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Re: Top Jet Aces
A few points to bear in mind.
Whatever was claimed as total scores by the propaganda/publicity machines may bear little relationship to the claims made by individual pilots, or even the sum of such claims.
The leader, such as Peplyayev, usually scores most of the kills. Such claims are normally more creditable than those made by pilots "in the pack".
The total of 78 Sabres lost in aerial combat has been queried by recent serious historians: it seems that the USAF was not beyond selective categorising.
Not every UN aircraft over Korea was a Sabre.
My point about the Israeli, and he could have been of any nation, was that a claim of 17 was not "evidently" more accurate than a Russian pilot's claim of 18. Perhaps it is more accurate: but your terminology implies bringing the conclusion to the discussion in advance.
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