Who besides Udet?

Thanks for the replies! I asked out of curiosity because I am thinking about researching what (besides luck) helped them to survive? Was it their particular style? Pure luck? Long times of being grounded? Where they were stationed etc... I'm guessing it is going to be a factor of all those but still interesting none the less. Having tried to play RB3D all the way from beginning to end without dying I have a new found respect for the survivors and I only experience some infinitly small amount of pressure they must have been under.

Sensei

Heh, well they didn't have to deal with a Sgt york Gunner in every two-seater like in RB3d.

But most of the "Survivors" I would say, took fewer risky chances...like say Ball's favorite move of flying right through an enemy formation to break em up and then Disect. That's risky business and though it really did work for him, and it wasn't the way he died...flying into a cloud inverted is pretty risky too.

Some exceptions are certainly Nungesser, this guy really made it on luck and toughness. A knife fighting Nieuport driver with a macabre distain for his personal safety. There was a story and I don't even know if anyone here confirmed it, that He was challenged...showed up and 4 EA were there in ambush. He attacked anyway! He spent a lot of hours healing, though often had his mates carry him to his plane when his legs were wounded and FLY.


Like Barret said Berthold would be Nungesser's twin on the german side, getting wounded a few times. I suspect that was because of length of service before risky venture though.

Barker(though not qualifying having started flying in early 1917) survived mostly because he could simply beat everyone he faced. I think Voss would have done as well (in surviving) if he had the same luck Barker had in his final battle. However I do think if we placed Barker in Voss's final situation he would have climbed out of the fight and survived. Voss for some crazy reason decided he could beat 7 se5a's and nearly did.

I think very few of the high scorers ran did not run into a situation where they SHOULD have been killed, but survived because of luck. Fonck may be an exception, driving Spads most of his career he probably kept his distance and relied on his marksmanship to make many one pass kills.

Kory, as the German challenge to Nungesser was presented by Quentin Reynolds in 'They Fought for the Sky', many would classify the story as highly improbable.

[Billy_Bishop]

I don't know. I think it would be considered more unlikely had it been in one of Arch Whitehouse books. But who knows!

VBR,

Al Lowe

[Craig]

Kory:

I don't think Voss had a choice. He could not have outrun his oppopnents; their top speed was about 25 mph higher than the triplane. This assumes that the claimed speed of the latter was accurate. There are those who doubt it was as fast as 100 mph. But then, didn't Voss have a Clerget, rather than an Oberursel?

At any rate, I think he was done for when 56 Squadron dropped down on him. Barker was luckier, yes, but he was also against 30 (or was it 600?) enemies. This affords not only more targets but adds considerbly more confusion to the mix. Weren't most of Barker's claims in Italy? I would think that the best Jasta pilots were in France. Not that he wasn't REALLY good at his game, and almost impossibly courageous, but his opposition in Italy was probably not the elite.

Well i'll admit being stationed across from say....DOUAI in 1917 would really suck for an allied flyer, Italy was no pushover zone and several Austrian and Germans attained ace or Canone status. Barker shot a few of THEM down. I think the difference is the Italy front was a lot more smaller dogfights and personal dogfights were more possible with the fewer planes in the air.

I did not say Voss's Dr1 could run from the fight, but I did say it could climb out. That still would be a feat i'd admit. There are few details of the combat...perhaps 56 took turns at Voss, in which case I would say yes he couldn't possibly escape, but it seems to me they all went at him at once and in a twisting dogfight I believe a dr1 could use it's "Elevator" climb to escape up. The se5a could have then cut off the higher dr1 from going east(home)..but at least it may have bought him time to get some help.

I'm not sure but if the fight was over his own turf, surviving could have been simply taking the fight very low to the deck and this way even if you are shot down there may be a chance of surviving the crash. Of course my second guessing what Voss did is pointless, it's just my opinion Barker might have survived simply because in his similar situation he continually attempted to break off on 3 occasions. Had he fought it out to the end like Voss did, he would have died.

I have to agree with Jim Ace on one thing, in air combat there is always a "chance" of survival. I wouldn't take that rule into ground combat though, sometimes your position just happens to be where the mortar lands.

[Graeme]

How about Geoffrey Bowman? Joined the RFC on 20 Match 1916, scored his first victory on 3 September 1916 and his 32nd on 15 October 1918. Served again in WW2, retired in 1941 and died in 1970 at the age of 78.

VBR Graeme

[Graeme]

Just thought of another home-grown "ace" - William Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick. Joined the RFC in 1915, first scored 26 April 1916, scored his 21st on 16 July 1917. Commanded 60 Sqn to the end of 1917 the took up a post with the Air Board. Killed in an aeroplane crashed in South Africa in September 1933.

VBR Graeme

[Graeme]

Not only German pilots were blessed with longevity, good fortune, there were a few of the home-grown variety...

Robert Compston - joined the RNAS in August 1915 and survived the war with 25 victories; died in 1962,

Philip Fullard - joined the RFC in 1916 and survived the war with 40 victories; died in 1984,

John Gilmour - joined the RFC (in 1915?) and survived the war with 39 victories.

Gerald Maxwell - joined the RFC in September 1916 and survived the war with 26 victories; died 1959,

Jimmy Slater - was an observer in 1915 and a pilot by August 1916. Survived the war with 24 victories; killed in flying acident in 1925,
and possibly

Alan Wilkinson - joined the RFC in 1915 and was with 24 Sqn in January 1916. Survived the war with 19 victories (I've seen 20+ in some lists).

However, since none of these pilots are mentioned in surviving German records, I can't be sure that each of them did in fact survive the war (or even ook part in it!) After all, I'm relying upon those notoriously unreliable British records!

Graeme,

Good finds, there had to be some brits who made it!