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Introduction

Of the 71 airmen who are often listed as the leading air aces of the Great War (30 and above victories), 34 (48%) were German, i.e. excluding the Austrians and Hungarians. However, as the criteria for the designation of exactly what defined an ace differed from belligerent nation to belligerent nation, it is nigh impossible to have a truly comparative and authoritative overall list.

The French, who in 1915 were the first to establish a cadre of 'flying aces' - 'Les Aces Volants'- used five 'victories' (or the less appropriate expression 'kills') as their threshhold. (The use of the word 'kill' in this context is hardly appropriate since one cannot kill an aeroplane - only the crew. Happily, this was not always the case and many shot down crew lived to fight another day).

The Germans quickly followed in adopting the ace principle (using the word Kanone = big gun, in lieu of ace) but their threshold was at first four victories and then eight. Finally, it rose to16 from 1916 onwards.

In addition, in principle, the top German award for military gallantry - Orden Pour le Merité, or Blue Max - was initially given to aces achieving 8 victories; the tariff was raised to 16 in 1916, and 20 by the end of the Great War. However, inexplicably, some German aces who obtained scores exceeding these criteria never received the decoration; also the PLM was not awarded posthumously. A few nominees were just unlucky as the War ended before the necessary administrative steps could be completed; although, amazingly, as we shall see, the award system functioned fairly efficiently up to almost to the day of the Armistice.

Although the British are often said to never had an official cadre of air aces, and a rather ad hoc system of confirmation/certification, 550 Commonwealth airmen are usually described in the literature as being Great War air aces.

What can be readily shown is the comparative number of victories claimed by each ace, or claimed for him after his death. (There were no women fighter pilots in the Great War).

In all there were nearly 2,000 airmen of various nationalities who could be classed as aces if the lower score of five victories, or more, is taken as the universal threshold of acedom. Of this exalted group no less than nearly 400 (20%) were Germans. But, as indicated earlier, even here an element of caution is required in any attempt at making comparisons as the methods of awarding victories differed. Some single victories were calculated by adding up the 'shares' of victories jointly claimed by two or more pilots. The French and Americans were said to be rather lenient in regard to 'shared victories' and allowed fractions of a kill to reach dubious levels such as one-quarter or even one-eighth.

In addition to these rather dubious scoring methods, conduct on both sides was not always at the level of 'the chivalrous knights of the air' as the general public was lead to believe:

Many victory claims were accepted although they had not been confirmed by the required witnesses, particularly where these concerned famous pilots. An outstanding Allied example being the Canadian Billy Bishop (72 victories): he made claims of victories achieved whilst on solo missions behind enemy lines. Bishop was even awarded his VC on the basis of an unwitnessed incident, an unheard of precedence, and one not repeated in any award of the VC since.

Rumours also circulated that the 'Red Baron' Richthofen had victims set up for him by his 'Flying Circus'; his participation being limited to the administration of the coup de grace. If this allegation is correct, it is perhaps significant that when he was shot down he was, almost unprecedentedly, flying alone unprotected by his 'Circus'.Certainly, many of the more successful aces of all nations were exceedingly cautious to avoid any precipitate action or risky situations. They also ensured that they had exclusive use of the more reliable and up-to-date aircraft. Rumours also persisted that some aces selectively searched out the inexperienced neophyte pilot, and thus readily augmented their list of victims at little risk to themselves.
Consequently, in those periods when the opposing side held the supremacy of the airspace, the 'combat life' of a combat-naïve pilot was often measured in days, and even hours,

Post-war re-evaluations often disputed the number of victories claimed by the individual aces; a case in point being the British highest scorer, Major Edward Corringham Mannock, who was officially accredited with 73 victories in 1919 (when he was awarded the VC posthumously). This total was later downgraded to 61 confirmed victories by the consensus of an unofficial committee of self-appointed air combat auditors, and this reduced number is now often quoted in the literature.

It should also be mentioned that although the German pilots had the benefit of parachutes in 1918, and that, as we shall see, saved the lives of several German aces - Oberleutnant Udet, PLM amongst them - the commanders of the British and French airforces forbade their use. The rationale? The Allied commanders feared that their provision might encourage cowardice in the face of the enemy. The fiery death in a blazing aircraft, or the alternative suicidal jump, cruelly filled the troubled dreams of many Allied pilots - the aforementioned Major Mannock VC being one of them. Reputedly, he never flew without carrying on his person a loaded pistol to curtail such a fiery end; although, apparently, in the event Mannock didn't, or couldn't, use it.