Pilots Hall of Fame

Below I have tried to find some of the most skilled pilots in WW2 for each nation

The Knight's Cross with Golden Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds was the highest single grade of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, and was awarded only once during WWII - an exception to the rule for this award which was only to be awarded 12 times once WWII ended. It was awarded to Hans Ulrich Rudel in honor of his unrivaled heroism as a Luftwaffe Stuka pilot. Rudel was responsible for the destruction of 530 Soviet tanks, enough tanks for five complete Soviet Tank Corps! He also destroyed 150 anti-aircraft and anti-tank positions, 800 motor vehicles, the Soviet Battleship Marat, a Soviet Cruiser, a Soviet Destroyer, 70 Soviet landing craft, and numerous bridges and bunkers. He also heavily damaged another Soviet Battleship, the October Revolution. Rudel flew 2,530 combat missions, claimed 11 air victories in his Stuka, and was shot down 30 times.

Bader joined the RAF as acadet in 1928. Bader was regarded as an above-average pilot.. He was commissioned as a  pilot officer inn 1930. On  December 14th ,1931, while visiting Reading Aero Club, he attempted some low flying aerobatics at  a airfield in a  Bristel bulldog  fighter, apparently as part of a dare. The tip of the left wing of the plane touched the ground, causing it to crash. Following the accident Bader was rushed to the hospital , where both his legs were amputated - one above and one below the knee. Although, he was still able to fly with artificial legs, he was invalided out of the RAF.

Upon the outbreak of war in 1939, Bader re-joined the RAF, in spite of his disability. During the  Battle of Briton he commanded a wing of fighters based at  Duxford. . Later, he was to lead a series of offensive fighter sweeps known as CIRCUS operations over France. By the summer of 1941, Bader had shot down 23 German planes, the fifth-most prolific record in the RAF. On  August Bader collided mid-air with a German  ME-109 . a Bader was sent to a number of POW camps and made several escape attempts. He was finally despatched to the Colditz Castle prison, where he remained there until the end of the war

Beurling, George Frederick, "Buzz," fighter pilot (b at Verdun,ֳ‚ Dec 1921; d at Rome, Italy 20 May 1948). He destroyed 28 enemy aircraft in 4 months while serving as a sergeant-pilot with 249 Sqdn, RAF, on Malta in 1942 and was commissioned and promoted flying officer. Wounded in 1942, he transferred to the RCAF as a flight lieutenant. Flying with 403 and 412 Sqdns, he was credited with 3 more victories for a total of 31. He rebelled against service discipline and was released in Oct 1944. Lost in a world without air combat - "It's the only thing I can do well; it's the only thing I ever did I really liked" - he joined the Israeli Air Force in 1948, and died when the aircraft he was ferrying to Palestine crashed.

He is the top scoring Finnish fighter pilot, scoring 94 official victories in 437 flights flying Fokker D.XXI, Brewster Buffalo and Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter planes. He was one of the four people to receive twice the highest Finnish military decoration, Mannerheim Cross. Amazingly, he finished the wars without a single hit to his plane from enemy fighter airplanes. Only once he was forced to land due to a friendly anti-air gun that had damaged his Bf 109

Juutilainen entered service on September 9, 1932 and he served as a pilot in the Finnish Air Force after that. On 1st May 1935 Ilmari was promoted to a sergeant. He was transferred to LeLv 24 on March 3, 1939. In Winter War he flew the Fokker D.XXI.

In Continuation war he served in 3/LeLv 24 flying Brewster B239. BW-364 "Orange 4" was his plane that he shot 28 enemy planes down. In 1943 he was transferred to LeLv 34 which used new Messerschmitt Bf 109-planes. With them Ilmari Juutilainen shot down 54 enemy planes.

After the wars he served in Air Force until 1946. He worked as professional pilot till 1956, for example flying some people with his De Havilland Tiger Moth.

He died on his 85th birthday on 21st February 1999.

Fellow pilots say Preddy was "our Southern gentleman." and never uttered cross or unkind words, and his worst exclamation was "Cripes A'Mighty." After dowing an Me-109 on August 5, Preddy relaxed thinking the next day's mission was canceled because of prediction for bad weather, He had more than a few drinks at a party and won $1,200 in a craps game, which he sent to his mother to buy a war bond. Twenty  minutes after he went to bed in the early morning of August 6, reveille sounded. The mission was on, and as its leader, he had to give a briefing, standing on a platform. Preddy breathed oxygen before takeoff. He still felt the hangover, however, and vomited into his oxygen mask, When Preddy and two other pilots encountered some 30 Me-109s, he shot down six of them in five minutes, setting a record for the most German planes downed by a single pilot during one mission in the European Theater of Operations. On landing, Preddy recieved well-deserved ovations and posed for photos. He said he would never again fly hungover.  

On Christmas Day, Preddy and his pilots flew to an area of suspected enemy activity southwest of Koblenz, Preddy downed two Me-109's. In another area he was chasing a German fighter when he flew near an American anti-aircraft battery of quadruple-mounted .50-caliber machine guns.  Alert for enemy fighters, one of the gunners fired a very short burst at a plane that appeared suddenly, As soon as he recognized the plane as friendly, he ceased firing. Although  the guns fired 6,000 rounds a minute, it was later determind that he fired only 60 rounds. When members of the battery crew reached the crash landed plane, They were saddened to see painted below its canopy "Major G.E. Preddy" and 31 small swastikas. Unfortunately, Preddy was hit by one of the .50 caliber bullets. George E. Preddy Jr died December 25 1944.