Louis Edward Curdes: the ultimate WW2 American triple-Axis ace, no cap.

Dude literally has an American plane on his kill list. Bro enlisted like literally the day before Pearl Harbor popped off (Dec 6, 1941), hopped in a P-38 Lightning and went beast mode. Gets sent to North Africa, becomes a straight-up ace in under a month by clapping multiple Bf-109s. Fr fr, he was cooking. Then he’s out there helping a homie who got jumped by 109s, catches strays himself, gets shot down over Italy, captured by the enemy. Escapes once, gets re-captured, escapes AGAIN like a GTA side mission, makes it back to the States. Wild. They ship him to the Pacific theater, now he’s rolling in a P-51 Mustang named “Bad Angel.” Downs a Japanese Ki-46 recon plane (that’s Germany, Italy, Japan all checked off—only like 3 dudes ever did that). But the plot twist? A lost American C-47 is about to yeet itself straight onto a Japanese airfield and get captured. Curdes ain’t having it. He lines up, pops one engine, then the other with surgical .50 cal bursts, forces it to ditch in the water. Crew (including two nurses—bro was dating one lmao) gets in rafts, all good, rescued later while he circles overhead providing top cover like a legend. They actually gave him credit for the C-47 kill, he painted a lil American flag on his plane next to the Axis flags. So technically 9 enemy kills + 1 “friendly” (but heroic) = quadruple threat status. One of the only aces to bag planes from three Axis powers (four if you count the C-47 frfr).

Absolute sigma move. Valor lowkey in you. Set it free