Flying ace after he became the first pilot to down five German aircraft. The British initially used the term "star-turns" (a show business term), while the Germans described their elite fighter pilots as "Überkanonen" (which roughly translates to "top guns"). The successes of such German ace pilots as Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke were much publicised for the benefit of civilian morale, and the "Pour le Mérite", Prussia’s highest award for gallantry, became part of the uniform of a leading German ace. In the "Luftstreitkräfte" the "Pour le Mérite" was nicknamed "Der blaue Max"/The Blue Max, after Max Immelmann, who was the
Ace (military) [...] To this day, myths opposing the individual, distinctive combat of the aces to the industrial mass war on the ground remain deeply embedded in Western folklore. The term "tank ace" is occasionally applied to tank crew. For instance, Sydney Radley-Walters' obituary published in "The Globe and Mail" in 2015 described him as the "best Canadian front-line tank ace" of World War II. Robert Kershaw in his book "Tank Men" refers to a "Tank Ace" being the minority of tank commanders that accounted for the most amount of destroyed enemy armour, saying it is roughly analogous with flying ace. Soviet