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Top ace of the calendar year
Good morning Gentlemen,
this list shows the top aces of all calendar years in which aces scored 5+ official victories. Enjoy ! I wish I knew the decimals of the shared kills of Gritsevets. Year / Top ace of the calendar year / victories 1915 Max Immelmann & Lanoe Hawker 7 1916 Oswald Boelcke 34 1917 Manfred von Richthofen 48 1918 René Fonck 56 1936 Joaquin Garcia-Morato 15,5 1937 Joaquin Garcia-Morato 13 1938 Werner Mölders & Tetsuzo Iwamoto 14 and/or Sergei Gritsevets 6+24 1939 Hiromichi Shinohara 58 1940 Adolf Galland 58 1941 Günther Lützow 83 1942 Hermann Graf 160 1943 Walter Nowotny 194 1944 Erich Hartmann 172 1945 Walther Dahl 43 1950 Stepan Naumenko & Li Don Gu 5 1951 Nikolai Sutyagin 19 1952 Frederick Blesse 10 1953 Joseph McConnel 16 1967 Nguyen Van Coc 6 1970 Abraham Shalmon 5,5 1972 Richard Ritchie & Randolph Cunningham 5 1973 Giora Epstein 12 1982 Amir Nahumi 6 Cheers, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
I'm pretty dubious about the 43 "abschuss" in 1945 because many of his "abschuss" are particularly controversable,in particulary his last.
michel |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
I want speak of Dahl
michel |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello Michel,
you're right. Dahl's 1945 score might be the most dubious of them all. I took it from the Dahl biography by Schumann but it might be based largely on Dahl's postwar imagination. I don't have Dahl's autobiography. Does Dahl mention in it what he thought his score was ? Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Very interesting datas !
But you should really remove Dahl for 1945, there is doubt he flew something else than his desk after January 1945 (more details here : http://falkeeins.blogspot.co.uk/2014...g-300-his.html). So I am curious who's the top ace of 1945 as Dahl is out of the race :) |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
I remember one expert suggesting Josten.
I will check it at home. Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
I was thinking about him too in fact.
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Re: Top ace of the calendar year
I just did some research on Dahl and here is what I found:
After its 71° "abschuss" with the III/JG3 on 24/04/44,I found 12 with JG300 in 1944 between 07/07/44 and 05/12/44,11 with JG300 between 27/01/45 and 21/02/45 confirmed in general by at least one witness but not confirmed by the RLM(that's another story!). It's possible for Josten,if not,among the pilots who could claim the title of top scorers in 1945,one can quote: Hackl=15 Kutz =17 Drdla =12 Wald =11 Goralski=19 Rogall=15 Werner=15 michel |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Quote:
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Top ace of the calendar year
Hi guys
I have 18 victories claimed by Oberst Walther Dahl (102 victories, RK-EL) with Stab/JG 300 and III./EJG 2 in 1945 based on JG 300 Wilde Sau by Lorant and Goya, Me 262 Combat Dairy by Foreman and Harvey as well as information on TOCH. I have 39 victories claimed by Oberleutnant Günther Josten (178 victories, RK-EL) with JG 51 in 1945 based on Günther Josten: Gefechtsbericht by Braatz and Göbel. Any comments or corrections as always are greatly appreciated! Horrido! Leo |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Good evening Gentlemen,
I have 39 kills for Josten in 1945, too. I have 71 JG3 kills for Dahl (1941-1944), 14 kills for Dahl between 7Jul44 and 5Dec44 in JG300, 11 kills between 27Jan45 and 21Feb45 in JG300, and 7 kills in Mar/Apr with EJG2. This is nearly analogous to your findings and it leaves at least 25 kills of the calendar year 1945 open to debate. Interestingly, these authors seem to have believed him:
Cheers, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Dahl's (14) victories between 7 July 1944 and 5 December 1944 in JG300 are dubious but we can assume he flew the combat missions.
For the (11) victories between 27 January 1945 and 21 February 1945 it is highly unlikely he was still flying with JG 300, the unit was still on the Westfront in January 1945 and Dahl claims from 27 to 29 January were against russian aircraft. His claims for the 30th were even dubious as the 8th and 15th Air Forces were grounded on that day... I am surprised Lorant & Goyat mention these victories (I have not my books on hands). Then he claimed to have served with III./EJG 2 and scored his first jet victories in late March 1945. So in one month he scored 25+ victories and then converted to the Me 262 ? I am also surprised that Foreman credits Dahl with 7 jet victories. That's sad that all these researchers, due to the scarce of sources, have to trust the pilots. In most cases, that's not a problem as most talk in good faith. That would not be the first time (during or post-War) that Dahl took advantage of the situation to increase his fame. It make me being suspicious when hearing from some pilots such as Dahl, Stigler or Galland, so maybe I'm overreacting but for me it make no sense to just copy and past the "128" Dahl wrote in his book. If no original source other than Dahl's book mention victories for Dahl in 1945, for me his score for 1945 is at 0. After all, he was Inspekteur der Tagjäger, a staff post, from 26 January 1945 to the end of the War. But feel free to contradict me. |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
For memory
As from 20/01/45,the JG300 was based on the "eastfront" I/JG300 to Liegnitz (Breslau) III/JG300 to Lùben(Liegnitz) IV/JG300 to Lùben The concept "eastfront","westfront" at this time of conflict is in my opinion difficult to define. Borkheide(base of I/JG300:"Westfront") located at 60 km sud of Berlin is only 50 mn away from Liegnitz ("eastfront")and it's quite possible although based on the "western" front to fight on the "eastfront". This does not confirm the "victories" of Dahl but could explain his Russian's claims. michel |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello there Gentlemen,
it seems to me as if in 1945 Germans didn't care much about the act of claim confirmation. Those who fought, did so not for glory but for their sense of duty. Those who didn't fight strove for a safe assignment behind a desk or in a non-operational unit. Annoyingly, some of the latter eagerly tried to add to their score postwar. And one of the worst examples might have been Dahl. I wonder who will be the first author to discredit his 1945 score in a book. Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
it seems to me as if in 1945 Germans didn't care much about the act of claim confirmation. Those who fought, did so not for glory but for their sense of dutySome of them obviously cared a great deal about victory confirmations because Luftwaffe's system of medals and promotions took account of accredited victories and/or missions flown. These things were seen as a measure of how well you were doing your job. In an organisation employing hundreds of thousands of people there were bound to be some frontline glory-seekers, just as there were people behind desks who were happy just to get the rations or whatever delivered to the right place. Also the history books are full of examples of Germans acting up to the last minute of the war as if the Third Reich would never end. People aren't always realistic. |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
From my ancestors I learned that indeed particularly young Germans were believing in the Final Victory until quite late in the war. The older guys who had experienced WW1 were rather inclined to feel doubts, especially after Stalingrad.
Apropos: is it known which was the last Knight's Cross awarded to an ace ? Have a nice evening, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Guys
I believe Dahl had unconfirmed claims amongst his alleged 129, I have found thirteen unconfirmed for him. I would say his confirmed was ninety+ of which eighteen+ for 1945. I also agree that Josten was the top ace of 1945, Brendel a close second with thirty-five, Josten also had many unconfirmed during 1945, at least seven including four on 20th February due to no witness. For 1943 Nowotny had 194 confirmed claims Nr.62-255. For 1944 Hartmann had 177 confirmed claims Nr.160-336 Best month Emil Lang with sixty-eight in October 1943 Nr.22-89 Best day seventeen by Marseille 1st September 1942 Nr.99-115, and Lang 3rd November 1943 Nr.98-114, possibly also August Lambert during 1944(evidence lacking) Don't think Nowotny Hartmann and Lang were very honest, but Josten, Marseille and Brendel were.....perhaps Marseille was the best ever. Kind Regards Johannes |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello Johannes,
nice to hear from you. Very interesting post. You're right, Hartmann has 177 in 1944, not 172. I didn't know for sure that Lang holds the record for the most kills in any month. He is also the top-scorer of all those who have not scored in the Bf109, isn't he ? Cheers, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Michael
surely Nowotny and Kittel outscored Lang in the Fw190, not sure when each stopped flying the Bf109. Another statistic for you.......ACE in a day i.e pilots that had five or more confirmed claims in a day, unfortunately it looks like the majority are those deemed "overclaimers", but the most such days is seventeen by both Nowotny and Hartmann, others are:- Rudorffer 13 Weissenberger 12 Batz 12 Kirscher 11 Schuck 9 Hans Phillip 9 Franz Dorr 9 Kittel 8 Marseille 8 Graf 8 Wolfrum 7 Norz 7 Emil Lang 7 Hafner 7 Ehrler 6 Oskar-Heinz Bär 6 Barkhorn 6 Gollob 6 Stotz 6 Jennewein 5 Josten 5 Gerhard Hoffmann 5 Dickfeld 5 Birkner 5 Oskar Romm 5 For the biggest days, again the majority are by those deemed "overclaimers" No details about August Lambert's, but we are led to believe 17, 14, and 12(17th April 1944) SG units seemed not to add there claims to the daily sheets at the exact time they were claiming lots, but a couple of flugbuch suggest Lamberts possible. After Marseille and Lang's seventeens:- Hubert Strassel 15 on 5th July 1943 (nr.38-52) Wilhelm Batz 15 on 31st May 1944 (nr.141-155) Erich Rudorffer 14 on 6th November 1943(nr.104-117) Franz Schall 13 on 31st August 1944(nr.97-109) Johannes Wiese 12(plus 1 unconfirmed) on 5th July 1943 (nr.70-81) Lang 12 on 21st October 1943 (nr.57-68) Adolf Dickfeld ~11 on 8th May 1942 (nr.63-73) Walter Wolfrum 11 on 30th May 1944 (nr.79-89) Walter Schuck 11 on 17th June 1944 (nr.102-112) Erich Hartmann 11 on 24th August 1944 (nr.291-301) Schall 11 on 26th August 1944 (nr.83-93) Rudorffer 11 on 28th October 1944 (nr.194-204) Hermann Graf 10 on 23rd September 1944 (nr.188-197) Maximilian Stotz 10 on 30th December 1942 (nr.120-129) Nowotny 10 on 24th June 1943 (nr.115-124) Nowotny 10 on 1st September 1943 (nr.174-183) Lang 10 on 13th October 1943 (nr.47-56) Hartmann 10 on 26th February 1944 (nr.193-202) Wolfrum 10 on 16th July 1944 (Nr.114-123) Hopefully someday we will come across some useful documents regarding Lambert. Kind Regards Johannes |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello
The list of ACE in a day can be long! Among the "lesser known",one can add: Korner 5 Stahlschmidt 5 Langanke 7 Schultz 5 Bendert 5 F. K. Muller 5 Loschenkohl 5 Drdla 5 Bauer 5(X3) Sochatzy 5(X2) Ohlrogge 8 Von Einsiedel 5 Lemke 6 Ewald 5 Arnold 9 Schumacher 6 Neumann 8 Reuter 6 ( ALL verifiable and verified: on 23 claims,19 are verified,it's quite remarkable ) etc...etc... best regards michel |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello Johannes & Michel,
thanks for your fascinating posts. Interestingly, the following records were all won with the Fw 190, all in JG54 and all in 1943: - Rudorffer's most kills in one mission (6Nov) - Lang's most kills in one day (3Nov) - Lang's most kills in one month (October) - Nowotny most kills in one year - Scheel's best kill per missions ratio Cheers, Michael |
Top ace of the calendar year
Hi guys
I have Emil Lang with 18 victories claimed on 3 November 1943 (102-119) as the highest scoring ace in a day for whatever it is worth. Horrido! Leo |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello,
I found him with 18 on 3Nov43, too. http://www.luftwaffe.cz/lang.html However, the 9th kill of the day is without further info. Michael |
Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Michael
The missing victory in the Tony Wood list was an Il-2 claimed at 14:17 north of Wyschgorod as his 112th victory according to Die Jagdfliegerverbände der Deutschen Luftwaffe Teil 12/III by Prien, Stemmer, Rodeike and Bock. I hope this helps. Horrido! Leo |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Guys
Regarding Scheel firstly I could find only seventy confirmations for him. Regarding the biggest day of 3rd November 1943, forty-four confirmations in the East for the Luftwaffe, of which thirty-four were for JG 54, of which twenty-nine for Lang's 5th Staffel. Mikrofilm has a clearly written sub-section for JG 51 & JG 54. Lang's claims were:- 0931 hrs Il-2 1000 metres Nr.1 0932 hrs Il-2 200 metres Nr.2 0933 hrs Il-2 100 metres Nr.3 0935 hrs Jak-7 50 metres Nr.4 0936 hrs Il-2 100 metres Nr.5 0940 hrs Jak-7 100 metres Nr.6 0942 hrs Jak-7 50 metres Nr.7 1300 hrs Lavochkin-5 2500 metres Nr.8 1415 hrs Il-2 1000 metres Nr.9 1416 hrs Il-2 800 metres Nr.10 1420 hrs Lavochkin-5 800 metres Nr.11 1422 hrs Lavochkin-5 1000 metres Nr.12 1423 hrs Il-2 600 metres Nr.13 1445 hrs Jak-9 1500 metres Nr.14 1446 hrs Jak-9 1500 metres Nr.15 1448 hrs Il-2 1000 metres Nr.16 1449 hrs Il-2 1200 metres Nr.17 Norbert Hannig mentions the day in some detail in his autobiography, but it doesn't match-up. Perhaps there was also one unconfirmed claim. If I was to guess who the enabler was for his overclaiming I would have generally said Alfred Groß, however looking at this day I would say Reinhold Hoffmann, but maybe the whole staffel, maybe the whole Gruppe. But not nice to label them all the same........innocent until proven guilty! Kind Regards Johannes |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Guys
Rattling on about Emil Lang. I have viewed many flubuch of late, and have been surprised about just how small a group they flew in, usually a Rotte or Schwarm. This being the case, it is likely that Lang would be flying in such a small group, therefore it wouldn't require the whole Staffel to be "overclaiming". Other claimers of the day were, with Lang:- Reinhold Hoffmann Il-2 at 0915 hrs 300 metres E Glebowka Manfred Peschke Il-2 at 0916 hrs 250 metres NE Glebowka Emil Lang Il-2 at 0931 hrs 1000 metres NE Ljutesh Emil Lang Il-2 at 0932 hrs 200 metres NNE Ljutesh Emil Lang Il-2 at 0933 hrs 100 metres NE Kasarowitschi Emil Lang Jak-7 at 0935 hrs 50 metres NE Kasarpwitschi Emil Lang Il-2 at 0936 hrs 100 metres NW Glebowka Emil Lang Jak-7 at 0940 hrs 100 metres ENE Glebowka Emil Lang Jak-7 at 0942 hrs 50 metres ENE Glebowka Reinhold Hoffmann Jak-7 at 1109 hrs 2500 metres S Wzschgorod Reinhold Hoffmann Jak-9 at 1113 hrs 3000 metres E Glebowka Reinhold Hoffmann Il-2 at 1225 hrs 1000 metres Alfred Groß Jak-7 at 1226 hrs 1000 metres Reinhold Hoffmann Il-2 at 1228 hrs 1000 metres Alfred Groß Jak-9 at 1231 hrs 20 metres Reinhold Hoffmann Jak-9 at 1240 hrs 700 metes Emil Lang Lavochkin-5 at 1300 hrs 2500 metres ENE Llistawizd Emil Lang Il-2 at 1415 hrs 1000 metres E Moschtschum Emil Lang Il-2 at 1416 hrs 800 metres N Moschtschum Emil Lang Lavochkin-5 at 1420 hrs 800 metres NW Moschtschum Emil Lang Lavochkin-5 at 1422 hrs 1000 metres N Kiew Emil Lang Il-2 at 1423 hrs 600 metres W Walki Reinhold Hoffmann Jak-9 at 1438 hrs 2000 metres W Walki Emil Lang Jak-9 at 1445 hrs 1500 metres E Gostumel Friedrich Zander Il-2 at 1445 hrs 1200 metres W Wzschgorod Emil Lang Jak-9 at 1446 hrs 1500 metres W Wzschgorod Emil Lang Il-2 at 1448 hrs 1000 metres E Gostumel Emil Lang Il-2 at 1449 hrs 1200 metres N Mostrschtsche Reinhold Hoffmann Jak-9 at 1449 hrs 2500 metres SE Ljutesh I have slit them into four groups, four sorties based on the time duration they had, it looks like they were flying together, but not necessarily so. Someone within our little club should have Russian losses/crash-sites who can help. I am assuming all crash-sites are feasible with the given information. I looked at the internet profile on Lang, it appears to have added three "unknown" claims to boost his total to 173, 173 could be a myth duplicated over the decades until it's "cast in stone" like Rudorffer flying 1000 combat missions and baling-out so many times....there is no evidence to prove these "facts", actually his flugbuch proves he flew half this number of combats. Like the Hartmann claiming Mustangs it become "fact" until proven false. Also the fourth and sixth Staffel of JG 54 were not claiming like the fifth, are we to believe that coincidently the fifth Staffel just had better pilots, like 7./JG 52 and especially like 9./JG 52. Kind Regards Johannes |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Johannes,
Regarding your last sentence, 4./J.G. 54 was flying FW 190 fighter-bomber missions in the northern sector at the time, so it had very few opportunities to claim aerial victories, hence why it wasn't claiming like the 5. Staffel. Cheers, Andrew A. Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com/earticles |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Quote:
According to Tony Wood, Lang made that claim on the next day, 4 November 1943. |
Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Maxim
Yes, that claim is recorded by Tony Wood as having been made on 4 November 1943. However, there are no other claims made by II./JG 54 on that date which is somewhat suspicious. Horrido! Leo |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
OSPREY's "Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Aces of the Russian Front" by John Weal features the photo of a magazine cover of the "Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung". The headline about Emil Lang reads "Eighteen in one day - the return of the champion".
Cheers, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Guys
Nice to see lots of interest. I take on board that the other Staffels mights be doing less strenuous tasks. Actually looking at the whole Staffel's claims it was just all about Lang. Hoffmann was injured in September 1943, as soon as he returns to combat the Lang/Hoffmann super claiming starts, and continues until they are presumably on leave after the Ritterkreuz/DKiG awards. Moreover in Hannig's book he does state Lang would choice just one wingman, when it's Hannig Lang's claims are noticeable few, when Hoffmann both claim huge numbers. Not sure about Alfred Groß, but guess we should give him the benefit of the doubt! So not(in my opinion) just general "overclaiming", as usual a couple of guys bucking the system. Kind Regards Johannes |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello Johannes,
was it sufficient during that period to provide one eye witness for claim confirmation ? Have a nice afternoon, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hi Michael
Almost all claims sheets I have viewed have but a single witness, a little story about the attack, and information about ammunition used, but yes one witness. Most likely is that these guys were opportunists. But I know Lang took Hoffmann to 9./JG 54 with him. III./JG 54 generally made accurate claims, but with Hoffmann as his wingman I assume the same thing continued, though more likely the opportunity to do so was less often due to larger groups flying together. Again not so sure about Groß, but he was Lang's wingman at JG 26. This Geschwader was generally very accurate in it's claims, though I do recount a former JG 2 pilot and Ritterkreuzträger continuing his bad habits with them. Kind Regards Johannes |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Hello Johannes,
thanks for your post. Cross-checking I found Adolf Galland's 1940 score rather to be 57, not 58, unless his 20May1940 claim was confirmed after 1941, was it ? Cheers, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Good morning Gentlemen,
the list needs an update with all the corrections and additions gathered so far: Year / Top ace of the calendar year / victories 1915 Max Immelmann & Lanoe Hawker 7 1916 Oswald Boelcke 34 1917 Manfred von Richthofen 48 1918 René Fonck 56 1936 Joaquin Garcia-Morato 15,5 1937 Joaquin Garcia-Morato 13 1938 Werner Mölders & Tetsuzo Iwamoto 14 and/or Sergei Gritsevets 7+24 1939 Hiromichi Shinohara 58 1940 Adolf Galland 57 1941 Günther Lützow 83 1942 Hermann Graf 160 1943 Walter Nowotny 194 1944 Erich Hartmann 177 1945 Walther Dahl 43 (dubious), maybe rather Günther Josten 39 1950 Stepan Naumenko & Li Don Gu 5 1951 Nikolai Sutyagin 19 1952 Frederick Blesse 10 1953 Joseph McConnell 16 1967 Nguyen Van Coc 6 1970 Abraham Shalmon 5,5 1972 Richard Ritchie & Randall Cunningham 5 1973 Giora Epstein 12 1980 Yadollah Sharifirad 5 1982 Amir Nahumi 6 Cheers, Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
You forgot about M M Alam.
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Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Good morning Franek,
you may be right. Some sources indicate 9 kills for Alam in 1965. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Mahmood_Alam http://users.accesscomm.ca/magnusfamily/ip65pak.htm Is 9 his official score acknowledged by his Pakistani authorities ? Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Good evening Gentlemen,
I just finished working through István Toperczer's "MiG-17/19 Aces of the Vietnam War" and wonder if a 1966 ace can be indentified. Nguyen Van Bay is officially credited with seven victories but on page 91 eight claims are listed:
Michael |
Re: Top ace of the calendar year
Good evening Gentlemen,
I'm still interested in Walther Dahl. When did he suggest his 100. kill was claimed ? Michael |
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