Do balloons count to make a flying ace?

February 4, 2023 3:04 PM

Everyone knows it takes five aerial victories to make a flying ‘ace’. But do spy weather balloons count? Do drones?
posted by Fiasco da Gama to Law & Government (3 answers total)

I don't know, but you're not the only person keen to know how this gets "scored". Someone has already photoshopped an F-22 with a balloon icon painted on the side.

It's the only air-to-air shootdown by an F-22 (total program cost $67 billion or so).
posted by automatronic at 3:54 PM on February 4, 2023 [3 favorites]

Seems that balloon aces were their own thing, a specialized category for Balloon Busters.

This may just be the formatting of Teh Wiki, but it looks like balloon hits count towards total enemy aircraft destroyed, but not to the ace total. Thus the separate category for balloon aces.
posted by Capt. Renault at 4:35 PM on February 4, 2023 [2 favorites]

It has in the past. See, for example, Frank Luke, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for doing so.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 4:37 PM on February 4, 2023 [1 favorite]