Barrett Tillman
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IN AThe killsDAY and claims ACE of the top shooters BY BARRETT TILLMAN n the morning of April 7, 1943, American Great War air warriors fi ghter pilots on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Probably the fi rst ace in a day was Austro-Hungarian Stabsfeld- Islands responded to a red alert. More than webel Julius Arigi. On August 22, 1916, with his gunner 100 Japanese aircraft were inbound, sending Feldwebel Johann Lassi, he intercepted Italian aircraft over Wildcats and P-40s scrambling to inter- Albania’s Adriatic coast. The Austrians cept. In a prolonged combat, the de- downed fi ve Farman two-seaters, fenders claimed 39 victories and actu- destroyed or abandoned on the ally got 29—a better than normal ratio water. However, a single-seater of actual kills versus claims. The belle pilot contributed to two of the Oof the brawl was 1st Lt. James E. Swett, a 22-year-old victories. Arigi ended the war as Marine entering his fi rst combat. Fifteen minutes later, Austria’s second-ranking ace with he was fi shed out of the bay, having ditched his shot-up 32 victories. F4F-4 perforated by Japanese and American gunfi re. Almost certainly, the fi rst pilot downing fi ve opponents unaided in one day occurred during April 1917. Though wearing glasses, Leutnant Fritz Otto Bernert became a fi ghter pilot. During “Bloody April” he was on a roll, accounting for 15 of Jasta Boelcke’s 21 victories. On the 24th, the day after receiving the Pour le Merite, he led an Alba- tros patrol. In only 20 minutes, he downed a Sopwith 1 ½ Strutter plus three BE-2 bombers. Then he bagged a DH-4, all verifi ed by records of three British squadrons. Germany’s other ace in a day was Leutnant Fritz Roth of Jasta 16. Already a double ace, on May 29, 1918 in a care- fully planned mission he claimed fi ve Belgian and British balloons in 15 min- utes, destroying at least four. He fi nished as Germany’s top balloon buster with 20 gasbags. The British also produced multiple vic- Above: Sopwith Camel “merchant” John Trollope, credited with seven victories in two sorties in one day during 1918. tories in one day. Twenty-year-old Capt. (Photo courtesy of Rainer Absmeier) John L. Trollope, a “Camel merchant” of Inset: Fritz Otto Bernert downed fi ve British aircraft in 20 minutes on April 24, 1917. (Photo courtesy of EN Archive No. 43 Squadron, claimed seven enemies Collection) during two sorties on March 24, 1918. When the scores were toted, “Zeke” Swett was credited with He began with two DFWs (one shared) and an Albatros in the seven Aichi dive-bombers destroyed and one probable. In fact, morning, plus four Albatros two-seaters that afternoon. The the number of Vals claimed matched the Japanese loss records. day’s actions nearly doubled his previous score as he related, Swett received the Medal of Honor, and from that day on, the “This has been the most wonderful day of my life. I myself goal of naval aviation cadets was “to do a Jimmy Swett.” have destroyed six Hun machines—three this morning and During WW II, over 100 U.S. fi ghter pilots were credited three this afternoon. The fi rst this morning I shot to pieces, with fi ve or more victories in one day, mostly in one sortie. and it broke up in mid-air; the second went down in fl ames— But the “ace in a day” feat was established long before the both of them two-seaters. The third, a single-seater, which lit- Second World War. erally exploded in mid-air and fell in pieces.” 12 fl ightjournal.com 1_Ace in a Day.indd 12 9/5/13 2:45 PM IN A DAY DECEMBER 2013 13 1_Ace in a Day.indd 13 9/5/13 2:45 PM ACE IN A DAY In late March Trollope was shot down and cap- 1918 produced a spectacular record—18 credited tured, fi nishing with 13.5 victories. victories in as many days. On the 18th he shared Trollope’s squadronmate, Capt. Henry Wool- two balloons, then added two Fokker D.VIIs and lett, made a similar record. On April 12 the for- a Halberstadt two-seater. But his wingman Lt. Joe mer DH-5 pilot claimed two Albatros(es) and a Wehner died in the action, and 11 days later Luke two-seater in the morning patrol, adding three followed in his slipstream. “Albatrii” that afternoon. He the war with 35 vic- tories, all but four credited as destroyed. e second generation The record for one-day claims was set by the With the advent of monoplanes, some pundits top Allied ace, Lieutenant Rene Fonck. The self- theorized that WW I-style air combat was not confi dent young Frenchman scored sextuples possible at speeds approaching 300mph. But Probably the fi rst ace in a day on two occasions, and in fact he recalled, “I had fi ghter pilots paid little attention and got on with was Austro-Hungarian Julius been dreaming for some time of downing fi ve ad- the next war. Arigi who downed fi ve Italian versaries within a 24-hour period.” The world standard for verifi ed a multi-kill sor- aircraft with his gunner in 1916. (Photo courtesy of Rainer On May 9, 1918, Fonck logged three two-seat- tie was established in an unusual clime—during Absmeier) ers in the afternoon and three more that evening. the “Winter War” between Finland and Russia. The unprecedented feat was On January 6, 1940, a formation of unescorted the result of a champagne bet Soviet bombers was sighted over southern Fin- with two American squadron- land. Pilots of Fighter Squadron 24 scrambled in mates, who paid their debt. their Fokker D.XXIs, with an airborne pilot chas- Fonck repeated his record in ing down one Ilyushin DB-3. Lieutenant Jorma two more sorties on Septem- Sarvanto pursued the others alone, destroying ber 28. With 67 victories, his six in four minutes. The wreckage of all six vic- position atop the Allied ace tims from the 6th Bomber Regiment were found roster was unassailable, and and photographed. A pilot since 1937, Sarvanto he ended the war with 75. became Finland’s leading ace in the Winter War America’s fi rst ace in a day with 12.83 kills. was the mercurial Second At least two other Finns became aces in a day, Lieutenant Frank Luke. His fl ying Bf 109Gs. In June1944, during the “Con- “September rampage” in tinuation War” against Russia, Lt. Olavi K. Puro Flying the Albatros series of fi ghters, German pilots achieved air superiority over the Western Front in 1916 and 1917. (Photo by Luigino Caliaro) 14 fl ightjournal.com 1_Ace in a Day.indd 14 9/5/13 2:46 PM Probably the world's champion ace maker, the Bf 109 was fl own by scores of Experten who downed fi ve or more enemies in one day. (Photo by John Dibbs/planepicture.com) claimed two LaGGs, a P-39, a Pe-2 bomber and a Sturmovik. And Lt. Eino Juutilainen downed two Yaks, two P-39s, a LaGG, and an Il-2. WW II No ace in a day performance occurs in a vacuum, especially within a large-scale air battle or cam- paign. So it’s helpful to place some events in con- text. Two examples will suffi ce. In the Battle of Britain (July-October 1940) the Royal Air Force lost 1,087 fi ghters (including 129 The Pacifi c war’s greatest one-day clash oc- besides Spitfi res and Hurricanes) and the Luft- curred on June 19, 1944—the fabled Marianas A genuine ace in a day was Finland’s Jorva Sarvanto who waffe a nominal 1,733. Turkey Shoot. Supporting the occupation of downed six Soviet bombers Conversely, the RAF fi ghters claimed about Saipan Island, 15 U.S. fast carriers fought a day- fl ying a Fokker D.XXI in January 2,700 shootdowns and German fi ghters 3,200. long battle against nine Japanese carriers and 1940. (Photo courtesy of Kari Thus, ignoring British anti-aircraft artillery, the land-based planes from Guam and environs. At Stenman) British overclaimed by about 58 percent; the Ger- the end of the day, U.S. naval aviators claimed mans by nearly three times as much. 380 enemy planes splashed while losing 31 to all The likely RAF exchange rate was 1.6 to 1 causes. (versus the claimed 2.4 to 1) while the Germans Postwar assessment of Imperial Navy records thought they were winning 2-1 yet lost 1 to 1.4. indicates in-fl ight losses of 260, a 57% accuracy Applying the campaign error to individuals, fi gure. However, Hellcat claims against the day’s RAF pilot scores could be reduced to roughly 40 second raid proved uncannily accurate. They percent of those credited and Luftwaffe scores by were paced by Lt (jg.) Alex Vraciu off USS Lexing- two-thirds. However, the simple mathematics are ton (CV-16) who claimed six Judy dive-bombers just that—overly simple. The more experienced in eight minutes. Discounting the work by ship- pilots certainly gained a larger ratio of actual kills board gunners, the F6Fs likely got nearly all the than the statistical average. Therefore, the top 80 planes they claimed in that action. RAF shooter, Flight Lt. Eric Lock, likely downed more than 40% of his 23 claimed, which would British Commonwealth be 10 “actual” victories.