Quote Originally Posted by TigerVX
And about the German/Soviet Airforce, it was pretty lopsided. At the Battle of Kursk, a major Russian Victory, Germany lost 200 planes. In retrospect, the Soviet Union lost 1000. Thus, it can be said that German to Soviet air loses were extremely gapping. However, despite this, the Allied Ace of Aces (IE, the Allied Fighter Pilot with the most kills out of -any- allied Nation, whether they be Brit, American, or otherwise) was the Russian pilot Ivan Kozhedub. He had a total of 62 kills to his name, including an ME-262 Jet Fighter. Also, he has two P-51 Mustangs to his name oddly enough. During one of his flights, he spotted a box of B-17's being attacked by German planes. He attempted to aid in their defense, but the escorting fighters thought that his La-5F was infact an attacking FW-190. When fired upon, Ivan had no choice but to return fire. He wasn't able to flee from the unfortunate mistake until he shot down two escorting P-51 mustangs. One pilot bailed out, one was killed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Kozhedub
Typical... If he had been British it would have made me laugh. They seem to be the ones to get all the 'friendly' fire from the US.

Most of Germany's highest scoring aces were relatively late comers. I personally think the reason for this is that the Soviets began to pump more and more planes out, while the Germans had less and less. So around mid 43 the numbers were so lopsided that the good German pilots could bag more than ten a day. The highest I have encountered so far that is confirmed is poor Hubert Strassl who bagged 15 on the first afternoon of Zitadelle, ten the next day, then two and finally three befrore getting killed, 30 planes in four days (added to he previous kills he ended up with 67).
Also the early aces were fewer and fewer, combatattrition and promotions took them from the field (Galland was promoted away from the cockpit for isntance).

It is interesting to note that the Germans didn't really think you were a good ace until you had crossed somewhere around 50-60 kills. That says something. That is more than most of the best Allied aces, or Japanese for that matter.