Aces

My favorite ace is Commander David McCampbell, the Navy's top scoring ace of WWII. My username (Rebel99) was his old radio callsign from the U.S.S. Essex

Robert S. Johnson, 56 FG, P-47 Ace, with 28 kills, all air to air. I met the man once and it was great talking with him. A down to earth person.

Pierre Closterman - a French WWII fighter-pilot flying Tempest Mk V ! Aleksander

I like Erich Hartmann. He had a lot of talent for the job he had to do. I also like Don Gentile, he is from my home state of Ohio.

Jerry

A friend of mine is a "60% ace". Paul Carll flew P-40's and P-47's with the 57th FG, 64th FS "Black Scorpions". Since the 57th was a tactical unit, there was not much air to air combat. Paul made the most of his limited aerial combat and had one victory in the P-40 and two in the P-47 - all three being Me-109's. He was with the 57th at the time of the "Palm Sunday Massacre", but was not on the flight schedule that day. Paul's P-40 #32 is pictured in the Osprey book on the P-40 in the MTO, and paintings of his airplanes are at the 57th FG page at www.web-birds.com . Paul is a true gentleman, and I have been able to attend three P-47 Pilots Assoc. reunions as his guest.

Jim

PS: As far as "real" aces go, I have to mention Robert S. Johnson. His book "Thunderbolt !" which I read in 1959, got me hooked on the P-47. I finally got to meet him at a P-47 Pilots reunion in 1993. Berny is right about Bob - a very down to earth man who really appreciated and enjoyed the fact that people were interested.

Hans Ulrich Rudel. I love the Stuka.
Bernie the K.

Joe Foss. Never met him, but met "Pappy" Boyington and "Duke" Cunningham.