List of aviators who became ace in a day


The term "ace in a day" is used to designate a pilot who has shot down five or more airplanes in a single day, based on usual definition of an "ace" as one with five or more aerial victories.

World War I

Ace in a day on two occasions

A Bristol F2B crew - Canadian pilot Captain Alfred Atkey and English observer Lieutenant Charles Gass - became "ace in a day" twice in the same week. On 7 May 1918, they shot down five German planes in a single sortie over Arras. Two days later, on 9 May, they were credited with another five enemy machines in the course of two sorties. Atkey and Gass survived the Great War. Atkey credited with a total of 38 victories, making him the most successful two-seater pilot and Gass with 39 claims was most successful observer ace of all time.
René Fonck scored six in a day on both 9 May and 26 September 1918.

Ace in a day

The first aviators to ever achieve "ace in a day" were pilot Julius Arigi and observer/gunner Johann Lasi of the Austro-Hungarian air force, on 22 August 1916, when they downed five Italian planes.
The first single pilot was World War I German flying ace Fritz Otto Bernert. Bernert scored five victories within 20 minutes on 24 April 1917. He had a total of 27 kills during the war, even though he wore glasses and had his left arm amputated at the elbow.

Triple-ace in a day

To achieve this a pilot must have destroyed 15 enemy aircraft in a single day. This has been achieved by only five pilots, all from the Luftwaffe:
To achieve this a pilot must have destroyed ten enemy aircraft in a single day. This has been achieved by twelve pilots, three of whom repeated their achievement a second time within weeks.

1940

1965