USAF AERIAL VICTORY CREDITS ON-LINE

Article for Maxwell-Gunter Dispatch 31 May 2000
USAF AERIAL VICTORY CREDITS ON-LINE
The Air Force Historical Research Agency here at Maxwell Air Force Base is publishing on its home page lists of aerial victory credits earned by members of the USAF and its predecessors. The lists are grouped by war, with individuals scoring aerial victories in alphabetical order. (Note: Aerial victory credits can be viewed using the AVC database)

The agency has been responsible for compiling and verifying USAF aerial victory credits since 1957. Since then it has published several lists of aerial victories, including a preliminary list of aces in 1962, a Korean War list in 1963, a compilation of World War I credits in 1969, a Southeast Asia list in 1974, and one for World War II in 1978. In 1988 the agency published a volume that combined the listings of these four wars. Since then, Dr. Daniel L. Haulman has made corrections to the previous lists and compiled the USAF aerial victories scored in Southwest Asia. The new lists on the agency's home page will show all official USAF aerial victories through the end of the Gulf War.

Publication of the official USAF aerial victory credits not only recognizes individuals for their prowess in combat but also furnishes researchers with raw material to help identify tactical and technological factors in the quest for air superiority. The list includes not only the name of the person and his credits by date, but also his rank, unit, and, in some cases, the type of airplane he was flying and the type of airplane he shot down. Eventually, the home page list will be searchable not only by name but also by date and unit.

The new list includes the names of Navy or Marine Corps personnel only if they served with USAF units at the time of their victories. The reader must also look elsewhere for aerial victories scored by U.S. pilots in the service of foreign nations, such as members of the Lafayette Escadrille before U.S. entry into World War I, or the American Volunteer Group in China before the United States entered World War II. Considering the potential for terrorist threats, the AFHRA is seeking a determination of Air Force policy on releasing the names of pilots who have scored recent aerial victories. Consequently aerial victory credits for Bosnia and Kosovo are presently omitted from the home page.

Air-to-air combat originated during World War I, as fledgling air forces attempted to deny use of the skies to the enemy and attain air superiority. The Air Service, like the air forces of other nations, began recording aerial victory credits of its airmen. Some individuals scored a great many "kills", the most notable during World War I being the famous Red Baron of Germany, who shot down eighty enemy aircraft. Those pilots who shot down at least five airplanes were dubbed "aces".

Standards for awarding aerial victory credits changed from war to war. In World War I, an Air Service airman earned a whole aerial victory for each aircraft he helped to bring down. During World War II and the Korean War, credit for bringing down a single enemy airplane was divided into fractions for each of the aviators who contributed to the victory. In Vietnam, if a two-man F-4 crew shot down one enemy airplane, the pilot and the weapon systems officer each earned a whole aerial victory credit. During Desert Storm in 1991, the fractional system of World War II and the Korean War was restored.

The great majority of the aerial victory credits occurred during World War II, when Army Air Forces' (AAF) pilots shot down almost 15,800 enemy airplanes. The AAF produced about 690 aces during that greatest of wars. The leading AAF ace is Richard Bong, who shot down forty enemy airplanes. USAF aviators shot down more than 890 aircraft in Korea, 624 in World War I, 137 in Vietnam, 37 in Southwest Asia, 4 over Bosnia in Operation Joint Forge, and 5 over Kosovo during Operation Allied Force. There were seventy Air Service aces in World War I, thirty-eight USAF aces in Korea, and three in Vietnam. The war in Southwest Asia produced no aces. The great majority of USAF members who scored aerial victories did not reach ace status, and the official lists do not draw any distinction between those with five or more aerial victories and those with less.

Dr. Daniel L. Haulman