World War I flying aces by number of victories

An ace is a military aviator or airman credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft.

[@jbthor9032]

Did you ever here of Kenneth Porter. He was my mothers uncle. He fought in WW1 as a pilot. WW1 flying ACE. I'm his grand nephew. I remember him growing and used to tell stories .

[@Nikioko]

The Red Baron on 1, of course.

[@festeringvomituousmass]

great vid, thanks for making this!

[@billschmidt4192]

Thank You For This Video!

[@roberthudson1959]

The German Army did not use the term "ace." A German pilot with 10 victories, not five, was a "kanone."

[@georgreiter7694]

Echt, habe ich noch nie gehört?!

[@MeBallerman]

Fine. Thanks for the vid.

[@liviocaruso6341]

Excuse me, but Italian Francesco Baracca?

[@mikeking7470]

Looks like most of these aces did not survive the war.

[@marianmaslak]

It was tough in those flying caskets.

[@sopwithsnoopy8779]

They list Franz Buchner as dying in 1991. He died in 1920. 🤦‍♂️ Josef Jacobs was the last Pour le Merite ace to pass away, in 1978. (Not sure if he was the last aviation Pour le Merite winner to pass, but he was the last ace)

[@historycomparisonvideos]

Correct, it was my bad. He lived between 1898-1920. Image is also incorrect, grave belongs to another person.

[@Nikioko]

Büchner, not Buchner. Franz Buchner was yet another guy. And the caption already says that this is the physician Franz Büchner, not the pilot.

[@MultiDivebomber]

Many of the survivors died quite young in 1920's

[@gothia1715]

Some crashed with their plane and some others lost their puropse in live and turned to the bottle.

[@FuxxMajor]

0:25 Franz Büchner died in 1920. U got the wrong man on Wikipedia :D

[@marianmaslak]

Where is Herman Goering?

[@ClaudeMagicbox]

How did the Australian guy fly all the way to Europe on a WW1 biplane?? (joke)

[@gwine9087]

I was surprised at how many Canadians were there.

[@silverjohn6037]

This is because the British wanted pilots to be officers. So they asked any candidates if they were "public school graduates". In England a public school is "public" in the sense that the students weren't being taught by private tutors while in Canada a public school was a government funded general education institute open to everyone. So, even if they were aware of the difference in the understanding of the term, the Canadians could honestly answer the question and be accepted as pilot candidates.

[@gwine9087]

@@silverjohn6037 Also, Canada had many "bush pilots" who were highly skilled,

[@silverjohn6037]

@@gwine9087 Bush pilots would have applied more in the Second World War. Planes before the First World War weren't really being used for that kind of work. They were still considered as experimental and toys for rich eccentrics. WW 1 proved the technology and it was pilots from that war with surplus planes that really opened up the Canadian north.

[@condorboss3339]

@@gwine9087 The era of the bush pilots was between WW1 and WW2. It was only durring WW1 that planes with the endurance, range and reliability to be effective in the north were developed.

[@claiborneeastjr4129]

I think Eddie Rickenbacker had 23.

[@derricklarsen2919]

26

[@tomhenry897]

This include ballon’s and zeppelin’s?

[@gothia1715]

Most likely. Entente propaganda did everything they could to push their boys close to Richthofen. The central powers only had few fighter planes. If you take all entente victories and compare it to that it becomes strange.

[@derricklarsen2919]

No bishop should have 75 with balloons. Maybe they gave them to barker whom I thought had 47

[@user-xt1xn9sc4u]

And where are the Italians Francesco BARACCA and Silvio SCARONI?

[@jeffblacky]

I see a lot of angry comments So the interesting thing about French and UK If 4 pilots shot at and damaged , then the plane falls , all involved gets same credit This is why you see credit like 4 solo , 1 shared victory, 2 probable, 1 damaged The UK are a prime example of this in both World Wars The French is the same except they don’t count damaged or probably destroyed So in context you can be an ace in the French system with damage to 5 aircraft with 2 others and send it in flames 5 different engaged aircraft UK can make ace with 5 shared victories and 1 probable Germans are more restricted in their credits Except men like Goring fudge the claims He is only with research is fully credited with 10 from his 22 claims Fonch was a selfish pilot and doesn’t engage in dog fights with other pilots His narcissistic personality doesn’t allow it He makes sure all his victories count to him only And it is believed only 3 of his kills might be shared ( his early combat days ) Only 3 of the Baron’s kills doesn’t match with losses ( believing to be either Belgian or possibly other nations)

[@dr.med.detlefkohler6488]

Büchner is not the Büchner you think he was!

[@oliverhughes610]

Lot of them died in the 20s. I guess mostly sickness?

[@scruffscruffeton986]

Believe a fair number of the deaths in the 20's were from airplane crashes, never returning from a endurance flight, (ocean crossing), or pushing their luck testing out new aircraft

[@oliverhughes610]

@@scruffscruffeton986 That would make sense too

[@claudiomagi5375]

Il più grande il Barone Rosso! Rispetto per lui ❤

[@user-ey9hx8dl4k]

Verdade

[@alrengamao2577]

Manfred is the GREATEST...

[@gothia1715]

Funny how all entente victories combined are probably even more than planes build by the central powers ;)

[@DaDoM123]

Wrong flag for Britain thats the flag of the Kingdom of Great Britain not the UK

[@philippevalois381]

The Ace of Aces is René Fonck: 75 sure victories but 126 probable. Richtoffen 80 sure victories, 83 probable.

[@roberthudson1959]

Probable doesn't count. No one outside France considers Fonck #1.

[@philippevalois381]

@@roberthudson1959 Yes of course: honest people recognize it, not only in France

[@didierpaya9069]

@@roberthudson1959 No american or British could accept a french as the best... They always prefers a german...

[@FredericGaillot]

@@roberthudson1959 French system did not count german planes hit but falling behind german lines .. that's explain the large difference between probable and confirmed for Fonck. The Red Baron did not have that 'administrative' issue

[@lahire4943]

​​@@roberthudson1959 The French system was more strict than the others. Fonck was hit only once in his entire career. He had by far the most victories in all, and with the German system would have had at least 30 confirmed victories more than the Red Baron. Fonck managed twice to shoot down 6 planes in a single day. He is the most decorated French soldier of WW1. We don't care what people think, even in France he is not well known. If you think that popularity is everything... Also, Guynemer has 88 victories in all, and Madon 105.