The Red Barons 80 victories. List....

The pictures that KP posted really shows how cold it was to fly in WWI. Just think how frozen you would feel after 90 mins. in an open cockpit. But it was not as bad as in the trenches.

I don't know why the Nieuport guns were offset. There is a WWI aircraft forum you could ask this of the members. http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/YaBB.cgi

 

I found this site after posting the first. It tells why the guns were different in the second paragraph of the history of the Nieuport 28. It also has some good pictures. http://www.angelfire.com/va2/aerodrome/n28/n28.html

 

I would debate the 'not as bad as the trenches' thing, I mean think about it, troops spent a week in the trenches, a week in reserve and then 2 weeks off the line. Most of the time in the trenches was spent doing very little, action was relativley rare and so on. For a pilot on the other hand, going over the top on a daily basis, often twice a day. During time in the air pilots froze, archie would tear holes the size of a plate in your kite one mission and not scratch you the next. There is nowhere to hide in the air and your opponants are trying to kill YOU! It was ALWAYS freezing cold, a warm day on the ground could be like the harshest of winter nights in the air. Add to that the fact that there was no oxygen supply so over 10,000 feet your head fisrt feels light then begins to ache. Combat necessitated manoeuves that would expose you to powerful g-forces and frequently pilots would land suffering from what amounts to sevear concussion. Combat would often leave brave men like Mannok or Voss shaking uncontrolably. Then you remember that a pilot was constantly shifting between the relativley light atmosphere of the ground and the tense world of combat. I am not trying to say life in the trenches was easy by comparison, just that people often fail to consider how hard life was for a pilot.

 

More aces:

Austria-Hungary

40 G. Brumowski
32 J. Arigi
30 F. Linke-Crawford
29 B. Fiala
19 J. Kiss

Belgium

37 W. Coppens

Russia

17 A. A. Kazakov

USA

26 E. Rickenbacker
22 W. Lambert
20 F. Gillete
20 J. Malone
18 F. Hale
18 A. Iacacci
18 F. Luke Jr
17 R. Lufbery

Italy

34 F. Baracca
26 S. Scaroni
24 P. R. Piccio
21 F. T. Baracchini
20 F. R. di Calabria
17 M. Cerutti
17 F. Ranza

 

Great Britain

73 E. Mannock
72 W. A. Bishop
60 R. Collishaw
57 J. T. B. McCudden
54 A. W. Beauchamp-Proctor
54 D. R. McLaren
53 W. G. Barker
47 R. A. Little
46 P. F. Fullard
46 G. E. H. McElroy
44 A. Ball
44 J. Gilmore
41 T. F. Hazell
40 J. I. T. Jones
39 W. G. Claxton
39 R. S. Dallas
37 F. R. McCall
35 H. W. Woollett
34 F. G. Quigley
32 G. H. Bowman
31 A. D. Carter
31 J. L. M. White
30 M. B. Frew
30 S. M. Kinkead
30 A. E. McKeever
29 A. H. Cobby
29 W. L. Jordon
27 J. E. Gurdon
27 R. T. C. Hoidge
27 H. G. E. Luchford
27 G. J. C. Maxwell
26 W. C. Campbell
26 W. E. Staton
25 K. L. Caldwell
25 R. J. O. Compston
25 J. Leacroft
25 R. A. Mayberry
24 J. O. Andrews
24 W. E. Shields
23 J. S. T. Fall
23 A. Hepburn
23 D. Latimer
23 E. J. K. McLoughry
23 A. P. F. Rhys Davids
23 S. W. Rosevear
23 H. A. Whistler
22 C. D. Booker
22 W. J. C. K. Cochrane-Patrick
22 R. King
22 McK. Thomson
22 C. J. Venter
21 P. J. Clayson
21 R. P. Minifie
21 G. E. Thompson
20 D. J. Bell
20 T. S. Harrison
20 W. L. Harrison
20 E. C. Johnston
20 C. F. King
20 I. D. R. McDonald
20 C. M. McEwen
20 G. W. Murlis-Green
20 K. R. Park (Is he Keith Park, air marshal in WWII?)
20 D. A. Stewart
19 W. Beaver
19 H. B. Bell-Irving
19 C. E. Howell
19 L. F. Jenkins
19 H. W. L. Saunders
19 A. M. Wilkinson
18 L. M. Barlow
18 C. F. Collet
18 A. K. Cowper
18 F. R. Cubbon
18 E. Dickinson
18 A. J. Enstone
18 E. V. Reid
18 F. A. Thayre
18 J. L. Trollope
18 W. B. Wood
17 W. M. Alexander
17 J. H. Burden
17 G. E. Gibbons
17 M. A. Newham
17 E. Swale

 

Vive la France!

75 R. Fonck
54 G. Guynemer
45 C. Nungesser
41 G. Madon
35 M. Boyau
34 M. Coiffard
28 J. P. L. Bourjarde
27 A. Pinsard
23 R. Dorme
23 G. Guérin
23 C. M. Haegelen
22 P. Marinovitch
21 A. Heurtaux
20 A. Deullin
19 H. H. de Slade
19 J. Ehrlich
18 B. de Romanet

 

Great job Fried!! These are impressive lists. I didn't know that the highest scoring British ace had that many victories.

 

Mick Mannock was a damn fine pilot and an excellent tactician, he was also blind in one eye. He did not shoot down a single aircraft until he went on leave in 1917 when he worked out how to combat the circuses and and hense he rached up 75 kills in under a year, I honestly reckon he was the best pilot of the war, or rather the best squadron leader.