Wing Commander Brendan Eamonn Fergus Finucane,, known as Paddy Finucane amongst his colleagues, was an Irish Second World War Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and flying ace—defined as an aviator credited with five or more enemy aircraft destroyed in aerial combat.
Finucane in his Spitfire with the shamrock motif on the fuselage.
The Hawker Hart, on which Finucane trained.
Finucane (left) and Keith Truscott after a successful sortie, October 1941
452 Squadron, 1941. Finucane is fourth from left.
A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and dogfighting. A fighter pilot with at least five air-to-air kills becomes known as an ace.
Ilmari Juutilainen, a Finnish WWII fighter pilot with Brewster BW-364 "Orange 4" on 26 June 1942 during the Continuation War.
USAF fighter pilots heading to their jets before takeoff (2006)
Sabiha Gökçen in front of a Breguet 19. circa 1937.
Cochran in her record-setting F-86, talking with Charles E. Yeager