Dear jonathanswanson4-ga
Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. It is
indeed plausible that the P-51 Mustang could claim such an honor. By
the time the P-51's entered European air combat allied superiority was
at a ratio of 5 to 1 in fighters alone. Many of experienced Luftwaffe
pilots had also already been killed in action. The 336th Fighter
Squadron in the 8th Air Force's storied 4th Fighter Group shot down
more enemy planes than any other American fighter group in Europe ?
they were flying P-51?s.
ONE LAST PONY RIDE
http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/resource/ponyride.html
In an article for Microsoft, in it?s marketing of COMBAT FLIGHT
SIMULATOR II ? WWII PACIFIC THEATER, WWII Triple Ace Clarence E. "Bud"
Anderson, himself a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot, said:
?The P-51 was stable at speed as long as you did not exceed the
recommended limits. The P-51 was a good gun platform. It really didn't
enter combat until late in WWII, yet the P-51s shot down more enemy
aircraft than any other Allied-type fighter by a wide margin.?
MICROSOFT
http://www.microsoft.com/games/combatfs2/articles_budanderson_2.asp
Captain Bud Anderson?s own official web site says:
?Bud is a WWII Triple Ace who flew the P-51 Mustang, "Old Crow" while
assigned to the 357th Fighter Group "Yoxford Boys", 8th Air Force,
Leiston Field, United Kingdom. The 357th Fighter Group [all of whom
were P-51 Mustang pilots] was credited with shooting down 609 1/2
enemy aircraft in only 15 months, a pace no other fighter group
equaled. The 357th also produced 42 Aces (pilots with five or more
victories in the air), more than any other group.?
C E "BUD" ANDERSON.COM
http://www.cebudanderson.com/
THE LAST REUNION: A GENERATION OF HEROES tells personal stories of
courage and gives some significant insight into just how many kills
the P-51 were really responsible for (and this is just one unit?s
record alone):
?By war?s end, these fighter pilots, known for the blue-nosed P-51
Mustangs they flew, had also become known for their skill and valor.
They shot down more than 500 enemy aircraft in air to air combat, 791
total destroyed and 29 individual aerial aces. And the 352nd included
the P-51?s all-time leading ace, Major George Preddy. His reputation
was built on numerous daring missions, but none more dramatic than on
August 6, 1944, when he shot down six enemy aircraft in five minutes.?
THE LAST REUNION-2-2-2
http://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/0/7d7bf8a4e8dfcee785256ce50055e063/$FILE/Last%20Reunion.doc
Short of an actual government record (assuming one even exists, which
I doubt) it seems then that the P-51 Mustang can easily claim to be
the most effective fighter aircraft of WWII ? if for no other reason
because there were exponentially more enemy fighters to shoot ?at?.
The P-38 on the other hand can make the same claim, but only limited
to the Japanese in Pacific Theater alone:
?Designed as a high-altitude interceptor, the P-38 shot down more
Japanese planes during World II than any other US fighter.?
http://www.charleslindbergh.com/lesson/HAdot2dot.pdf
?This American fighter shot down more Japanese planes than any other.?
LOCKHEED P-38 LIGHTNING
http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/histp-38.htm
?The P-38 shot down more Japanese aircraft than any other USAAF fighter in WW II?
THE LOCKHEED P-38 LIGHTNING
http://www.chuckhawks.com/lightning_P38.htm
?The Lightning ended the war with more Japanese aircraft to its credit
than any other type, among its victims being the aircraft carrying the
Japanese naval commander, Admiral Yamamoto who was flying in a
Mitsubishi G4 MlL2 Navy Type I over Bougainville, in April 1943.?
THE LOCKHEED P-38 LIGHTNING
http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/WWII/p-38/p38_info/p38_info.htm
I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher
INFORMATION SOURCES
DEFINED ABOVE
SEARCH STRATEGY
SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
P-38 LIGHTENING
P-51 MUSTANG
?SHOT DOWN MORE?
?DOWNED MORE?
MOST ACES |
Clarification of Answer by
tutuzdad-ga
on
05 Aug 2004 11:14 PDT
One must use cuation with his search results. For example, the MOST
ACES does not always coincide with the BEST ACES. In other words a
group fo 10 men flying Plane A, downing an astounding 20 plane each
(arguably efficient aces) still do not beat 100 men who downed 5
aircraft each flying Plane B.
You would need to know then, of the aces, listed by airfcraft, which
ones had the most kills. This may be impossible to accurately
determine. In the meantime, I have managed to find a list of US Aces
with notations about their aircraft. I'm not certain how to translate
the aircraft coding but the list is about as complete as any I've
seen.
AIR ACES HOMEPAGE
http://users.accesscomm.ca/magnusfamily/ww2usa.htm
I hope this sheds more light on the subject. I think it's about as
close as we'll come to a comprehensive list which includes both
aircraft description AND number of kills.
Regards;
tutuzdad-ga
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