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85-510: This is a list of fighter aces in World War II from the Republic of China . Fighter ace The concept of the " ace " emerged in 1915 during World War I , at the same time as aerial dogfighting . It was a propaganda term intended to provide the home front with a cult of the hero in what was otherwise a war of attrition . The individual actions of aces were widely reported and

170-425: A night fighter unit equipped with Meteor NF12s and 14s. Training began almost immediately, but it took until the end of October for the squadron to reach a strength of 12 NF12 or 14s and one Meteor 7 for training and categorisation. When Wing Commander Birchfield took over as commanding officer from Squadron Leader Ross, the manpower situation was improving, but mechanical-transport shortages caused problems for

255-510: A Javelin crash. He was replaced by Wing Commander Harold ("Harry") E. White DFC** AFC (subsequently appointed CBE on retiring as an Air Commodore in 1978). Over the years, the squadron continued to train by participating in many exercises such as Halyard, Cold Wing, Kingpin Adex, Ciano and Bombex, and it took part in various trials, including those of new pressure suits and helmets. The problem of poor serviceability and lack of spares continued when

340-538: A common problem. Nearly 50% of Royal Air Force (RAF) victories in the Battle of Britain , for instance, do not tally statistically with recorded German losses; but at least some of this apparent over-claiming can be tallied with known wrecks, and German aircrew known to have been in British PoW camps. An overclaim of about 2-3 was common on all sides, and Soviet overclaims were sometimes higher. The claims of

425-471: A corps to a fighter squadron came at a moment when Allied air superiority was being seriously challenged by Germany, in particular through the introduction of the "circuses" formed and led by Manfred von Richthofen . Operating under the 11th Army Wing, the squadron was intensively engaged and had many combats with the enemy. In July 1917, No. 46 Squadron returned to Sutton's Farm (later Hornchurch) in Essex, for

510-586: A formation of 12 Heinkel 115s , destroying one each, and scattering the remainder. The next six months were uneventful, consisting in the main of providing air cover for the shipping convoys steaming along the East Coast; a few enemy aircraft were sighted but no contacts were made. In May 1940, the squadron was selected to form part of the Expeditionary Force in Norway, which had been invaded by

595-448: A future ace, joined the squadron as a sergeant pilot. Wing Commander Ian Gleed DSO DFC, another future ace, was posted the squadron as his first assignment after earning his wings on Christmas Day 1936. The outbreak of war found 46 Squadron at RAF Digby , equipped with Hawker Hurricanes . Action with the enemy came quickly when, at the end of October 1939, Squadron Leader Barwell, Pilot Officer Plummer and F/Sgt Edward Shackley attacked

680-459: A grounded destroyer was located and given air cover until it could be refloated. In April 1943, for the first time in the war a night fighter was controlled from a warship – the squadron's signal officer, Flight Lieutenant Muir a Canadian, having devised a homing beacon for use on the controlling ship. In July, with confirmed "kills" for one year's operations in the Middle East standing at 31,

765-585: A gunner in a Boulton Paul Defiant turret-equipped fighter piloted by Flight Sergeant E. R. Thorne . On the German side, Erwin Hentschel, the Junkers Ju 87 rear gunner of Luftwaffe pilot and anti-tank ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel , had 7 confirmed kills. The crew of the bomber pilot Otto Köhnke from Kampfgeschwader 3 is credited with the destruction of 11 enemy fighters (6 French, 1 British, 4 Soviet). With

850-507: A letter to his wife as "Eleven, five by me solo — the rest shared", adding that he was "miles from being an ace". This shows that his No. 46 Squadron RAF counted shared kills, but separately from "solo" ones—one of a number of factors that seems to have varied from unit to unit. Also evident is that Lee considered a higher figure than five kills to be necessary for "ace" status. Aviation historians credit him as an ace with two enemy aircraft destroyed and five driven down out of control, for

935-640: A minute, establishing a world record. These claims, however, have been widely contested by the Indian Air Force . No. 46 Squadron RAF No. 46 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force , formed in 1916, was disbanded and re-formed three times before its last disbandment in 1975. It served in both World War I and World War II. No. 46 Squadron was formed at Wyton aerodrome on 19 April 1916, from

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1020-578: A nucleus trained in No. 2 Reserve Squadron; it moved to France in October of that year equipped with Nieuport two-seater aircraft. The squadron undertook artillery co-operation, photography, and reconnaissance operations until May 1917, when it took on a more offensive role after rearming with the Sopwith Pup . It was based at the aerodrome at La Gorgue from 12 May to 6 July 1917. The change from

1105-707: A regular item of equipment and enabled the short-range Andover to fly long distances, such as Gander to Abingdon direct in well under eight hours. The detachment took part in exercises in Libya, Cyprus, the Middle East, and Norway, as well as in the UK and Germany. It won the Lord VC Trophy in 1968 and again in 1971, when it also won the No. 14 Air Dispatch Trophy. In July 1968, the squadron supported Exercise Icy Mountains in Greenland, re-supplying it, and finally recovering

1190-415: A total of seven victories. Other Allied countries, such as France and Italy, fell somewhere in between the very strict German approach and the relatively casual British one. They usually demanded independent witnessing of the destruction of an aircraft, making confirmation of victories scored in enemy territory very difficult. The Belgian crediting system sometimes included "out of control" to be counted as

1275-834: A two-aircraft detachment at Masirah (and added SAR to its many roles). In November 1971 and February 1972, it took part in Exercise Cold Stream with the Italian Air Force at Pisa and in Exercise Sun Pirate in Puerto Rico . While flying the RAF Falcons on 8 April 1972, the Royal Air Force Parachute Team, one of Sqn 46's Andover, XS-609, crashed on takeoff at Siena, Italy, killing four passengers. Twice

1360-490: A victory. The United States Army Air Service adopted French standards for evaluating victories, with two exceptions – during the summer 1918, while flying under the operational control of the British, the 17th Aero Squadron and the 148th Aero Squadron used British standards. American newsmen, in their correspondence to their papers, decided that five victories were the minimum needed to become an ace. While "ace" status

1445-718: A year, the squadron took part in Exercise MACDROP at RAF Machrihanish , in which Andovers were employed in parachute dropping with the Parachute Regiment , and SAS . In January and December 1974, unit aircraft supported Royal Engineers in Exercise Mirza – four-month civil-aid programmes whose main task was the construction of bridges in Sudan . Finally, in March 1975 the closure of RAF Thorney Island and

1530-471: Is a straggler or an uncertain pilot among the enemy... Shoot him down", which would have been an efficient and relatively low-risk way of increasing the number of kills. At the same time, the Soviet 1943 "Instruction For Air Combat" stated that the first priority must be the enemy commander, which was a much riskier task, but one giving the highest return in case of a success. The Korean War of 1950–53 marked

1615-603: Is the USAF designation, one of the three was actually a US Naval aviator, with an equivalent job, but using the USN designation of Radar Intercept Officer or RIO). The series of wars and conflicts between Israel and its neighbors began with Israeli independence in 1948 and continued for over three decades. Brig. General Jalil Zandi (1951–2001) was an ace fighter pilot in the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force , serving for

1700-508: The 379th Bombardment Group , was credited with 19 kills and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator gunner Arthur J. Benko ( 374th Bombardment Squadron ) with 16 kills. The Royal Air Force's leading bomber gunner, Wallace McIntosh , was credited with eight kills while serving as a rear turret gunner on Avro Lancasters , including three on one mission. Flight Sergeant F. J. Barker contributed to 12 victories while flying as

1785-512: The Battle of Đồng Hới in 1972. Quite often air-to-air losses of US fighter jets were re-attributed to surface-to-air missiles , as it was considered "less embarrassing". By the war's end, the US had nevertheless confirmed 249 air-to-air US aircraft losses while the figures for North Vietnam are disputed, ranging from 195 North Vietnamese aircraft from US claims to 131 from Soviet, North Vietnamese and allied records. American air-to-air combat during

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1870-678: The Second Sino-Japanese War . The Spanish ace Joaquín García Morato scored 40 victories for the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. Part of the outside intervention in the war was the supply of "volunteer" foreign pilots to both sides. Russian and American aces joined the Republican air force, while the Nationalists included Germans and Italians. The Soviet Volunteer Group began operations in

1955-786: The Soviet Air Force . The highest scoring fighter ace against Western allied forces were Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 kills) and Heinz Bär (208 kills, of which 124 in the west). Notable are also Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer , with 121 kills the highest-scoring night-fighter ace, and Werner Mölders , the first pilot to claim more than 100 kills in the history of aerial warfare . Pilots of other Axis powers also achieved high scores, such as Ilmari Juutilainen ( Finnish Air Force , 94 kills), Constantin Cantacuzino ( Romanian Air Force , 69 kills) or Mato Dukovac ( Croatian Air Force , 44 kills). The highest scoring Japanese fighter pilot

2040-496: The infantry in the Battle of Cambrai attack. During the last year of the war, the squadron bombed lines of communication and ammunition dumps in the enemy's rear areas. Intensive low-level ground attack work was carried out after the German spring offensive , in March 1918; 46 Squadron suffered high casualties as a result. In June 1918, the squadron became part of No. 80 Wing RAF , at Serny , Pas-de-Calais . From 26 June, it

2125-475: The 11th November 1940, No. 46 Squadron, whilst on patrol over the town of Foulness , encountered some 50 Italian bombers and fighters; nine of them were destroyed, with no casualties or damage to the squadron, and the remainder of the Italians scattered in disorder. The squadron claimed 34 aircraft destroyed July to December 1940, but lost 26 aircraft itself, with 16 pilots killed and three badly wounded. After

2210-625: The Battle of Britain ended. the squadron engaged in convoy patrols, interspersed with escort duty to medium bombers in their attack on objectives in occupied France. In May 1941, the squadron was withdrawn from the line in preparation for going overseas; they embarked on the SS Almanzora at the end of the month. The ground crews reached Egypt early in July and with the squadron headquarters at Kilo 17 Fayoum Road, various detachments cooperated in

2295-531: The British system also accepted single claims of the pilots and deeds such as enemy planes "out of control", "driven down" and "forced to land". Aerial victories were also divided among different pilots. This led to vast overclaims on the British and partially on the US American side. Some air forces, such as the USAAF, also included kills on the ground as victories. The most accurate figures usually belong to

2380-536: The Germans on 9 April. The Hurricanes were embarked on HMS  Glorious and, despite doubts that a Hurricane could take off from a carrier flight deck in a flat calm, they all took to the air without difficulty, thanks to the efforts of the ship's engineers, who managed to get the Glorious up to a speed of 30 knots. No. 46 Squadron assembled at Bardufoss and began operation on 26 May; patrols were maintained over

2465-572: The Luftwaffe pilots are considered as mostly reasonable and more accurate than those according to the British and American system. To quote an extreme example, in the Korean War , both the U.S. and Communist air arms claimed a 10-to-1 victory/loss ratio. While aces are generally thought of exclusively as fighter pilots, some have accorded this status to gunners on bombers or reconnaissance aircraft , observers in two-seater fighters such as

2550-674: The Mk 2 Javelins replaced the Mk 1s in 1957. Two Mk6 Javelins were briefly used during the 1958 display season due to shortage of serviceable Mk 2s. In April 1959, the squadron sent six Javelins for an exchange visit to the French Air Force 1/30 Squadron at Tours , whilst the French sent Sud Aviation Vautour aircraft to Odiham. In June the squadron won the Ingpen Trophy after being third in 1957 and second in 1958. On 30 June 1961,

2635-733: The Second Sino-Japanese War as early as December 2, 1937, resulting in 28 Soviet aces. The Flying Tigers were American military pilots who recruited sub rosa to aid the Chinese Nationalists . They spent the summer and autumn of 1941 in transit to China, and did not begin flying combat missions until December 20, 1941. In World War II many air forces adopted the British practice of crediting fractional shares of aerial victories, resulting in fractions or decimal scores, such as 11 + 1 ⁄ 2 or 26.83. Some U.S. commands also credited aircraft destroyed on

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2720-880: The Ukrainian government claims that Ukrainian pilot Vadym Voroshylov shot down 5 Shahed 136 drones before being forced to eject from his MiG-29 aircraft after it was hit by debris from the last Shahed-136 that had shot down. Voroshylov had shot down two Russian cruise missiles the day prior. According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, during the fighting in Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Ilya Sizov "destroyed 12 Ukrainian aircraft (3 Su-24 aircraft, 3 Su-27 aircraft, 3 MiG-29 aircraft, 2 Mi-24 helicopters, 1 Mi-14 helicopter) and two Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile complexes. In February 2024, it

2805-561: The Vietnam War generally matched intruding United States fighter-bombers against radar-directed integrated North Vietnamese air defense systems. American F-4 Phantom II , F-8 Crusader and F-105 fighter crews usually had to contend with surface-to-air missiles , anti-aircraft artillery , and machine gun fire before opposing fighters attacked them. The long-running conflict produced 22 aces: 17 North Vietnamese pilots, two American pilots, three American weapon systems officers or WSOs (WSO

2890-603: The Warsaw Pact and others had begun arming North Vietnam with MiG-21 jets. The VPAF had adopted a strategy of "guerrilla warfare in the sky" utilizing quick hit-and-run attacks against US targets, continually flying low and forcing faster, more heavily armed US jets to engage in dog-fighting where the MiG-17 and MiG-21 had superior maneuverability. The VPAF had carried out the first air-raid on US ships since WW2, with two aces including Nguyễn Văn Bảy attacking US ships during

2975-497: The advent of more advanced technology, a third category of ace appeared. Charles B. DeBellevue became not only the first U.S. Air Force weapon systems officer (WSO) to become an ace but also the top American ace of the Vietnam War , with six victories. Close behind with five were fellow WSO Jeffrey Feinstein and Radar Intercept Officer William P. Driscoll . The first military aviators to score five or more victories on

3060-484: The air arm fighting over its own territory, where many wrecks can be located, and even identified, and where shot down enemy aircrews are either killed or captured. It is for this reason that at least 76 of the 80 aircraft credited to Manfred von Richthofen can be tied to known British losses. The German Jagdstaffeln flew defensively, on their own side of the lines, in part due to General Hugh Trenchard 's policy of offensive patrol. In World War II overclaims were

3145-500: The air, coupled with armament sufficiently powerful to destroy the targets. Aerial combat became a prominent feature with the Fokker Scourge , in the last half of 1915. This was also the beginning of a long-standing trend in warfare, showing statistically that approximately five percent of combat pilots account for the majority of air-to-air victories. As the German fighter squadrons usually fought well within German lines, it

3230-459: The aircraft gun camera came into general usage by the Luftwaffe as well as the RAF and USAAF, partly in hope of alleviating inaccurate victory claims. In World War I the standards for confirmation of aerial victories were developed. The most strict were the German and French ones which required both the existence of traceable wrecks or observations of independent observers. In contrast to this,

3315-402: The aircraft were controlled by HMS Ulster Queen , a Ground-controlled interception ship and the score for the month amounted to 11 enemy aircraft destroyed. From 26 September to 11 October (a full-moon period) a detachment was established at Gambut and 16 enemy aircraft were destroyed, with one probable and four damaged. Four airmen were decorated for their part: A Ju 52 destroyed by

3400-510: The death or capture of the enemy aircrew. Allied fighter pilots fought mostly in German-held airspace and were often not in a position to confirm that an enemy aircraft had crashed, so these victories were frequently claimed as "driven down", "forced to land", or "out of control" (called "probables" in later wars). These victories were usually included in a pilot's totals and citations for decorations. The British high command considered

3485-443: The defence of London, which had been heavily raided by Gotha bombers a short time before; no enemy aircraft penetrated its patrol area. The squadron returned to France at the end of August. In addition to offensive patrol work, the unit undertook extensive ground strafing and did close support work in the attack on Messines Ridges . In November 1917, the squadron was equipped with Sopwith Camels , and gave valuable assistance to

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3570-609: The detachment on 3 October was the last German aircraft destroyed by the squadron and with the withdrawal of German forces from Greece almost completed, the airmen ended their mission. The airmen arrived at RAF Stoney Cross at the beginning of January 1945 and began operation under Transport Command . Equipped with the Short Stirling , they manned service to the Far East between Stoney Cross and RAF Arkonam via Poona and between Stoney Cross and Dum Dum via Palam . With

3655-478: The dissolution of the squadron was announced. An immediate reduction in the number of aircraft and a drastic reduction in flying hours followed. On 31 August 1975 the squadron standard was laid up in Chichester Cathedral , and the unit was disbanded. A number of Andovers were converted to flight calibration duties with No. 115 Squadron RAF at RAF Benson , two went to Boscombe Down and one (XS641)

3740-572: The early Bristol F.2b , and navigators/weapons officers in jet aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II . Because pilots often teamed with different air crew members, an observer or gunner might be an ace while his pilot is not, or vice versa. Observer aces constitute a sizable minority in many lists. In World War I, the observer Gottfried Ehmann of the German Luftstreitkräfte

3825-465: The end of the month, and their main tasks were the interception of enemy reconnaissance and bombing aircraft, principally over Alexandria , and the escort of shipping convoys laden with supplies for Malta . At the end of October, after the 8th Army's advance from El Alamein , 46 Squadron carried out attacks on the retreating enemy columns in the Mersa Matruh area. In November 1942, the squadron

3910-962: The end of the war in August 1945, flights were first confined to India and the Middle East and then, with Dakotas replacing the Stirlings at the beginning of 1946, passengers and freight were carried mostly to Rome, Berlin, Warsaw, and Vienna. The squadron moved to RAF Manston in October 1946 and to Abingdon in December. From July 1948, the squadron was almost exclusively engaged on the Berlin Airlift ; it operated at first from Wunsdorf , carrying food, and later from Fassberg and Lübeck , carrying coal. It returned to RAF Oakington in August 1949 and resumed its normal transport role until it disbanded on 20 February 1950. The squadron once again re-formed, this time at RAF Odiham on 15 August 1954 as

3995-415: The enemy sustained such shattering losses amongst their long-range bomber forces that they had to change their tactics. The attacking forces began to fly their fighter bombers at very high altitudes and to make use of every possible patch of cloud cover. Interception became difficult, and the squadron had to change its tactics too – principally maintaining patrols at heights between 20,000 and 30,000 feet. On

4080-643: The feat, including legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager . In the Soviet offensive of 1944 in the Karelian Isthmus , Finnish pilot Hans Wind shot down 30 Soviet aircraft in 12 days with his Bf 109 G . In doing so, he obtained "ace in a day" status three times. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistani pilot Muhammad Mahmood Alam claimed to have downed five aircraft in a single sortie on 7 September 1965 with four downed in less than

4165-555: The first arrived in February, together with eight Meteor NF 11s: the NF 12s were sent off to No. 72 Squadron RAF . By May, all squadron pilots had converted and 15 Javelins were held; eight were earmarked for intensive flying trials whose target was 1,000 hours in two months – a feat believed by some to be impossible, but achieved in fact by "a wartime spirit." On 15 June, the squadron lost its commanding officer, Wing Commander Birchfield, in

4250-445: The formation of maintenance, repair, and salvage units. Pilots were operating in the defence of Malta , first as 46 Squadron and later absorbed into 126 Squadron . They were in action continuously, claiming the destruction of nearly 10 German and 10 Italian aircraft, In May 1942, the airmen moved to Idku and reformed as a night fighter squadron with Beaufighters for action in the eastern Mediterranean. They became operational at

4335-542: The full duration of the Iran–Iraq War . His record of eight confirmed and three probable victories against Iraqi combat aircraft qualifies him as an ace and the most successful pilot of that conflict and the most successful Grumman F-14 Tomcat pilot worldwide. Brig. General Shahram Rostami was another Iranian ace. He was also an F-14 pilot. He had six confirmed kills. His victories include one MiG-21 , two MiG-25s , and three Mirage F1s . Colonel Mohammed Rayyan

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4420-552: The ground as equal to aerial victories. The Soviets distinguished between solo and group kills, as did the Japanese, though the Imperial Japanese Navy stopped crediting individual victories (in favor of squadron tallies) in 1943. The Soviet Air Forces has the top Allied pilots in terms of aerial victories, Ivan Kozhedub credited with 66 victories and Alexander Pokryshkin scored 65 victories. It also claimed

4505-413: The image was disseminated of the ace as a chivalrous knight reminiscent of a bygone era. For a brief early period when air-to-air combat was just being invented, the exceptionally skilled pilot could shape the battle in the skies. For most of the war, however, the image of the ace had little to do with the reality of air warfare, in which fighters fought in formation and air superiority depended heavily on

4590-409: The land and naval forces at Narvik without respite, some of the pilots going without sleep for more than 48 hours. Conditions on the ground were very basic with poor runways and primitive servicing and repair facilities. Many air combats took place, and in its brief campaign in Norway the squadron accounted for at least 14 enemy aircraft, besides probably destroying many others. On 7 June the squadron

4675-616: The largest sustained bombardment campaign in history prompted rapid deployment of the nascent air-force, and the first engagement of the war was in April 1965 at Thanh Hóa Bridge which saw relatively outdated subsonic MiG-17 units thrown against technically superior F-105 Thunderchief and F-8 Crusader , damaging 1 F-8 and killing two F-105 jets. The MiG-17 generally did not have sophisticated radars and missiles and relied on dog-fighting and maneuverability to score kills on US aircraft. Since US aircraft heavily outnumbered North Vietnamese ones,

4760-717: The most victorious fighter pilot of the First World War, were well-publicized for the benefit of civilian morale, and the Pour le Mérite , Prussia's highest award for gallantry, became part of the uniform of a leading German ace. In the Luftstreitkräfte , the Pour le Mérite was nicknamed Der blaue Max /The Blue Max, after Max Immelmann, who was the first pilot to receive this award. Initially, German aviators had to destroy eight Allied aircraft to receive this medal. As

4845-548: The number of targets available also contributed to the apparently lower numbers on the Allied side, since the number of operational Luftwaffe fighters was normally well below 1,500, with the total aircraft number never exceeding 5,000, and the total aircraft production of the Allies being nearly triple that of the other side . A difference in tactics might have been a factor as well; Erich Hartmann , for example, stated "See if there

4930-504: The only female aces of the war: Lydia Litvyak scored 12 victories and Yekaterina Budanova achieved 11. The highest scoring pilots from the Western allies against the German Luftwaffe were Johnnie Johnson ( RAF , 38 kills) and Gabby Gabreski ( USAAF , 28 kills in the air and 3 on the ground). In the Pacific theater Richard Bong became the top American fighter ace with 40 kills. In the Mediterranean theater Pat Pattle achieved at least 40 kills, mainly against Italian planes, and became

5015-432: The other for RAF Abu Sueir . By the end of April two more detachments were operating at St. Jean (Palestine) and Bu Amud. With the most distant bases nearly 1,000 miles apart, administration of the squadron became very difficult. Some out-of-the-ordinary tasks came the squadron's way. On one occasion, the Bu Amud detachment searched and found a convoy of local troops who were lost in the desert and long overdue; on another

5100-450: The praise of fighter pilots to be detrimental to equally brave bombers and reconnaissance aircrew – so that the British air services did not publish official statistics on the successes of individuals. Nonetheless, some pilots did become famous through press coverage, making the British system for the recognition of successful fighter pilots much more informal and somewhat inconsistent. One pilot, Arthur Gould Lee , described his own score in

5185-449: The relative availability of resources. The use of the term ace to describe these pilots began in World War I, when French newspapers described Adolphe Pégoud , as l'As (the ace) after he became the first pilot to down five German aircraft. The British initially used the term "star-turns" (a show business term). The successes of such German ace pilots as Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke , and especially Manfred von Richthofen ,

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5270-467: The same date, thus each becoming an "ace in a day", were pilot Julius Arigi and observer/gunner Johann Lasi of the Austro-Hungarian air force, on August 22, 1916, when they downed five Italian aircraft. The feat was repeated five more times during World War I. Becoming an ace in a day became relatively common during World War II. A total of 68 U.S. pilots (43 Army Air Forces , 18 Navy , and seven Marine Corps pilots) were credited with

5355-458: The satellite of RAF North Weald , for the defence of London during the Battle of Britain . The Luftwaffe 's main effort at the time was against coastal objectives and shipping off the coast of Essex and Kent . The squadron, now consisting of novice pilots and without any experienced command after its decimation in Norway, suffered heavy casualties during continuous action against far superior numbers of enemy bombers and escorting fighters. But

5440-445: The squadron helped shepherd the invasion fleet sailing for Sicily . The end of August found a large detachment stationed in Cyprus with the main task of doing night intruder operations over Rhodes . On 14 September, Squadron leader Cuddie in command of the detachment, landed on the recently seized Dodecanese Island of Kos — the first Allied aircraft to do so; less than three weeks later the Germans invaded and Wing Commander G.A. Reid

5525-411: The squadron was disbanded again. On 1 September 1966, the squadron again was re-formed, this time at RAF Abingdon as a transport unit. The first Hawker Siddeley Andover CMk1 aircraft arrived in December, and the squadron was tasked with transport support and tactical transport, for which the Andover's ability to "kneel" – to allow vehicle entry at a shallow angle via the rear ramp – was an asset. Over

5610-407: The squadron, whose dispersal was on the opposite side of the airfield from the rest of the station. By June 1955, the squadron had received "some Meteor 8s for target towing" and its strength had reached 48 officers and 110 airmen. By August, when the squadron went to Acklington for its armament practice station, there were 16 aircraft. In January 1956, the unit began converting to Javelins , and

5695-413: The team. In March 1969, three aircraft were deployed to Coolidge , Antigua , to help with the Anguillan crisis. The deployment continued, albeit later at a reduced scale, until early 1971 and led to the Caribbean Trainers. The squadron was the first in the RAF to have a German exchange officer, and exchange visits were made between 46 Squadron and LTG 63 at Ahlhorn and Hohn in Germany. In August 1969,

5780-619: The top fighter ace of the British Commonwealth in the war. Fighting on different sides, the French pilot Pierre Le Gloan had the unusual distinction of shooting down four German, seven Italian and seven British aircraft, the latter while he was flying for Vichy France in Syria . The German Luftwaffe continued the tradition of "one pilot, one kill", and now referred to top scorers as Experten . Some Luftwaffe pilots achieved very high scores, such as Erich Hartmann (352 kills) or Gerhard Barkhorn (301 kills). There were 107 German pilots with more than 100 kills. Most of these were won against

5865-421: The transition from piston-engined propeller driven aircraft to more modern jet aircraft. As such, it saw the world's first jet-vs-jet aces. The highest scoring ace of the war is considered to be the Soviet pilot Nikolai Sutyagin who claimed 22 kills. The Vietnam People's Air Force had begun development of its modern air-forces, primarily trained by Czechoslovak and Soviet trainers since 1956. The outbreak of

5950-454: The unit became involved in Northern Ireland duties – in particular, personnel transport – and on 13 October the same year, it was presented with its standard by King Olav V of Norway in commemoration of the squadron's 1940 Norwegian operation. In September 1970, the squadron moved to RAF Thorney Island and began a period of extended worldwide activity by taking part in a large Far East reinforcement exercise, Bersatu Padu. In 1971 it began

6035-473: The war progressed, the qualifications for Pour le Mérite were raised, but successful German fighter pilots continued to be hailed as national heroes for the remainder of the war. The few aces among combat aviators have historically accounted for the majority of air-to-air victories in military history. World War I introduced the systematic use of true single-seat fighter aircraft, with enough speed and agility to catch and maintain contact with targets in

6120-649: The years, the squadron acquired expertise in aero-medical evacuation , short take-off and landing , route flying and parachute and one-ton container drops. In addition to carrying equipment, vehicles, passengers or paratroops, the Andover could be fitted in a VIP role and carried Cabinet Ministers including (the late) John Davies , Julian Amery and Lord Carrington and was used for the parachute jump of HRH Prince Charles into Studland Bay during his RAF training in July 1971. It also carried out various trials with voice broadcast and long-range ferry tanks. The latter became

6205-771: Was Tetsuzō Iwamoto , who achieved 216 kills. A number of factors probably contributed to the very high totals of the top German aces. For a limited period (especially during Operation Barbarossa ), many Axis victories were over obsolescent aircraft and either poorly trained or inexperienced Allied pilots. In addition, Luftwaffe pilots generally flew many more individual sorties (sometimes well over 1000) than their Allied counterparts. Moreover, they often kept flying combat missions until they were captured, incapacitated, or killed, while successful Allied pilots were usually either promoted to positions involving less combat flying or routinely rotated back to training bases to pass their valuable combat knowledge to younger pilots. An imbalance in

6290-632: Was an Iraqi ace fighter pilot who shot down 10 Iranian aircraft, mostly F-4 Phantoms during the war. Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam was an ace fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force . During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 , Alam claimed to have downed five aircraft in a single sortie on 7 September 1965 with four downed in less than a minute, establishing a world record. These claims, however, have been widely contested by Indian Air Force officials. On 13 October 2022,

6375-532: Was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Strange . The wing specialised in large scale attacks on enemy airfields. In October and November, the squadron was heavily involved in attacks during the German Great Retreat , during the weeks before the signing of the Armistice . Towards the end of January 1919, the squadron was reduced to a cadre , and in February it was returned to England early; it

6460-577: Was credited with 12 kills, for which he was awarded the Golden Military Merit Cross . In the Royal Flying Corps the observer Charles George Gass tallied 39 victories, of which 5 were actually confirmed. The spread was caused by the lavish British system of aerial victory confirmation. In World War II, United States Army Air Forces S/Sgt. Michael Arooth, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress tail gunner serving in

6545-434: Was disbanded on 31 December. During the war, 46 Squadron claimed 184 air victories, creating 16 aces . , The squadron was re-formed at Kenley under the RAF expansion scheme in 1936 by equipping B flight of No. 17 Squadron RAF as a full squadron. Gloster Gauntlets were the first airplanes to be allocated, and with these craft normal peacetime training activities were carried out. Wing Commander Bunny Currant ,

6630-538: Was generally won only by fighter pilots, bombers and reconnaissance crews on both sides also destroyed some enemy aircraft, typically in defending themselves from attack. The most notable example of a non-pilot ace in World War ;I is Charles George Gass with 39 accredited aerial victories. Between the two world wars, there were two theaters that produced flying aces, the Spanish Civil War and

6715-468: Was killed. In early 1944, with detachments operating from Abu Sueir, St. Jean and Tocra, night intruder patrols over Rhodes, Kos and Crete formed the backbone of activities. In February and March, the squadron claimed the destruction of five Junkers Ju 52s and the probable destruction of three more. April and May were quiet, despite the dovetailing of patrols with No. 252 Squadron over the islands, giving complete coverage from dusk to dawn. In September,

6800-473: Was ordered to evacuate Norway immediately and, on the night of 7 through 8 June, the Hurricanes were successfully flown back to Glorious — a dangerous procedure as none of the aircraft were fitted with deck arrester hooks. The ground parties embarked on HMS  Vindictive and SS Monarch of Bermuda and reached the UK safely, but the squadron's aircraft and eight of its pilots were lost when Glorious

6885-479: Was practicable to establish and maintain very strict guidelines for the official recognition of victory claims by German pilots. Shared victories were either credited to one of the pilots concerned or to the unit as a whole – the destruction of the aircraft had to be physically confirmed by locating its wreckage, or an independent witness to the destruction had to be found. Victories were also counted for aircraft forced down within German lines, as this usually resulted in

6970-678: Was reorganised as part of the RAF Coastal Command and operated convoy cover in Malta and Benghazi . Targets in Africa and Sicily were strafed and barges, trawlers and other small ships were attacked along the Tripolitanian coast with cannon and machine-gun fire. The New Year found the squadron preparing to resume its original role as a night fighter unit and at the end of January, two detachments left Idku — one for Tobruk and

7055-554: Was reported that Captain Earl Ehrhart V of the United States Marine Corps had shot down seven Houthi drones while piloting an AV-8B Harrier II ground-attack aircraft from the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan . Realistic assessment of enemy casualties is important for intelligence purposes, so most air forces expend considerable effort to ensure accuracy in victory claims. In World War II,

7140-619: Was shifted to photo reconnaissance role to provide the U.K.'s asset for the Open Skies Treaty . Later 10 Andovers were sold to the Royal New Zealand Air Force The squadron is unique in the Royal Air Force because it is the only one to have held reunions since 1917. The squadron's Association has held annual Reunion Dinners continuously since 1917. The 100th consecutive Reunion was held in

7225-609: Was sunk by German warships on 9 June 1940. The two pilots who survived were the Squadron Commander, Squadron Leader (later Air Chief Marshal ) "Bing" Cross , and the Flight Commander, Flight Lieutenant (later Air Commodore) "Jamie" Jameson . The squadron re-formed at RAF Digby , becoming operational once again at the end of June, and for the next two months it was occupied in uneventful convoy and defensive patrols before moving south to Stapleford Tawney,

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