Commentary on the Scoring Method
Much controversy has been
created among historians and the aces themselves concerning the
method used to calculate victory scores. The argument itself is
considered to be silly at best, macabre at its worst. During the
First World War, pilots in all air services on both sides
credited one whole aerial victory to a pilot, even if he had help
from another pilot.
In the 1960's, the U.S. Air
Force compiled an accounting of aerial victories by U.S. Air
Service pilots in the First World War. The goal of this study was
actually to attempt to count the total enemy aircraft destroyed
by American pilots. Therefore, where a shared aerial victory was
recorded, each pilot shared numerical credit. If two pilots
contributed equally to the destruction of an aircraft, each were
credited with one-half a victory, and so forth.
This study did not cover
American pilots who flew with the British or French air services.
Furthermore, by the 1960's, Eddie Rickenbacker's 26 victory tally
had taken on an almost mythic notoriety and had influenced and
driven men of the Second World War in life and death decisions.
The announcement by officials of the modern U.S. Air Force that
the legendary Rickenbacker's victory score was to be
"adjusted" to 24.33, was not popular.
This ranking of fighter aces
uses both modern and contemporary scoring methods in order to
give credit to anyone who may be considered among the "Top
Ten." After all, it may be most accurate and fair to say
that, for example, Eddie Rickenbacker contributed to the
destruction of 26 enemy aircraft, being personally responsible
for twenty-four and a third of these. The same standard of
assessment can be applied to anyone on this list.
One fact on which there is no
controversy is that all these men are American heroes of the
first armed conflict in the air.
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