Army Air Forces 13 Wendell V. Twelves United States U. Williamson United States U. Brueland United States U. Frazier United States U. Stewart United States U.
Army Air Forces 12 Levi R. Chase United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Clement M. Craig United States U.
Navy 12 David B. Eastham United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Loren D. Everton United States U. Gleason United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Leroy E.
Navy 12 Coatsworth B. Head, Jr. Army Air Forces 12 Roger R. Hedrick United States U. Navy 12 William E. Henry United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Howard D. Hively United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Kenneth G. Ladd United States U. Masoner, Jr. Navy 12 Pierce W. McKennon United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Robert W. Moore United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Michael J. Quirk United States U. Schreiber United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Harold E. Segal United States U. Marine Corps 12 James A.
Shirley United States U. Navy 12 Norman C. Skogstad United States U. Army Air Forces 12 William J. Sloan United States U. Trowbridge United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Richard E. Turner United States U. Army Air Forces 12 James A. Watkins United States U. Army Air Forces 12 Richard L. West United States U. Clark, Jr. Conger United States U.
Gilbert United States U. Halton United States U. Hovde United States U. Kirla, Jr. Snider United States U. Norley United States U. DeLong United States U. Marine Corps Bauer United States U. Marine Corps 11 John T. Blackburn United States U. Navy 11 William A. Dean, Jr. Frantz United States U. Army Air Forces 11 James B. French United States U. Navy 11 Robert J.
Goebel United States U. Army Air Forces 11 Phillip L. Kirkwood United States U. Navy 11 John B. Lawler United States U. Lent United States U. Army Air Forces 11 Leland P. Molland United States U. Army Air Forces 11 William L. Leverette United States U. Army Air Forces 11 John S. Loisel United States U. Army Air Forces 11 Wayne L. Lowry United States U. Mallory United States U. McCorkle United States U. Army Air Forces 11 Norman L.
McDonald United States U. Navy 11 John W. Mitchell United States U. Reber, Jr. Navy 11 Elmer W. Richardson United States U. Army Air Forces 11 Robert H. Riddle United States U. Army Air Forces 11 James F. Rigg United States U. Navy 11 Donald E. Runyon United States U. Navy 11 Donald H. Sapp United States U. Sparks United States U. Army Air Forces 11 Richard E. Stanbrook United States U. Navy 11 Virgil K. Meroney United States U.
Army Air Forces 10 Stanley W. Vejtasa United States U. Anderson, Jr. Beebe United States U. Ceulleers United States U. Doersch United States U. Reiserer United States U. Storch United States U. Symmes United States U. Murray United States U. Navy Elliot United States U. Glover United States U. Baldwin United States U. Marine Corps 10 Wayne K. Blickenstaff United States U. Broadhead United States U.
Army Air Forces 10 Carl A. Brown, Jr. Navy 10 Thaddeus T. Coleman United States U. Navy 10 William K. Giroux United States U.
Army Air Forces 10 Walter J. Goehausen, Jr. Army Air Forces 10 Ernest A. Juchheim, Jr. Long United States U. Marine Corps 10 Edward E. Lines United States U. Army Air Forces 10 Thomas H. Mann, Jr. Marine Corps 10 Joseph L. Mansker United States U. Army Air Forces 10 Harris E. Army Air Forces 10 Robert J. Rankin United States U. Reidy United States U. Navy 10 Andrew J.
Reynolds United States U. Army Air Forces 10 Robert L. Scott, Jr. Navy 10 John M. Smith United States U. Stanch United States U. Army Air Forces 10 James S. Swope United States U. Westermark United States U.
Adams United States U. Bankey, Jr. Check United States U. Fiebelkorn United States U. Spencer United States U. Coats United States U. Andrew United States U. Army Air Forces 9 William M. Banks United States U. Bassett United States U. Navy 9 Norman R. Berree United States U.
Navy 9 William R. Bland United States U. Navy 9 George E. Bostwick United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Mark K. Bright United States U. Navy 9 Paul D. Buie United States U. Navy 9 Henry A. Carey, Jr. Navy 9 Frederick F. Champlin United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Frank J. Collins United States U. Collins, Jr. Navy 9 Richard L. Cormier United States U. Navy 9 Louis E. Curdes United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Perry A.
Dahl United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Jefferson J. DeBlanc United States U. Marine Corps 9 Richard W. Dunkin United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Richard T. Eastmond United States U. Navy 9 Robert A. Elder United States U.
Army Air Forces 9 Eugene H. Emmons United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Grover E. Fanning United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Edward L. Feightner United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Joseph M. Forester United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Marvin J. Franger United States U. Navy 9 Doris C. Freeman United States U. Navy 9 Kenneth W. Gallup United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Thomas S. Navy 9 Frederick R.
Haviland, Jr. Army Air Forces 9 Allen E. Hill United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Frank D. Hurlburt United States U. Army Air Forces 9 George C. Kiser United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Joseph J. Lesicka United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Christopher L. Magee United States U. Marine Corps 9 Louis A. Menard, Jr. Navy 9 Virgil K. Merony United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Stanley B. Morrill United States U. Overend United States U. Marine Corps 9 Lloyd J.
Overfield United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Joel B. Army Air Forces 9 Harvey P. Picken United States U. Navy 9 Eugene D. Redmond United States U. Navy 9 William N. Reed United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Daniel R. Rehm, Jr. Navy 9 Eugene P. Roberts United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Robert T. Navy 9 John S. Army Air Forces 9 Franklin C. Thomas, Jr. Navy 9 Benjamin F. Warmer United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Robert H.
White United States U. Army Air Forces 9 Norman. Wolfe United States U. Watts United States U. Navy 8. Bryan, Jr. Cain United States U. Cesky United States U. Chenoweth United States U. Cutler United States U.
Foster United States U. Gray United States U. Hargreaves United States U. Hayes, Jr. Hoefker United States U. Jenkins United States U. Loesch United States U. Luksic United States U. McGrattan United States U. Moats United States U. Morgan, Jr. Pigman United States U. Plant United States U. Schlegel United States U. Self United States U. Howard United States U. Gabriel United States U. McMillan United States U. Ainlay United States U. Army Air Forces 8 John R.
Alison United States U. Army Air Forces 8 David W. Army Air Forces 8 Frederick A. Bardshar United States U. Navy 8 Lloyd G. Barnard United States U.
Navy 8 Walter G. Benz, Jr. Army Air Forces 8 William J. Bonneau United States U. Navy 8 Robert J. Booth United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Roy O. Burnett, Jr. Navy 8 Walter J. Carroll, Jr. Army Air Forces 8 William N.
Case United States U. Marine Corps 8 J. Collinsworth United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Arthur W. Cruikshank United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Fernley H. Damstrom United States U. Army Air Forces 8 John F. Dobbin United States U. Marine Corps 8 Landis E. Doner United States U. Navy 8 Frederick J. Dorsch United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Walter F. Duke United States U. Army Air Forces 8 William C. Edens United States U. Army Air Forces 8 John L.
Army Air Forces 8 Eric A. Evenson United States U. Navy 8 Arthur C. Fielder, Jr. Army Air Forces 8 Francis M. Navy 8 James M. Fowle United States U. Army Air Forces 8 William A.
Gardner United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Francis R. Gerard United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Clement D. Gile United States U. Navy 8 Maxwell H. Glenn United States U.
Army Air Forces 8 Mathew M. Gordon United States U. Army Air Forces 8 Richard J. Griffin United States U. Navy 8 Leroy V. Grosshuesch United States U. The difference is best illustrated by the von Richthofen brothers: Manfred the original Red Baron with 80 kills was a "brain" pilot, while his little brother Lothar with 40 kills was a "muscle" pilot.
Civilian examples exist as well, and not just for aircraft. While civilian pilots, obviously, don't technically meet the military definition because the goal of civilian flight is to not kill people which means most who weren't military before do not have kills , some civilian pilots have saved lives and property with overwhelming skill and capability, overcoming multiple engine failures, hydraulic failures, or many other incidents which would fall under No One Could Survive That!
Community Showcase More. Follow TV Tropes. You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account. You thought piloting a 15 meter tall giant wasn't possible?
Think again! This show at its core is a Humongous Mecha Anime. The various versions of Area 88 feature many aces among the mercenary pilots, including protagonist Shin Kazama, his friend Mickey Simon, and base commander Saki Vashtal. There are others, but they tended to die shortly after being introduced.
Several others can be considered above average such as some of the Knights of the Round, and some of the Black Knights, but none of them hold a candle to the above two. Kallen Stadtfeld is a definite steamroller, which is required because her only useful weapon is close-range, which means that she has to be aggressive in order to survive. Even when she gets long-range attacks, she sticks to this in most cases.
Suzaku himself has noted that even with Lelouch's geass command to "live" placed on him , he cannot beat Kallen, implying that she is arguably the best pilot in the Code Geass universe. In an odd case of "Unstoppable force meets Immovable Object", Suzaku Kururugi uses the same strategy, even though he uses a well-rounded machine not nearly as suited to it as hers is.
But Suzaku, being Suzaku, simply fails to capitalize on this in areas that his opponents lack This is particularly telling with any battle where he and Kallen clash, save when emotions get in the way. While not exactly an exceptionally skilled pilot , Lelouch is a definite Sniper: while the Burai he used at the beginning is a mook with some cosmetic modifications, his later Knightmares — the Gawain and the Shinkiro — have brutal long-range firepower and next to no close-range fighting capability.
Oldrin Zevon from Oz the Reflection is an ace, but it is never clear which piloting style she prefers. The main characters of Cowboy Bebop all take turns acting as ace pilots with their own personal space fighters when their bounty has a spacecraft of their own or when air power is called for with Spike being the most skilled. In the movie, the Big Bad is preparing to release his nerve gas WMD and the government scrambles fighters to stop Spike, who is trying to stop the Big Bad , since they would rather cover up the problem rather than fix it.
Despite the fact that the government pilots are elite special forces flying the most advanced planes in existence, Spike easily defeats them all using his fighter which is more like the The Alleged Car. Pete Pumps from Ginban Kaleidoscope was this before he died in Episode 1. Noriko Takaya evolves into one nearer the end of the series. Kazumi Amano and Jung Frued are introduced that way. The Macross franchise has a bunch, and an interesting tradition of the best pilot in each show not being the main character: Max Jenius in the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross , and Milia Fallyna on the other side, until the two fell in love and she defected.
Max takes this to such an extent that Word of God has confirmed him to be the best pilot in the franchise, bar none. Even when in his fifties and with somewhat "rusty" piloting skills in Macross 7 , he still outperforms every other Ace in the series combined when he hops in a fighter.
While not the absolute best, protagonist Hikaru Ichijo was an extremely skilled pilot as well, as was his squad leader, Roy Focker. The only reason why Isamu Dyson of Macross Plus hasn't been dishonorably discharged yet is because of his incredible piloting skills. He's still alive and active during the events Macross Frontier , and is mentioned in supplementary notes as having kicked Ozma's ass in training matches while piloting an outdated plane.
Gamlin Kizaki in Macross 7. Nekki Basara is arguably an even better pilot, but he's an Actual Pacifist. His protege Shin Kudo is an excellent pilot as well, being able to even initially hold his own against a Variable Fighter Ozma Lee in Macross Frontier is SMS's best pilot, and possibly in the entire Frontier fleet; even near the end of the show, he is still able to out-duel main hero Alto Saotome by a couple of points due to his much greater experience and Alto being quite conflicted at the time.
Michel, meanwhile, was the company's ace sniper. However, the show's best pilot is probably Brera Sterne, thanks in large part to him being a Cyborg. Messer Ihlefeld in Macross Delta is Delta Squadron's ace, and easily shows the difference between honed skill and inexperienced raw talent whenever he effortlessly shows up protagonist Hayate Immelman's piloting.
He frequently gets in duels with the Aerial Knights' own ace, Keith Windermere. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS has Nanoha in a high-ranking position in an alien air-force, the lack of planes not being an issue when you can fly without them. In fact, her official in-show nickname is "Ace of Aces".
Her combat style is steamroller. It is worth noting that mages in Nanoha have strong shields, and mentally-guided projectiles help with aiming, so it's more a matter of "breaking through their shields with brute force" than "hoping they'll slip up and take a hit".
The one ace Nanoha has never beaten in a square fight is Signum. She's the ultimate plugger , wearing down her enemies with a strong defense before unleashing her own Wave Motion Sword. The Magnificent Kotobuki features a whole squadron of Ace Pilots, with over kills between them all, in inferior planes. Both Klaus and his mother of Maiden Rose are flying aces, Klaus having at least 10 confirmed kills marked on his plane's tail in one flashback. Akito Tenkawa of Martian Successor Nadesico , as well as his mentor Gai, do this, though the former is also known to use Bushwhacker-style tricks when the situation calls for it.
In the first chapters it was painfully obvious than he had no idea of how to pilot a war vehicle, and the consequences of it were just so painful to him. Nevertheless, through training and battles he became a true ace. However Tetsuya Tsurugi not only was trained into it before the series but also he is the Trope Codifier — and a deconstruction — of Hot-Blooded ace pilots in Humongous Mecha anime.
The two top combat aces, Haruka and Shizuru, are textbook examples of the Steamroller and Bushwhacker respectively. Unfortunately all the piloting skill in the world won't save you. It will make you look like a Hot-Blooded badass in The Movie , though.
Noa Izumi from Patlabor. She's not really amazingly good , though, so much as always reliable , and in the ultimate Real Robot series that counts for a lot more. In one episode, her "forward" points out that her reaction time is worse than Ohta's, but her motions are more efficient Ohta will start moving first, but Izumi will complete the action first. Also Lancer, for that matter. Fukai Rei from Sentou Yousei Yukikaze is an ace on his own right but his close relationship with his plane's AI makes him even more effective.
With animal ears. And no pants. In terms of tactics, most of them appear to be Bushwhackers or Steamrollers, while Sanya and Lynette are Snipers. For that matter, Kamina , Viral , Lordgenome One could make a case for almost any main character who gets in a Gunmen. Specializing in sniping, he's a super-prodigy who can pilot a Drive Head despite not being "chosen" by the Drive Gear. And his skills are above-average, too. Lux Arcadia from Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle is one of the best pilots in the series thanks to his skill with nothing more than just a quack job Drag-Ride that easily wants to get shot down.
His fighting style is a Plugger as he usually just turtles until the opponent gets tired out but that's because he's just using the fight as nothing more than a training exercise. In Vision of Escaflowne the heroes are both Steamrollers by default. Warrior Prince Van and Knight In Shining Armour Allan both pilot Lightning Bruiser Guymelefs armed only with swords, forcing them to quickly close with the enemy and overwhelm them with skillful swordplay.
Interesting, The Dragon Dilandua and his henchmen are clearly Bushwackers and Snipers, using stealth technology and advanced ranged weaponry to try to overwhelm the heroes rather than going toe to toe with them.
Given the themes of honour and chivalry in the show, this contrast is more than a little thematically appropriate. Asian Animation. In Guardian Fairy Michel , Kim can pilot Honeybee in any situation and uses all of its modes to their finest capabilities. Comic Books. Arrowsmith is about the title character's gradual growth into one in a fantasy version of World War One.
In Athena Voltaire , Athena is an aviatrix by profession, having been part of an air circus which she got involved with thanks to her father, who knew people in the world of travelling entertainment thanks to being a stage magician. She then became a pilot for hire, which is behind most of her adventures. She's good enough to take out attacking fighters more than once without needing to shoot back.
The Blackhawks In Chassis , anyone who competes in the Aero-run has to be an ace pilot by definition. This includes Chassis McBain. Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen : In later issues, the Dozen acquired their own ace pilot in the form of Jack 'Mad Dog' Martin, the so-called 'scourge of the airways' until he supposedly lost his nerve.
In Hunter's Hellcats , Snake Oil worked for a time as a barnstormer in carnivals before the war. He is in charge of flying the planes the Hellcats frequently steal when escaping enemy territory. The Marvel version of G. Joe had several ace pilots on both sides.
Ace Definite steamroller, going straight at Wild Weasel's nose at the end of their first match, and winning by detonating weapons dangerously close to him in their most recent match , Slipstream, Wild Bill For helicopters instead of fighter planes , and Maverick come to mind for the Joes. Because he had relatives in Germany, he had to fly as a masked mystery man.
Wonder Woman : Wonder Woman herself is usually an excellent pilot, she does have an invisible plane after all which is usually some kind of Amazonian fighter. Steve Trevor is almost always an excellent pilot regardless of continuity. Wonder Woman : One of the galactic slaves who aids in Diana's slave revolt and joins the revolution used to be a pilot and quickly jumps back into the role. She's able to skillfully pilot all sorts of captured Sangtee Empire vessels.
While neither she nor her race are ever named she resembles Green Lantern Xrill-Vrex In addition to making Steve strictly an excelent pilot instead of him also being a spy The Legend of Wonder Woman adds another great pilot to the supporting cast; Lt. Lawrence Stone, one of the Tuskeegee Airmen. After rising as The Heap some 24 years later, some later stories had him take to the skies again despite being a near-mindless Muck Monster : the long buried instincts of Eric allowing him to fly fighter planes against Axis flyers.
Comic Strips. Steve Canyon , among many others from his strip's long run. Dude Hennick from Terry and the Pirates. Abraxas Hrodvitnon : In this Godzilla: King of the Monsters fanfiction, Lauren Griffin gets to demonstrate her pilot skills again when she makes a particularly sharp turn with her Osprey to Outrun the Fireball.
A Crown of Stars : Although she was very broken when the story starts out, Asuka was her squad's best pilot, with the greater number of kills. During a scene Ching praises her performance during the battle of the Geofront and when she and Shinji used a barely-moving prototype mecha in Germany to fight and defeat several fully-functional MP-Evas. Later she has a new Transforming Mecha and kicks butts with it. Advice and Trust : Asuka is the best Humongous Mecha pilot in the base, having trained since she was four and devoting her life to it.
As they bond, Shinji and Rei also improve their performance with their war machines. Flitter and Cloudchaser, on the other hand, employ a tactics of steamrolling an airship with 20 mm automatic cannons.
She even fought and killed an Eldritch Abomination while pregnant. She fought that battle so hard her teammates were amazed. Children of an Elder God : Shinji, Asuka and Rei are more skillful and more competent than their canon selves. In their first engagement, Shinji and Rei managed to kill an humongous spider-alike Eldritch Abomination had turned the whole city into a giant cobweb infested with billions of spiders. In her first engagement Asuka tore a Sea Monster to bloodied pieces when it got her angry.
And every time they killed a new Eldritch Abomination they became more powerful. Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron : Kallen arguably the best pilot of the team, rivaled only by Suzaku. As all of the Paladins pilot Empathic Weapons , though, what type they are is up for debate. When Shinji asks if she is right with them getting kills while she remains benched, Asuka replies she is rationalizing that it will be thanks to her training. Shinji replies it is not a rationalization because she was the best pilot and he was just lucky.
Inthe Shadowof Gods : Joker gets to show of his skills by catching Shepard and the Chief in one of the Normandy's side doors as the pair flies through space.
Evangelion : The Children and their wingmen are young but accomplished pilots. The best in the base are Asuka — a steamroller — and Shinji — a bushwhacker — and possibly Kaworu. HERZ : Shinji, Asuka and Rei are all excellent Humongous Mecha pilots with more than one decade of experience, although Shinji is the only one still has a functional Eva, and he seldom sorties.
Last Child of Krypton : Asuka had prepared her whole life to pilot war mechas and fight giant alien monsters, spending twelve years of hard training and rigorous preparation. She was the best pilot in the base, but every time she sortied and her skill seemed to be insufficient, her fragile self-esteem deteriorated, which in turn made piloting her mecha harder.
By the end she had become unable to pilot Once More with Feeling : After returning to the past, Shinji's performance with his giant robot gets his co-workers impressed and shocked, since they did not expect he was so good.
However he considers that Asuka is better pilot and fighter than he could never be, and when he meets for first time — again — he takes care of praising her skill, knowing her confidence is very fragile. The One I Love Is However, her frequent defeats eroded her fragile confidence progressively until her mind snapped. However she still got to show how good she was when she ripped the MP-Evas apart. Superwomen of Eva 2: Lone Heir of Krypton : Asuka was the best and most rigorously trained pilot in the squad, and she got a good number of kills under her belt.
However, as the story progressed and her powers surfaced she got to choose between remaining a pilot or being a super-heroine full-time. In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide , Asuka was her squad's best pilot, even although she was constantly defeated. When another alien monster attacked the base in chapter 6, she was the only one capable of defeating it. In Thousand Shinji , Asuka is not only her squad's best mecha pilot but also her world's master of physical combat.
Her final battle against the MP-Evas is described in-story as "a hive mind of nine killing machines versus the perfect single warrior.
Both easily outpace their fellow Strikers and take out several of the human fighters. The Discworld of A. Pessimal sees the evolution of the Air Watch, from its beginnings in a couple of Feegle mounted on tamed birds, to incorporate Lancre-trained Witches with a passion for flight. Olga and Irena become the first two Air Witches in the Watch.
As the need for pilots expands, and the Watch acquires a brace of Pegasus flying horses, more skills are learnt and with a greater number of Witches graduating from training in Lancre looking for jobs, the very best witch-pilots are recruited to what becomes, by degrees, an Air Force. Olga Romanoff finds herself being regarded as the best flying Witch in the world; at the latest point in the evolution of Ankh-Morpork's Air Force, she finds herself commanding the best part of sixty fliers and proficient in a bewildering variety of flying Devices.
Part of her backstory involves fighting in the air over Lancre, during the Elven invasion described in The Shepherd's Crown , and leading her pilots in knocking down quite a lot of air-capable Elves on yarrow stalks, thus qualifying herself — and several other witch-pilots — as combat Aces. This tale is here. Strikers 89 : Lt. Frank "Warhound" Bishop is an almost textbook example of a Steamroller, flying his aircraft incredibly aggressively.
Strikers : Lt. Hiccup from the How to Train Your Dragon series is a dragon rider example. It's notable that, unlike the other riders, Hiccup is just a much of a part of the flying processes as his dragon, Toothless, due to the prosthetic tailfin he made for him, that is controlled via left pedal. Always : Quite a few among the aerial firefighters, but Pete stands head and shoulders above the rest, with Ted eventually rising to a similar stature.
Both versions of The Dawn Patrol contain a number of them, both within the R. Dunkirk has Farrier shooting down several Stukas, including taking one out over the titular beach while gliding on no fuel having spent it all on getting there from the UK.
Unfortunately, his reward for his efforts is having no choice but to land in German-controlled territory, where he presumably spends the rest of the war as a POW. Ripcord from G. Joe: The Rise of Cobra , despite supposedly being U. Army Special Forces rather than a pilot Handwaved early on by a mention of him scoring really high in a flight training program, and wanting all along to go into the Air Force.
He's even openly referred to as "Ace" once or twice by other characters. Godzilla : Godzilla vs. Megaguirus : Kiriko Tsujimori. She somehow manages to wrestle the Griffon , a fairly big and bulky prototype VTOL, onto a Shibuya rooftop even after the controls have been rendered almost inoperable.
Later, she pilots the same VTOL up high enough for a satellite tracking system to lock onto it, then dives back down and slams it into Godzilla in a kamikaze attack, only bailing out at the last second.
She was able to force Godzilla into a stalemate, in a damaged mech no less. Godzilla: King of the Monsters : Lauren Griffin. Her Monarch profile says she was picked to join Monarch's G-Team because of her proven skills as a pilot when under fire. In the film proper, she manages to keep an Osprey with a downed rotor aloft whilst flying underneath Ghidorah's hurricane, and she manages to make a hard landing in the Argo 's hangar bay whilst dodging a discarded other Osprey and cargo bay doors.
Another early film fighter ace is von Rauffenstein played by Erich von Stroheim in The Grand Illusion , although the dogfight in which he downs two of the film's protagonists is not shown. Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day , who managed to take out an alien fighter ship surrounded by an impenetrable force field using some tricky flying and his parachute, in a dogfight that destroyed the entire rest of his squadron.
Later, he pilots another alien fighter ship in execution of a plan that would lead to the destruction of a mothership a quarter the size of the moon, and containing probably several thousand colony ships and the vast majority of the alien race. Cooper in Interstellar. At first only an Informed Attribute , he later proves to be an Ace Pilot when docking onto the wildly rotating spaceship without losing consciousness and when pulling off the Spaceship Slingshot Stunt around the black hole.
Doug Masters is so good that he can outfly veteran pilots as a teenager with no formal training. It's a Wonderful Life : George's brother Harry becomes one during the war, single-handedly shooting down two kamikaze that were about to ram a transport carrying troops.
Had he not been there, as George finds out during the It's a Wonderful Plot sequence, every man on that transport would have died. Alex in The Last Starfighter is a variation. He is a gunner, not a pilot, on what is essentially an outer space weapons platform which lacks the maneuverability of the typical Ace Pilot vehicle , but he basically fulfills this trope.
Lost in Space — Major Don West gets assigned to the expedition because of his piloting skills and problems with authority. Bonus points because the General who assigns Major West to the expedition is none other than Mark Goddard Marvel Cinematic Universe : Thor: The Dark World : Loki claims he is this and proves it by being able to safely steer through a small crevice in an Asgardian rockface at high speed which is just barely wide enough for the ship — a lesser pilot would've crashed.
She and her friend Maria are both skilled aviators, though Maria has more actual piloting to do once Carol discovers she can fly. Only Angels Have Wings is about the pilots of a rinky-dink South American airline who routinely have to make hazardous trips over the Andes and back in rickety propeller planes.
In the climactic action sequence one pilot manages to get his plane back over the pass and through a storm, after a bird comes crashing through the windshield and one engine and the nose catch on fire. He lands safely. Rafe and Danny of Pearl Harbor. Red Tails : Lightning and Easy are the best pilots in the squadron, but everyone is a fighter pilot. The Right Stuff has gobs of them, not just the Mercury astronauts and Mr.
They were doing stuff back in the Fifties that would make Travis Pastrana wet his pants even today. Made even more awesome because it's all true. Hell, Pancho Barnes, the lady who owns the bar that Yeager frequents, was doing that stuff back in the s. Wash from Serenity. But then, he is a leaf on the wind. Star Wars : Han Solo flies around in what seems like a junky ship , hardly able to fly, and yet he manages to evade and confuse Imperial fleets, while wittily insulting C-3PO and flirting up the Princess.
The Millennium Falcon is often referenced as one of the better in the galaxy: it looks like a scrap heap because Han believes functionality is more important than looks.
But regardless of the upgrades, the fact that Han outflies fighters in a transport remains very impressive. Luke Skywalker, who has a Death Star to his credit in his first time flying an X-wing. Luke's father Anakin Skywalker, who was outflying professional fighter pilots by the time he was 9!
Obi-Wan referred to him as "the best star-pilot in the galaxy". He only gets to show off his skills once in the original trilogy as Darth Vader in the attack against the first Death Star , but shines more in the prequels. Special mention goes to an the incident in Revenge of the Sith where Anakin pilots General Grievous's flagship to a crash landing on Coruscant. The film makes it look like a simple, if rather large crash.
The novelization explains exactly how much work Anakin was doing to keep the ship from breaking up, including using the Force to open and close hatches to tweak its descent by millimeters. Keep in mind this is something the size of a Star Destroyer with no engines. It's justly considered his greatest feat of piloting. Luke was doing something more important during the second one , but nonetheless.
Wedge's first silhouette is because he attacked the place and lived to tell about it, something that can only be claimed by two other people: Luke Skywalker and Keyan Farlander, both of whom are The Hero the latter is the Featureless Protagonist of the X-Wing video games and both of whom are also Force-sensitive. Wedge really does deserve some Badass Normal points here. Aside from the two Death Stars he also has so many fighter kills that his ground crew chief switched to painting on kill marks for whole squadrons instead of single ships because he ran out of room on the X-Wing's flank.
Lando Calrissian, the Millennium Falcon's previous owner, who also helped fight the second Death Star. Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens is described in the opening crawl as one of the Resistance's best pilots. When he comes back with The Cavalry after being presumed dead, he Steamrollers ten TIE fighters in ten seconds, making him possibly the most literal "instant ace" in the franchise!
Also, when sprung from the brig on a First Order Star Destroyer and asked if he can fly a TIE Fighter to get them off the ship, he responds that he can fly anything. He proves this right by having instantly figuring out the controls of a fighter he's never flown before, and even instructing Finn on how to operate the controls of the back-seat turret despite only getting a brief glimpse at those controls while climbing into the pilot seat.
In The Force Awakens Rey steals a starship that hasn't flown in decades and was basically falling apart before it was abandoned and absolutely embarrasses several TIE fighter pilots while navigating through a junkyard on Jakku. And she does it all without a copilot, which Han never managed. Justified in that she is later revealed to have latent Force powers.
Kylo Ren proves to be a pretty damn good pilot himself during the pursuit of the Resistance fleet in The Last Jedi. Pretty appropriate considering that he's related to three of the other aces on this page. He leads an assault on the Resistance's flagship and comes through unscathed despite the heavy crossfire.
Kylo Ren takes out the Resistance's entire complement of X-wings with one missile, completely crippling their ability to fight back. Then, he gets a clear shot at the bridge of the flagship, and would have taken out the Resistance's entire senior leadership, if not for the Force and the fact that his mother was on the bridge. Amber of Sucker Punch in the dream sequences.
She not only pilots bombers, but she has also piloted a Mini-Mecha. Test Pilot is about just that, a test pilot who pushes experimental planes to the limits of their performance and beyond. It's a dangerous job. Top Gun may be the quintessential modern Ace Pilot film, featuring the eponymous advanced flight combat school that you don't even get into unless you're already "the best of the best".
Iceman in particular is described as a Steamroller. To paraphrase Goose, he just stays on you and harries you until you make a mistake. Maverick doesn't really have any single style since he flies almost entirely on instinct, even stating at one point, "You think, you're dead. There were plenty of "air adventure" series for boys written as propaganda during WWII and a few during the '30s. It's mentioned that his Bio-Augmentation includes mods to let him withstand much higher g -forces than non-pilots can, Tanis included she has to do some nanotechnology MacGyvering to survive a hard burn in book 2, but Joe is unaffected.
A memorable scene in Outsystem has a merc attack against Intrepid get foiled by his fancy flying of a cargo shuttle. Late in the chase, mercs emerge from a hiding place aboard the shuttle and hold the heroes at gunpoint.
Then there's a sudden jolt, the mercs' aim is thrown off, and Tanis and the Space Marines fill them with holes. Joe: Oops, did I clip that cargo net?
Sorry about that. Live-Action TV. Airwolf : Stringfellow Hawke is a helicopter ace several times over in the eponymous chopper, including: 4 Cuban MiGs in one go. Two WWII bombers, on separate occasions, the latter being missile armed. Another version of his own chopper.
An experimental attack chopper, known as "HX-1". A lot of MD look-a-likes. This bold feat also makes him the only jet pilot to become an ace in one day.
Alam was already a respected leader and proficient pilot and gunner when the war started in April He piloted an F Sabre and downed a total of nine Indian Hawker Hunters in the war, as well as damaging two others. Charles B. Only four other American aviators achieved ace status in Vietnam. DeBellevue scored his first four victories with pilot Steve Ritchie , including an AIM-7 Sparrow missile strike from roughly four miles out, an incredibly long-range hit. The last two victories came with pilot John A.
I observed the missile impact the tail of the MiG. The MiG continued normally for the next few seconds, then began a slow roll and spiraled downward, impacting the ground with a large fireball. Israeli fighter pilot Giora Epstein is the ace of aces for supersonic fighter jets and of the Israeli Air Force. His 17 victories are the most of any pilot in a the modern fighter jet era. Epstein earned the nickname "Hawkeye" for his acute eyesight, and it was said among the Israeli military that he could spot an enemy aircraft 24 miles out, about three times farther than other pilots.
His first kill was against an Egyptian Sukhoi Su-7 in the famous Six-Day War , when Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq declared war on Israel with the support of essentially the entire Middle-east, but Israel used its significant technological advantage in aerial warfare to destroy the Arab countries' airfields and end the war in just six days.
Epstein downed four more aircraft in the War of Attrition and achieved his remaining 12 victories in the Yom Kippur War in , again against Egypt and Syria. Most of his kills were accomplished with cannon fire, though Epstein downed five aircraft with air-to-air missiles. Even though Cesar "Rico" Rodriguez didn't achieve five aerial victories, generally considered the cutoff for "ace" pilots, he did achieve three in the s, tying three other USAF pilots for most since the Vietnam War.
All of Rodriguez's aerial victories were accomplished in an F Eagle fighter jet. Rodriguez then engaged the Iraqi pilot in a turning fight, spiraling toward the ground. When the Iraqi pilot attempted to disengage with a Split-S maneuver—which involves flipping the aircraft upside-down and executing a descending half loop—he crashed into the ground. Rodriguez was credited with a maneuvering kill. Rodriguez is widely known as the "Last American Ace.
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