Flying ace
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A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to
The first ace in history and "first French ace", Frenchman Adolphe Pégoud being awarded the Croix de guerre. He would die in dogfight in 1915.
German Captain Manfred von Richthofen, known as the "Red Baron", scored the most officially accepted kills (80) in World War I and is arguably the most famous flying ace of all time.
French Colonel René Fonck, to this day the highest-scoring Allied flying ace with 75 victories
Erich Hartmann, with 352 official kills, by far the highest scoring fighter pilot of all time
Richard Stephen Ritchie
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Brigadier General Richard Stephen Ritchie served as an officer in the United States Air Force and the Colorado Air National Guard, and a general officer in the Air Force Reserve. Ritchie joined Navy C
Ritchie, circa 1973
Capt. Steve Ritchie, 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, pictured beside the aircraft in which he became the first Air Force ace of the Vietnam War
Collings Foundation F-4D Phantom II marked as 555TFS 66–7463, flown by Ritchie for 1st and 5th kills
Brig. Gen. Steve Ritchie, dressed in an A-2 leather flight jacket, poses for an informal portrait prior to September 1996