Hmm tough one. Maybe Sailor Malan...

Ozzy

Couldn't agree more Tempest.  I think it's well-known around here that my all-time hero is Neville Duke whom I've had the pleasure & honour of meeting on 2 occasions.

This is also an impossible question to answer. Preferences & opinions will be biased to some extent by all-round knowledge & national pride. Famous pilots & war heros are relatively unknown outside their own countries.

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I copied his quote on Millennium Moments from the Jan 2000  issue of Aeroplane monthly.
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http://www.making-history.ca/Features/MB/Axis/Schulz/Otto_Schulz.htm

In consideration of his other lifetime aviation achievements, I've got to go with Charles Yeager for the American aces (at least the one I admire most).

For British aces, no question it's Douglas Bader.

No question that Douglas Bader was an outstanding pilot even with those tin legs. From what I've read he was bad tempered (probably as a result of constant pain) & not particularly popular in some quarters. He was certainly tenacious. His "Big Wing" theory is still controversial today. On the few occasions it was tried, it took so long to assemble the big wing that the opportunity was lost & the enemy long since departed for home. Some people blame Bader & others like him for the disgraceful treatment of Fighter Command leaders Air Chief Marshal Dowding & Air Vice Marshal Park after the BoB. Both disagreed with his theories which were unproven.

Here's a list of the top scoring RAF aces. See how many you've ever heard of.

Top British Aces
James "Johnnie" Johnson  38.0  top WWII British ace, flew Spitfires 
Brendon E. Finucane  32.0  Irish, 65 Sqn, later KIA
Robert Braham  29.0  POW June '44, night fighter, 3DSO, 3DSC 
Robert Stanford Tuck  29.0  2+ years as POW, 92 & 257 Sqns 
F. R. Carey  28.0  43 Sqn
J. H. "Ginger" Lacey  28.0  Hawker Hurricane pilot, 501 Sqn
Neville. F. Duke  28.0   
E. G. Lock  25.0   
B. Drake  24.5  213 Sqn
G. Allard  23.8  85 Sqn, KIA
Douglas Bader  22.5   

Adolf Galland, Eric Hartman  or Jonnie Jhonson

Bong, Gabby, Johnson, Yeager, or Goebel.

Sock

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Greg "Pappy" Boyington is another of my "heroes". I think his reputation as a bit of a rebel makes him an interesting character. However the Pappy Boyington of the TV show Black Sheep Squadron had little in common with the real life Boyington. Boyington even worked on and appeared in that show!
Boyington won the Medal of Honour for 40 victories but some doubt exists as to weather he really scored that many. Some evidence shows he may have "Fudged" the records a bit! He was dishonourably discharged from the AVG before returning to the Marine Corps and spent the last year of the war as a prisoner of the Japanese.
Whatever the truth about Boyington, the fact remains that he was a great leader and an outstanding fighter pilot.

My favorite has to be Douglas Bader. In 1942 he had 22.5 victories in two years of flying. If he wasn't shot down then he was well on the way to beating Johnsons score who took intill 1945 to reach his score. Basically Bader would have been our top scoring pilot if he either managed to escape or wasn't shot down in the first place.

I remember reading "Reach for the Sky"......must be at least 20 years ago now. As I recall, the Germans finally took away Bader's "tin legs" after repeated escape attempts. I believe he finally wound up at Colditz prison, until the liberation.

Sorry, I've been offline for a couple of days. No reason, just busy with other crap. I can't have the house falling down around my ears now, can I........

Thanks for all the fresh info, and perspectives. 

I realised I didn't actually list my favourite. That is of course, if I can decide on one. I really don't know. probably one of the Brits (for reasons later to be explained).

I don't know much, personally about any of them except their scores and maybe a few stories I've heard along the way.

I suppose the blokes in the BoB and shortly afterwards, were up against a 'tougher foe', in terms of experience, depth (reserves with experience and training), and of course superior or matching technology.
At the risk of getting blasted by the Americans, I will try to explain the above statement, which is a 'generalisation' on my part. Not a rule.

Of course there were US pilots in England during BoB and after. Acknowledged.
And when they came up against the Japanese, they were up against a superior fighter in overall performance, in the Zero. But it did have weaknesses that allowed the Yanks to take advantage of it, to great effect, once they became known.

The Zero's lack of armour and non-sealing tanks made it a pretty easy plane to shoot down. The US planes were far tougher and this, IMO, lent itself to making a US pilot's first mistake "possibly forgivable and survivable", because of the armour and overall strength of his Grumman (in most cases).
The British pilots were up against a far better equipped foe and we all know, the mistake made by the RAF pilot, was usually his last.

So for this reason, at least, in the earlier years, the Brits (and Commonwealth pilots) were in a tougher fight.
It wasn't really until the 'Island hopping' really got under way, that the Americans got to fly against the Japs with any kind of 'regularity'. Comparing this with the 'impossible' conditions the BoB (and after) pilots were up against, with the continual raids. They were flying 5 and 6 combat missions per day.
Your American pilot based on a US carrier, saw the Japs three times, in the space of 6 months. Coral Sea, Midway and Guadalcanal (that's if he swapped ships at least once, because no Carrier was in all three Battles).


Patiently awaiting the onslaught now...................

Oops. Now you've done it. LOL
I always thought the guys of all nations in remote theatres had the worst of it. Places like North Africa & Burma. They were usually operating in extreme conditions & equipped with outdated/inferior aircraft & lack of spares/supplies.

As I was careful to state, these were my personal observations. In no way a rule, as far as individual areas or circumstances ar concerned. 

I do think that 'overall', the early European Theatre, i.e. BoB, Nth Africa and the Med, were a tougher place to be a fighter pilot than the first twelve months (at least) of the Pacific.
I think my comment regarding the 3 'initial' battles that took place in the Pacific (save Pearl and Wake, which in all fairness, weren't "battles" per se), basically paints the picture of the Carrier Fighter Pilot's life, for the first year.
Of course there would have been small 'skirmishes' in S.E. Asia etc, but by and large, their really wasn't alot going on.
I'm not mentioning the USAAF, simply because as far as I know, there wasn't really any 'noteable' action in the first year. It didn't really get going for the USAAF until Guadalcanal, and that was a relatively limited 'caper' in terms of the number of airmen involved. (Actually, I think most were Marine Pilots).

P.S. Are Marine Pilots (in WWII) attached to the USAAF or USN in any way, or were they an "Outfit" all to themselves? Did they ever fly from Carriers or were they delegated to SeaBee built (or captured) airfields? ???

As Hawk said, the AVG in China would have been more comparable to the level of action and competiion as experienced in early Europe.
Of course, the later years in Europe, especially after the Invasion, were a completely different story for the US fighter pilots, both attack and escort.

As someone has also said, I imagine the relatively 'comfortable' living or billet conditions for British Pilots in BoB and after, would have been "utter bloody luxury" (in Yorkshire accent) , compared to the Yanks in the Pacific or S.E. Asia. 

There are lots of stories about Bader. As with other aces & war heroes some were pure wartime propaganda to keep up public morale. These were often embellished in their "autobiographies" published soon after WWII. These were mainly written by ghost writers & it's often difficult to separate myth from the truth. The proper autobiographies published many years later are probably more accurate.

It's a while since I read "Reach for the Sky" or saw the excellent film based on it starring Kenneth More as Bader. I think it's probably true that Bader had to unstrap one tin leg or broke the harness while escaping from his damaged aircraft. When this was discovered back home, Bomber Command allegedly dropped replacement legs, possibly while on the way to another target. He was regarded as a troublemaker & tried several unsuccessful escape attempts. Naturally his German captors got fed up with this & the story goes that they confiscated his legs for a while to stop his nonsense. Whether or not this is actually true I believe they were returned when he was sent to Colditz castle where they could keep an eye on the troublesome prisoners. Wartime or not, they wouldn't risk being accused of mistreating a legend.

PS. Brensec. Here's one story I've never heard before. http://pages.zdnet.com/hookares/royal-navy-medic-1945/id36.html
Strangely enough it's by an Aussie. I think you're possibly the only person here who will have the patience to read it through carefully. The man himself was an enigma & stranger things have happened. Maybe he liked it that way & this is just another fascinating mystery.

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I have to agree on that point. On thinking about this I'm a little surprised that Bader was not repatriated. This would have been the ideal way for the Germans to rid themselves of a troublesome prisoner. I don't think it would have suited him or the British authorities. It would have meant being confined to a desk & taking no further part in the hostilities. I'm sure he was too proud & determined to accept this even if the offer had been made.