Fastest scoring fighter pilot?

[Cybermat47]

Would anyone be able to tell me who the fastest scoring fighter pilot is? They don't have to be an ace, I just want to know who scored the most victories in the least amount of combat missions. 

 

Thank you

Edited November 5, 2016 by Cybermat47

[707shap_Srbin]

Guys from I./JG53, in summer 1942. Crinius, Zellot, Muller, I beleive. Jumped from 0 to >100 in just several weeks.

[Stig]

Gûnther Scheel, 71 kills in 70 missions http://www.luftwaffe.cz/scheel.html

 

That he actually shot down 71 EA, is highly doubtful factoring in overclaiming; still I think he could be a serious candidate. 

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

Possibly...

 

Lt. Alex Vraciu uses his hands to indicate his downing of 6 DY4 "Judy" aircraft on June 19, 1944.

 

 

Earlier in the year Vraciu had downed 3 A6M "Zero" and a A6M-N "Rufe" aircraft during the February 17, 1944 carrier raid at Truk.

   

 

[[DBS]Tx_Tip]

Or perhaps this is what you are looking for...

 

Lt. Col. John C. Meyer.

"When the group of 50+ Bodenplatte aircraft of JG.11 showed up over Y-29, the 12 blue-nosed Mustangs of the 487th were queuing for take-off with Meyer in the lead Mustang. While accelerating down the snow-packed runway, Lt. Col. Meyer opened the day's count by shooting down a German fighter in a head-on pass as it tried to strafe a parked Douglas C-47  next to the runway. The German had not noticed the P-51 taking off. Meyer began firing before his wheels fully retracted and downed the marauding Focke Wulf FW.190. Though surrounded by strafing fighters, every one of the 487th planes got off the ground to meet their attackers."

 

  

Edited November 5, 2016 by [DBS]Tx_Tip

[II./JG77_Manu*]

Marseille had a couple of sorties where he got more then 10 kills each. Once only with his 7mm machine guns, because the cannon was broken

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

Or perhaps this is what you are looking for...

 

Lt. Col. John C. Meyer.

"When the group of 50+ Bodenplatte aircraft of JG.11 showed up over Y-29, the 12 blue-nosed Mustangs of the 487th were queuing for take-off with Meyer in the lead Mustang. While accelerating down the snow-packed runway, Lt. Col. Meyer opened the day's count by shooting down a German fighter in a head-on pass as it tried to strafe a parked Douglas C-47  next to the runway. The German had not noticed the P-51 taking off. Meyer began firing before his wheels fully retracted and downed the marauding Focke Wulf FW.190. Though surrounded by strafing fighters, every one of the 487th planes got off the ground to meet their attackers."

 

Bodenplatte.jpg   Meyer.jp

 

This was the first thing that came to mind as well.................

[HBPencil]

I'm going off of my memory of an RAF/Commonwealth autobiography I read some years ago (possibly Johnnie Johnson's or Johnnie Houlton's?) in which his flight (Mk.IX Spitfires) bounced a formation of 109s over France in 1944 iirc. The author's section fought one group of 109s while the other section attacked another group of 109s flying in line astern, and apparently that section leader downed 4 or 5 by cruising up behind each oblivious 109 and downing them in fairly rapid succession. Sorry I can't recall the details of the book as it was some time ago, perhaps someone here knows of it?

[Aap]

Erich Rudorffer

13 enemy fighters in 17 minutes or another time, 5 enemies in 4 minutes (ace in 4 minutes).

[Stig]

Would anyone be able to tell me who the fastest scoring fighter pilot is? They don't have to be an ace, I just want to know who scored the most victories in the least amount of combat missions. 

 

Thank you

 

I understand this as meaning most kills in fewest missions, i.e. kills/ mission rate. 

[707shap_Srbin]

Erich Rudorffer

13 enemy fighters in 17 minutes or another time, 5 enemies in 4 minutes (ace in 4 minutes).

Bad example. The worst overclaimer ever.

6 november 1943 - he claimed 13 + his wingman claimed 5 soviet aircrafts shot down. Actual soviet losses - 2 Yaks destr. + 1 damaged. by all reasones (Ju87 gunners, Fw190 fighters and FlaK)

 

23 october 1944 - > 10 Il-2 claimed + several by his wingman. Actual losses - 3 Il-2.

 

In Tunis, on 6 jan. 1943, he claimed 6 P-40 in couple of minutes. Actual losses - 0 (zero).

[Aap]

 

 

In Tunis, on 6 jan. 1943, he claimed 6 P-40 in couple of minutes. Actual losses - 0 (zero).

 

Rudorffer did not have any claims on 6th of January 1943. You are probably referring to 9th of February, when Rudorffer claimed 6 P-40's in seven minutes. Actual allied losses on that day were 3 P-40's (GC II/5).

It is of course possible that he had a habit of overclaiming. Would be nice to have a database somewhere to compare and match claims vs reported losses of units in different sectors.

[Stig]

 

 

Bad example. The worst overclaimer ever.

 

Not so sure, there is a lot of competition for that title 

 

 

 

Would be nice to have a database somewhere to compare and match claims vs reported losses of units in different sectors.

 

 

That will never happen; there is just too much information lost or missing. 

[707shap_Srbin]

 

 

Not so sure, there is a lot of competition for that title

No, he overruned even a Hartmann   

 

 

Actual allied losses on that day were 3 P-40's (GC II/5).

Yes, my bad memory.

French losses were 1 P-40, shot down by another II./JG2 pilot. 

[Stig]

 

 

No, he overruned even a Hartmann

 

 

We will never know, as the information needed to clarify who was the worst overclaimer ever isn't there. While the German pilots may seem to be the main contenders, we cannot be sure that the worst overclaimer isn't another nationality, when comparing percentages of overclaims vs actual score.

[216th_Lucas_From_Hell]

Back on topic, a triviality but the most likely contender for the Allied winner of this category is probably Nikolay Dmitrevich Gulayev, who according to M. Bykov's very extensive work obtained 55 individual victories plus 5 group victories. I cannot find exactly how many missions elapsed between each of them, but apart from his first two victories (a He-111 and a Ju-88 back in 1942) all of them happened between May 1943 and August 1944. He was involved in 49 aerial engagements and flew a total of 250 combat missions.

 

If you like numbers, that makes 53+5 victories in 15 months and less than 49 combat missions. When reading the writings of those who served with him you really get a sense that the man was in another class of skill and technique.

[Hutzlipuh]

Lang set an all-time world record of 18 aerial victories claimed from four combat missions in one day on 3 November 1943, making him aviation history's leading ace-in-a-day

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Lang

 

 

World War II Triple-Ace in a Day

To achieve this a pilot must have destroyed 15 enemy aircraft in a single day. This has been achieved by only four pilots, all from the Luftwaffe:^[13]

• Emil Lang shot down 18 Soviet fighters on 3 November 1943.^[14]
• Hans-Joachim Marseille was credited with downing 17 Allied fighters in just three sorties over North Africa on 1 September 1942.^[15] 10 of those claims have been connected to actual Allied losses that day.
• August Lambert shot down 17 Soviet aircraft on a single day in 1944.
• Hubert Strassl shot down 15 Soviet aircraft on 5 July 1943 near Orel.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviators_who_became_ace_in_a_day

 

EDIT : this is not a discussion of overclaiming/practice of counting kills here...

Edited November 7, 2016 by Hutzlipuh

[=EXPEND=13SchwarzeHand]

 

 

Would anyone be able to tell me who the fastest scoring fighter pilot is? They don't have to be an ace, I just want to know who scored the most victories in the least amount of combat missions.

 

What do you understand under fastest scoring? The definition can only be 2 things. Either you give a time period and compare scores, or you have a certain score and you compare the time that took the pilot to achieve it.

Everything else does not make sense. Another way would be to count the average, but that has nothing to do with being fast.

[Gambit21]

This was the first thing that came to mind as well.................

 

I interviewed a handful pilots from that fighter group, including one from the 487th who flew with Meyer.

Good stuff. Research for a book that's in the works but been on hold for a while...going to have to get back to that project.

 

I think all the pilots I interviewed from that squadron have passed, with the possible exception of Bob Powell.