Ace Of Aces

[PitbullMidwest]

I watched a documentary on childhood hero "Pappy" Boyington last night on the History Channel. Boyington was the Marine Corps top ace in WWII with 28 kills.

Trivia Time: Who is America's "Ace OF Aces", how many kills and what aircraft did he fly?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Quick off the cuff answer.... Doolittle?

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Nope. Doolittle didn't fly fighter combat. After his Tokyo raid he commanded an Air Corps wing in North Africa. He often took fighters for "joyrides" though against orders. Considering he was one of the few to fly the GeeBee racer and live to talk about it, he would have made a fine fighter pilot.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I thought General Doolittle did everything... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

My history is really rusty... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Eddie Rickenbacker??

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Eddie Rickenbacker was the top WWI ace with 22 kills, but is probably still the most famous of the American aces.

 

[MossRoad]

OK, I searched on the internet, but won't tell. The best one I found so far had 40.

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[MossRoad]

I think Eddie had 26.

<font color=green> MossRoad </font color=green>

 

[PitbullMidwest]

If he had 40 kills you've got the right guy. His name and plane?

 

[PitbullMidwest]

<font color=blue>I think Eddie had 26.</font color=blue>

Could be, some weren't confirmed until after the war. His last 2 kills weren't confirmed by the Army until 1930 when they presented him with the CMH.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by PitbullMidwest on 11/30/01 02:29 PM (server time).</FONT></P>