They say an air force is only as good as their pilots
Although that may not be true in every case there still have been some amazing Air Force pilots with huge
Accomplishments during your time in service. Welcome back to another episode with FTD facts
My name is Leroy Kenton, and we're taking a look at the top five Air Force pilots in history
now before we continue
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So let's get into the list starting from number five all the way down to number one
We have the canadian-born Billy Bishop
It was in 1916 when Billy Bishop qualified to be an Air Force fighter pilot
Now he was predicted to just last let's say 11 days in service
However, he did have a very packed career as an Air Force fighter pilot
I mean just taking a look like he survived a crash landing in no-man's land, which was in Germany
Which was about 300 yards of trenches as well as he survived an encounter with five German fighters, Billy
Bishop had received the Distinguished Service Order for shooting down two enemies while he was coming under fire
from four others Billy Bishop was so deadly that he was described as hell's
Handmaiden and because he was so intent in the military that made him the flying ace with the most victories in the British Empire
And that was a total of 72 victories next up we have mohamed mahmoud alam mohamed
Mahmoud alam was the Pakistani Air Force jet fighter pilot, and he fought in the 1965
indo-pakistani war
Mohamed mahmoud alam was the last fighter pilot to become an ace in one day where he shot down five
Enemy fighter jets in less than a minute now. This happened on september 7th
1965 and if you're not familiar a fighter ace is a military pilot who shoots down several enemy aircraft
Now the actual number of victories to be considered an ace really varies
But it's usually five or more and this is not an official ranking or anything like that
But it's generally five or more and then you're considered an ace
He also holds a record for becoming an ace in the shortest amount of time
this also makes him the only fighter pilot to ever become an ace in one day next up at number three we have yuria
Epstein the Israeli fighter pilot
Gloria Epstein is a top fighter pilot for
Supersonic fighter jet as well as a top fighter pilot of the Israeli Air Force
He had 17 victories and that's the most of any pilot in the modern fighter jet era
Yuria Epstein was nicknamed Hawk Eye because he could apparently see enemy aircraft
24 miles away nine of his 17 victories were in the Israeli IAI Nesher
And the other eight were in the Mirage 3 all that's left now is a top two fighter pilots. And at number 2 we have
Manfred von Richthofen
Aka the Red Baron now
He's probably the most popular pilot of all time with the most victories of any pilot in the world war 1
80 victories
Manfred von Richthofen
Was practically idolized in Germany
Well, of course, he was a German fighter pilot
now his superior fighter pilot skills was even
Demonstrated during his final fight where he was fatally wounded by a bullet which caused severe
Trauma to his heart as well as to his lungs now despite losing a lot of blood really quickly
he still managed to have a controlled landing before he reportedly said his last word which was
Kaput so the number one fighter pilot on this list. It's gotta go to Erik Hartman
He was known as the black devil
He was born in 1922 in Germany and he became the most successful fighter pilot in aviation history. He shot down
352 Allied planes and this was all during a total of fourteen hundred and four missions
Erik Hartman surprisingly
Survived the World War two and after his prison sentence came to an end after he was falsely accused of war crimes
He lived out the rest of his life in West Germany
And he passed away in the year 1993 at the age of 71
Years old so that completes this episode on the top 5 fighter pilots
Do you know of any other amazing fighting aces?
Comment down below and let me know who they are and don't forget to follow me on social media
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All
Right everybody
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