40 had the largest share of the 40 kills ?

Best greetings from rainy Brandenburg,

Michael

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Good morning Gentlemen,

I've just finished working through "Tomahawk and Kittyhawk Aces of the RAF and Commonwealth" by Andrew Thomas. It's the fourth Andrew Thomas book that I've read and I enjoyed it very much.
Few questions remain:
1. Clive Caldwell faked his birth certificate to become a fighter pilot. What is his correct date of birth and what was his faked date of birth ?
2. How many combat missions did Caldwell fly in WW2 ?
3. There's a vivid description of a combat of Witold Urbanowicz against a Japanese plane. Urbanowicz's guns jammed but the Japanese slammed into the ground at high speed. I would call that a manoeuvre kill. Why isn't it included in his kill list ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Correct date of birth: 28th July, 1910.
Faked date of birth not given by either source, but there are two stories:

Stewart Wilson said he discharged from the RAAF when he discovered that his intake were going to be instructors. Re-enlisted ANZAC Day, 1940.

Kirsten Alexander, his biographer and an acquaintance of mine wrote that he was judged too old for fighter pilot training and THAT was the source of his re-enlistment. She gives a call-up date of 27 May, 1940 and an arrival at initial training commencement of 10 June 1940.

Sources: Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk in Australian Service by Stewart Wilson, Aerospace Publications, 1988

Clive Caldwell, Air Ace by Kristen Alexander

Here is the listing for the former publication in ABE books

https://www.abebooks.com/products/is...&afn_sr=impact

Here is the listing for the book depository for the latter publication, it is out of stock, mind you:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Clive...9000147&sr=1-1

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Regarding the number of missions Caldwell flew, I messaged Kristen and this was her reply:

According to his flying logbook, caldwell carried out 496 operational sorties, equating to 1116 hours. I don't have the time to check those figures, nor to determine if he counted things like gun tests etc as sorties. The log book is in the AWM private records area if you are ever in canberra and want to check. Best wishes, Kristen

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Hello there Gentlemen,

by courtesy of Kirill I learned more about Zotov's shared kills.
That enabled be to update my P-40 top ten ace list.
name/P-40 score with shared kills counted as decimals(total kills)/nation
1. Clive Caldwell 20,5 (28,5) AU
2. Nikolai Zelenov 19,23 (33,4) SU
3. Billy Drake 16 (21) GB
4. Petr Pokryshev 15,1 (23,6) SU
5. Mikhail Mikhalin 14 (15) SU
6. David Hill 13,25 (15,25) US
7. Viktor Zotov 13,13 (22,58) SU
8. Sergei Litavrin 13 (18) SU
9. John Hampshire 13 (13) US
10. Bruce Holloway 13 (13) US
11. Robert Neale 13 (13) US

Have a nice Thusday,

Michael

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Good morning Gentlemen,

I'm trying to find out the definite total score of the AVG "Flying Tigers".
The totals given in different sources differ slightly:

• 231 according to cieldegloire (with two kills listed after the disbandmente date of 4Jul). The kill list on this website shows only 224 kills. Thus, I dismiss this figure.
  http://cieldegloire.com/fg_avg.php
• 230 according to warbirdforum. But when I count the individual pilot's scores up, there are only 229 listed.
  https://www.warbirdforum.com/vics.htm
• 229 according to wikipedia.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers

I would accept 229 kills as definite but the warbirdforum list includes a David Hill kill on 6Jul (after the AVG disbandment date) whereas it doesn't include a John Petach kill on the same day.

Therefore, should I pin down the AVG total as 228 ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Good evening Gentlemen,

were any of Robert DeHaven's or Ernest Harris' New Guinea victories scored over the Western part of New Guinea, the part that belongs to Indonesia today ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Caldwell's invented DOB: 28/7/1911. This can be seen in his digitised service file (p 25) at the NAA.

Re: Curtiss P-40 top ten ace list
 

Cheers Bruce