Flying ace
Encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Flying Ace (disambiguation)Flying Ace (disambiguation)Flying Ace or Fighter Ace may refer to*Flying ace*Flying Aces *Fighter Ace *The Flying Ace, a movie...
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator
Military aviation
Military aviation is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of conducting or enabling warfare, including national airlift capacity to provide logistical supply to forces stationed in a theater or along a front. Air power includes the national means of conducting such...
credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more. The few aces among combat pilots have historically accounted for the majority of air to air victories in military history.
World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, when French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
newspapers described Adolphe Pégoud
Adolphe Pegoud
Adolphe Célestin Pégoud was a well known pre-war French aviator who became the first fighter ace.Pégoud served in the French Army from 1907 to 1913...
, as l'as (French for "Ace
Ace
An ace is a playing card. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the Ace of Spades...
") after he became the first pilot to down five German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
aircraft. The British did not initially use the term very much – ace pilots often being designated as “star-turns” (using show business rather than sporting terminology), while the Germans described their elite fighter pilots as Überkanonen (which roughly translates to “big gun”).
The systematic use of true single-seat fighter aircraft, with enough speed and agility to catch and maintain contact with targets in the air, and sufficiently powerful armament to destroy them, really dates from the period of the Fokker Scourge
Fokker Scourge
The Fokker Scourge was a term coined by the British press in the summer of 1915 to describe the then-current ascendancy of the Fokker Eindecker monoplane fighters of the German Fliegertruppen over the poorly-armed Allied reconnaissance types of the period....
(the last half of 1915). The successes of such ace pilots as Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a great pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun...
and Oswald Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke
Oswald Boelcke was a German flying ace of the First World War and one of the most influential patrol leaders and tacticians of the early years of air combat. Boelcke is considered the father of the German fighter air force, as well as the "Father of Air Fighting Tactics"; he was the first to...
were much publicised for the benefit of civilian morale, and the Pour le Mérite
Pour le Mérite
The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....
, Germany’s highest award for gallantry, became part of the uniform of a leading German ace. In the Luftstreitkräfte the medal was nicknamed ("Der blaue Max"/"The Blue Max"), after Max Immelmann, who was the first fighter pilot to receive this award. Initially aviators who had destroyed eight Allied
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
aircraft received this distinction, as time went by, the qualification for the Pour le Mérite was progressively raised, but German fighter pilots continued to be officially hailed as national heroes for the remainder of the war,
As the Jagdstaffeln (German single-seat fighter squadrons) usually fought well within German lines, it 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 of course, for aircraft “forced down” within German lines, and this usually resulted in the capture or death of the enemy aircrew.
British (and Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
) fighter pilots fought mostly in enemy (German held) airspace and while on offensive patrol miles over the German lines were often not in a position to confirm that an apparently destroyed enemy aircraft had in fact crashed, so that victories were frequently claimed as "driven down", "forced to land", or "out of control" - what would in later wars have been described as "probables". These "victories" were, however, usually included in a pilot's totals in (for instance) citations for decorations.
In one instance, Royal Flying Corps
Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery co-operation and photographic reconnaissance...
pilot Arthur Gould Lee described his own score in a letter to his wife as "Eleven, five by me solo - the rest shared". He went on to say, "so I am miles from being an ace". This has several interesting implications. Lee’s unit (46 Sqn RFC
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.- World War I :...
) obviously counted shared kills, but separately from "solo" ones. This is one of a number of factors that seems to have varied from unit to unit, possibly depending on the whim of the commanding officer. Also evident is that a considerably higher figure than five kills was considered as the requisite total for "ace" status, again, at least in No. 46.
Other Allied countries, such as France and Italy, fell somewhere in between the very strict German approach and the relatively casual British one. For instance they usually demanded independent witnessing of the actual destruction of an aircraft, making confirmation of victories scored in enemy territory very difficult. On the other hand the Belgian crediting system sometimes included "out of control" to be counted as a victory.
The United States Army Air Service
United States Army Air Service
The Air Service, United States Army was a forerunner of the United States Air Force during and after World War I. It was established as an independent but temporary wartime branch of the War Department by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation...
adopted French standards for evaluating victories, with two exceptions – during the summer of 1918, while flying under operational control of the British, the 17th Aero Squadron
17th Weapons Squadron
The 17th Weapons Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the USAF Weapons School at Nellis AFB, Nevada.The squadron traces its lineage to the United States Army Air Service 17th Aero Squadron. The 17th Aero Squadron was activated in August 1917 and earned 13 Campaign Streamers in...
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 was generally won only by fighter pilots, bomber and reconnaissance crews on both sides also destroyed some enemy aircraft, typically in defending themselves from attack. A prime example is John Stevenson Stubbs
John Stevenson Stubbs
Captain John Stevenson Stubbs DFC AFC was an English First World War flying ace credited with 11 official victories. He was a pioneering bomber pilot who was the war's leading ace for the British Airco DH.9. He also carried off the rather unusual feat of destroying an enemy observation balloon with...
, an Airco DH.9
Airco DH.9
The Airco DH.9 - also known after 1920 as the de Havilland DH.9 - was a British bomber used in the First World War...
bomber pilot credited with 11 aerial victories, including one over a German observation balloon
Observation balloon
Observation balloons are balloons that are employed as aerial platforms for intelligence gathering and artillery spotting. Their use began during the French Revolutionary Wars, reaching their zenith during World War I, and they continue in limited use today....
.
Between the World Wars
There were two theaters of war that produced flying aces between the two World Wars. They were the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
.
Part of the outside intervention of "volunteers" to both sides in the Spanish Civil War involved the supply of foreign pilots to the air forces of both the Spanish Republicans and the opposing Nationalists. Both Russian and American aces aided their Spanish colleagues in the Republican air force; the Nationalists included Germans and Italians along with their Spanish aces.
The Soviet Volunteer Group
Soviet Volunteer Group
The Soviet Volunteer Group was the ostensibly volunteer Soviet Air Forces to support the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1941. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was signed and large Soviet support was given to China by...
began operations in the Second Sino-Japanese war as early as 2 December 1937; as a result, there were 28 Soviet aces in the Group. The Flying Tigers
Flying Tigers
The 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941–1942, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers, was composed of pilots from the United States Army , Navy , and Marine Corps , recruited under presidential sanction and commanded by Claire Lee Chennault. The ground crew and headquarters...
were American military pilots recruited in a sub rosa effort to aid the Chinese Nationalists. They spent the summer and autumn of 1941 in transit to China, but did not begin flying combat until 20 December 1941.
World War II
In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, many air forces adopted the British practice of crediting fractional shares of aerial victories, resulting in fractions or decimal scores, such as 11½ or 26.83. Some U.S. commands also credited aircraft destroyed on the ground as equal to aerial victories. The Soviets distinguished between solo and group kills, as did the Japanese, though the Imperial Japanese Navy
Imperial Japanese Navy
The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...
stopped crediting individual victories (in favor of squadron tallies) in 1943.
The Soviet Air Forces claimed the only female aces of the war: Lydia Litvyak
Lydia Litvyak
Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (Лидия Владимировна Литвяк, (Moscow, August 18, 1921 – Krasnyi Luch August 1, 1943), also known as Lydia Litviak or Lilya Litviak, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II...
scored 12 victories and Yekaterina Budanova achieved 11. Fighting on different sides, the French pilot Pierre Le Gloan
Pierre Le Gloan
Pierre Le Gloan , French pilot of World War II.He was born in Brittany, France. At the age of eighteen he joined the French Air Force. At the outbreak of the war he served in the GC III/6 fighter squadron, flying the Morane-Saulnier MS.406...
had the unusual distinction of shooting down four German, seven Italian and seven British planes, the latter while he was flying for Vichy France in Syria.
The Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
continued the tradition of "one pilot, one kill", and now referred to top scorers as Experten. During the war, and for some years after, the very high victory totals of some experten were considered to be coloured by grandiose Nazi propaganda
Nazi propaganda
Propaganda, the coordinated attempt to influence public opinion through the use of media, was skillfully used by the NSDAP in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's leadership of Germany...
. Historical research has since shown this generally not to have been the case - although overclaiming undoubtedly occurred, this was by no means confined to the Luftwaffe.
A number of factors probably contributed to the very high totals of the top German aces. For a limited period (especially during Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
), many Axis kills were over obsolescent aircraft and either poorly-trained or inexperienced Allied pilots, especially Soviet ones. In addition, Luftwaffe pilots generally flew many more individual sortie
Sortie
Sortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....
s (sometimes up to 1000) than their Allied counterparts. Moreover, they often returned to the cockpit 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.
The Korean War
The Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
of 1950 - 1953 marked 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.
Indo-Pakistani Wars
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
, Muhammad Mahmood Alam
Muhammad Mahmood Alam
Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam is a retired Pakistani fighter pilot, North American F-86 Sabre Flying ace and one-star general who served with the Pakistan Air Force...
of the Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
was credited with nine aerial victories and two probable victories.
The Vietnam War
Air to air combat during the Vietnam War generally matched intruding United States fighter-bomberFighter-bomber
A fighter-bomber is a fixed-wing aircraft with an intended primary role of light tactical bombing and also incorporating certain performance characteristics of a fighter aircraft. This term, although still used, has less significance since the introduction of rockets and guided missiles into aerial...
s against the radar-directed integrated North Vietnamese air defense systems. American F-4, F-8, and F-105 fighter crews usually had to contend with both surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery and machine gun fire before opposing fighters attacked them. The long-running conflict produced 22 aces: 16 North Vietnamese, five American (two of whom were Weapons Systems Officers or WSOs and one Radar Intercept Officer or RIO), and one Russian instructor pilot.
The Middle East conflicts
The series of wars and conflicts between Israel and its neighbors began with Israeli independence in 1948 and continued for over three decades. Of the 50 known aces during these battles, one was Egyptian, three Syrian, and the rest Israeli.Conflicts in Southwest Asia
The most recent known flying ace is Jalal ZandiJalal Zandi
Brig. General Jalil Zandi was an ace fighter pilot in the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, serving for the full duration of the Iran-Iraq War. His record qualifies him as an ace and the most successful pilot of that conflict....
of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force
The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force ' is the aviation branch of the Iranian armed forces. The present Air Force came into being in the early 1980s when the former Imperial Iranian Air Force was renamed....
; he scored his fifth of nine victories on 29 August 1987.
Accuracy
Realistic assessment of enemy casualties is important for intelligenceMilitary intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
purposes, so most air forces expend considerable effort to ensure accuracy in victory claims. In World War II, the aircraft gun camera came into general usage, partly in hope of alleviating inaccurate victory claims.
And yet, to quote an extreme example, in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, both the U.S. and Communist air arms claimed a 10 to 1 victory-loss ratio. Without delving too deeply into these claims, they are obviously mutually incompatible. Arguably, few recognized aces actually shot down as many aircraft as credited to them. The primary reason for inaccurate victory claims is the inherent confusion of three-dimensional, high speed combat between large numbers of aircraft, but competitiveness and the desire for recognition (not to mention sheer optimistic enthusiasm) also figure in certain inflated claims, especially when the attainment of a specific total is required for a particular decoration or promotion.
The most accurate figures usually belong to the air arm fighting over its own territory, where many wrecks can be located, and even identified, and where shot down enemy are either killed or captured. It is for this reason that at least 76 of the 80 planes credited to Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...
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
Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Montague Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard GCB OM GCVO DSO was a British officer who was instrumental in establishing the Royal Air Force...
's policy of offensive patrol.
On the other hand, losses (especially in terms of aircraft as opposed to personnel) are sometimes recorded inaccurately, for various reasons. Nearly 50% of RAF victories in the Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...
, for instance, do not tally statistically with recorded German losses - but some at least of this apparent over-claiming can be tallied with known wrecks, and aircrew known to have been in British PoW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camps. There are a number of reasons why reported losses may be understated - including poor reporting procedures and loss of records due to enemy action or wartime confusion.
Non-pilot aces
Bristol F.2 Fighter
The Bristol F.2 Fighter was a British two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War flown by the Royal Flying Corps. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter or popularly the "Brisfit" or "Biff". Despite being a two-seater, the F.2B proved to be an agile aircraft...
. Because pilots often teamed with different air crew members, an observer or gunner might have been an ace while his pilot was not, or vice versa. Observer aces constitute a sizable minority in many lists. World War I observer Charles George Gass
Charles George Gass
Squadron Leader Charles George Gass MC was the highest scoring observer ace during the First World War, with a total of 39 victories scored serving as a gunner flying with various pilots...
, who tallied 39 victories, was the highest scoring observer ace in World War I.
In World War II United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
B-17 tail gunner Michael Arooth is credited with 17 victories.
With the advent of more advanced technology, a third category of ace appeared. Charles B. DeBellevue
Charles B. DeBellevue
Colonel Charles Barbin “Chuck” DeBellevue is a retired officer in the United States Air Force. In 1972, while flying during the Vietnam War, DeBellevue became the first Air Force Weapon Systems Officer to become a flying "Ace". He was credited with a total of six MiG kills, the most earned by any...
became not only the first U.S. Air Force Weapon Systems Officer
Weapon systems officer
A Weapon Systems Officer is an air Flight Officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of the fighter in the United States Navy. A Weapon Systems Officer ("WSO", pronounced "wizzo") is an air Flight Officer directly involved in all air operations and weapon systems of the...
(WSO) to become an ace, but also the top American ace of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, with six victories. Close behind with five were fellow WSO Jeffrey Feinstein
Jeffrey Feinstein
Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey S. Feinstein was a career officer in the United States Air Force. In 1972 during the Vietnam War, while flying as a weapon systems officer aboard F-4 Phantom IIs, Feinstein downed five enemy aircraft, thereby becoming a flying ace, the last ace produced by the USAF.Born...
and Radar Intercept Officer
Naval Flight Officer
A Naval Flight Officer is an aeronautically designated commissioned officer in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps that specializes in airborne weapons and sensor systems. NFOs are not pilots per se, but they may perform many "co-pilot" functions, depending on the type of aircraft...
William P. Driscoll
William P. Driscoll
William "Willy Irish" Driscoll is a former United States Navy Flight Officer who received the Navy Cross during the Vietnam War for his role in an aerial dogfight with North Vietnamese MiGs...
.
Ace in a day
The first military aviators to score five or more victories on the same date, thus becoming "ace in a day", were pilot Julius ArigiJulius Arigi
Julius Arigi was a flying ace of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I with a total of 32 credited victories. He was Austro-Hungary's most highly decorated ace. His victory total was second only to Godwin Brumowski. Arigi was considered a superb natural pilot...
and observer/gunner Johann Lasi
Johann Lasi
Stabfeldwebel Johann Lasi was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.-References:...
of the Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
air force, on 22 August 1916, when they downed five Italian planes. The feat would be repeated five more times during World War I.
Becoming an ace in a day became fairly common during World War II; for instance, 68 U.S. pilots—43 Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
, 18 Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, and seven Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
—were credited with the feat. The list of Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
aces in a day is much longer.
On 6 September 1965, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. This conflict became known as the Second Kashmir War fought by India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947...
, Muhammad Mahmood Alam
Muhammad Mahmood Alam
Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam is a retired Pakistani fighter pilot, North American F-86 Sabre Flying ace and one-star general who served with the Pakistan Air Force...
of the Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Air Force
The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...
shot down five Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
Hawker Hunter
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a subsonic British jet aircraft developed in the 1950s. The single-seat Hunter entered service as a manoeuvrable fighter aircraft, and later operated in fighter-bomber and reconnaissance roles in numerous conflicts. Two-seat variants remained in use for training and secondary...
Mk.56 fighters in less than a minute, four being within 30 seconds. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat
Sitara-e-Jurat
Sitara-e-Jurat is the third highest military award of Pakistan. It was established in 1957 after Pakistan became a Republic; however, it was instituted retrospectively back to 1947...
("The star of courage") and bar
Medal bar
A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...
for his actions.
See also
- List of World War I flying aces
- List of World War II flying aces
- List of World War II aces by country
- List of German World War II jet aces
- List of Spanish Civil War flying aces
- List of Korean War flying aces
- List of Vietnam War flying aces
- List of flying aces in Arab–Israeli wars
- List of aces of aces