Top 10 Greatest Pilots of All Time

You do not climb into the cockpit of history by being ordinary. The greatest pilots forced the sky to stop acting like a limit and start acting like a challenge. When you think about the figures at the center of this list, you are looking at people who flew into danger, into thin air, into bad odds, and sometimes straight into the unknown with the kind of nerve that makes the rest of us grip the armrest from the ground.

Some changed aviation through speed. Some through skill. Some through sheer audacity. A few seemed built with a different set of internal settings entirely, like fear got left out during assembly. You can measure pilots by combat victories, record-breaking flights, technical precision, or the ability to make an aircraft do things that seem deeply unfair to gravity. But numbers alone do not settle it. Greatness in the air also comes from judgment, control, nerve, and the rare ability to stay calm while everything around you is loud, fast, and trying to kill you.

As you go through this list, you are not just looking at famous names attached to old headlines and museum plaques. You are looking at the people who turned flying from a risky novelty into an art, a science, and in some cases, a full-blown act of defiance. Some became legends in war. Some in testing. Some in long-distance flight. All of them left the sky looking a little smaller than it did before they got there.

The Top Ten

Chuck Yeager

Chuck Yeager was a United States Air Force officer and test pilot best known for becoming the first person to officially exceed the speed of sound in level flight. On October 14, 1947, he flew the Bell X-1 aircraft named Glamorous Glennis and broke the sound barrier. He later held a number of command positions and remained closely associated with military aviation and flight testing.

A forerunner and a great help to the space program.
Ricardo Traven

Ricardo Traven was a Canadian Forces officer who later became a Boeing test pilot and air show demonstration pilot for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, and he also served as an instructor at the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School. He later worked as lead test pilot for the 787 Dreamliner program in Charleston, South Carolina.

I like him so much, and I want to be like him in the future.
Manfred von Richthofen

Manfred von Richthofen was a German fighter pilot in World War I who became known as the Red Baron. He was officially credited with 80 aerial victories, making him the highest-scoring ace of the war. He was killed in combat in 1918 after becoming one of the most recognizable aviators of the conflict.

Even though he was a German pilot, he is one of the greatest war pilots in World War I and in history.

The greatest air legend, even 100 years after his death.

The best pilot ever! His flying was amazing!
Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart was an American aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932. She set multiple aviation records and promoted opportunities for women in flying during the early twentieth century. In 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting a round-the-world flight.
Hans-Ulrich Rudel

Hans-Ulrich Rudel was a German ground-attack pilot in World War II who flew mainly on the Eastern Front. He was credited with destroying 519 tanks and with damaging or sinking several Soviet naval vessels during the war. After 1945, he became active in neo-Nazi politics and networks.

He destroyed over 500 tanks.
Bob Hoover

Bob Hoover was an American pilot known for his work as a fighter pilot, test pilot, and air show performer. He flew combat missions in World War II, later tested aircraft for North American Aviation, and served as a chase pilot during early supersonic research programs. He became especially known for precision aerobatic demonstrations in aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang and the Shrike Commander.

I watched a video of Mr. Hoover, shot inside the aircraft, rolling an Aero Commander while at the same time he was pouring a glass of tea with his other hand. Not a drop was spilled. It was a perfect 1 G turning roll. Amazing!

He could do unbelievable maneuvers.
Eric Brown

Eric Brown was a British Royal Navy officer and test pilot whose nickname was "Winkle." He flew 487 different aircraft types, a figure recognized as a world record, and he completed more carrier landings than any other pilot. In 1945, he became the first pilot to land a jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier.
Vadym Voroshylov

Vadym Voroshylov is a Ukrainian Air Force fighter pilot known by the callsign Karaya. He served during the Russo-Ukrainian War and received the title Hero of Ukraine. He became widely known after safely steering a damaged aircraft away from the city of Vinnytsia and ejecting.
Carl Gustaf von Rosen

Carl Gustaf von Rosen was a Swedish aviator who flew in several conflicts and also carried out humanitarian relief missions. He became especially known during the Nigerian Civil War for leading attacks with small MFI-9 aircraft used by Biafran forces. He was killed in Ethiopia in 1977 while flying relief-related operations.
Ilmari Juutilainen

Ilmari Juutilainen was a Finnish fighter pilot in World War II and the highest-scoring non-German fighter ace of the war. He was credited with 94 confirmed aerial victories while flying for the Finnish Air Force. He achieved those victories without his own aircraft ever being hit by enemy fighters.

The Newcomers

?
Francis Gary Powers
?
Jalil Zandi

The Contenders

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh was an American aviator who completed the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. He flew from New York to Paris in the Spirit of St. Louis, covering the journey in about thirty-three and a half hours. His flight made him an international public figure and accelerated interest in long-distance aviation.
Helmut Lipfert

Helmut Lipfert was a German Luftwaffe fighter pilot during World War II. He was credited with 203 aerial victories in 687 combat missions, with most of those claims made on the Eastern Front. After the war, he worked as a schoolteacher.
Max Immelmann
Hermann Göring

Hermann Göring was a German fighter pilot in World War I and later became a leading political and military figure in Nazi Germany. During the First World War, he flew with Jagdgeschwader 1 and eventually succeeded Manfred von Richthofen as its commander. He was later convicted at the Nuremberg Trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ernst Udet

Ernst Udet was a German fighter ace of World War I who was credited with 62 aerial victories. After the war, he became involved in stunt flying and aircraft development and later joined the Luftwaffe during the Nazi period. He held senior positions related to aircraft procurement and development before his death in 1941.
Elinor Smith

Elinor Smith was an American aviator who became the youngest licensed pilot in the world in 1927 at age sixteen. During her career, she set multiple solo endurance, speed, and altitude records and became known as the "Flying Flapper of Freeport." She also worked as a test pilot for both Fairchild and Bellanca.
Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson was a British aviator who first gained international attention for her solo flight from London to Darwin, Australia, in 1930. She became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia on that journey. In 1941, she disappeared over the Thames Estuary while serving with the Air Transport Auxiliary.
Hans-Joachim Marseille

Hans-Joachim Marseille was a German Luftwaffe fighter pilot during World War II who became known as the "Star of Africa." He was credited with 158 aerial victories, most of them achieved in the North African campaign while flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109. He died in 1942 after bailing out of his aircraft during a flight emergency.
Wilbur Wright

Wilbur Wright was one of the Wright brothers who helped develop the first successful powered airplane. Working with his brother Orville, he contributed to the design, construction, and testing of early aircraft and control systems. He died in 1912, several years after their 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk helped establish practical powered aviation.
Orville Wright

Orville Wright was an American inventor and aviator who, with his brother Wilbur, built and flew the first successful powered airplane. He piloted the first controlled, sustained powered flight on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. After Wilbur's death, he remained active in aviation matters and lived long enough to see aircraft become widely used around the world.

He is cooler than Wilbur, I think.
Billy Bishop

Billy Bishop was a Canadian fighter ace of World War I whose full name was William Avery Bishop. He was officially credited with shooting down 72 German aircraft during the war. He later became one of the best-known Canadian aviators of the twentieth century.
Pip Borrman

Pip Borrman was an Australian aerobatic pilot whose full name was Peter Borrman. He became known in Australia for his air show performances and for flying aerobatic aircraft such as the Pitts Samson. He died in 2009 when his aircraft crashed during a practice flight near Shepparton, Victoria.
Hanna Reitsch

Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator and test pilot who set multiple gliding and aviation records before and during World War II. She became the first woman to fly a helicopter and later the first woman to pilot both a rocket plane and a jet aircraft. She was also among the last people to meet Adolf Hitler in the Berlin bunker in 1945.
Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman was an American aviator and an early star of air shows and aviation exhibitions. She became the first African American woman and the first woman of Native American descent to earn a pilot's license. Because American flight schools would not admit her, she went to France for her pilot training.
Péter Besenyei

Péter Besenyei is a Hungarian aerobatic pilot and air racer. He helped develop the Red Bull Air Race format and won the overall title in its inaugural 2003 season. He is also known for flying upside down under Budapest's Chain Bridge.