Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Good morning Gentlemen,

whereas only one Western Allied pilot, William Fiedler, reached ace status in the P-39, the Soviet air force used this unusual plane with great success. The following list compiles the most successful P-39 aces with their P-39 scores.

1. Grigorii Rechkalov - 54,17
2. Aleksandr Pokryshkin - at least 40
3. Dimitrii Glinka - 39
4. Nikolai Gulayev - 38,33
5. Ivan Babak - at least 37,5
6. Mikhail Komelkov - 34,48
7. Alexei Smirnov - at least 33,5
8. Boris Glinka - 30
9. Aleksandr Klubov - at least 28
10. Pavel Kamozin - at least 25

I would be grateful for any help with the definite P-39 scores of these aces.

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Hello Michael
Interesting topic. I also would like to know the definite P-39 scores. I only have some second hand info with unknown reliability.

Grigorii Rechkalov – 52+4
Dimitrii Glinka - 44
Aleksandr Pokryshkin – c. 40 +?
Ivan Babak - 34+5
Mikhail Komelkov – 33+7
Nikolai Gulayev - 32
Alexei Smirnov - 31+1
Aleksandr Klubov – 27+3
Boris Glinka – 27+2
Fedor Arkhipenko – 26+4
Pavel Kamozin – at least 23+6
Andrey Trud – c. 25+1?

Again, my list is unreliable.

Juha

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Hello Juha,

thanks for your interest.

• Rechkalov's P-39 score of 52+4 and Gulayev's P-39 of 32 stem from George Mellinger's "Soviet Lend-Lease Fighter Aces of World War 2". But you find a full list of their totals here:

http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/r/rechkalv.htm
http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/g/gulaev.htm

• That website lists only 3 of Klubov's 19 shared kills, thus his P-39 might be higher than 28.
• It lists 27+2 kills for Boris Glinka (all in P-39) whereas Tomas Polak in "Stalin's Falcons" attibutes a total of 29+2sh to him.
• Arkhipenko has 24,5 P-39 kills and thus narrowly misses a rank in the top ten list.
• Kamozin's P-39 score of at least 23+6 is new to me. It would add up to more than 25,00.
• Trud has a total of 25,33 but his first kill was scored in a Yak-1. Thus he narrowly misses a rank in the top ten.

Kind regards,

Michael

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Hello Michael
thanks alot for the links and the extra info!

Juha

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Hello Juha,

you're welcome.
Another interesting candidate for the top ten is Vladimir Bobrov.
Tomas Polak gives him 13 kills in the Spanish Civil War and 30 kills in the Great Patriotic War. According to George Mellinger these were only his individual kills and there were 4 additional shared kills in Spain and 20 in WW2.
Therefore, that list might to be incomplete
http://soviet-aces-1936-53.ru/abc/b/bobrov.htm
with a minimum P-39 total of 17,83 and a maximum P-39 total of 37,33.

Who knows more about this issue ?

Michael

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Hi,
I think that the page of Mikhail Bykov will be interesting to you:
http://owl-99.livejournal.com
http://owl-99.livejournal.com/83703.html

Best regards,
Kirill

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Cool. Top ten ace lists ranked by individual kills.
Is owl_99 Bykov himself ?

Michael

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Good morning,

how many of Ivan Bochkov's 6+10shared Airacobra kills were scored in a P-400 ?

Cheers,

Michael

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

The P-400's of the USAAF claimed 45 kills, all in the Pacific.
Who was the top-scorer of that subtype ?

Michael

Re: Bell P-39 top ten ace list
 

Michael I realize this is roughly related to the main thread but it should be posted in the Pacific section of the board. You will likely get a lot more responses there. Suggest you repost in that section.