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*** Obi-Wan himself is one, even if he doesn't like flying.
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* ''Film/AceOfAces'': Jo and Günther von Beckmann were both flying aces during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and they became friends after a comically indecisive air battle.
* ''Film/{{Always}}'': Quite a few among the aerial firefighters, but Pete stands head and shoulders above the rest, with Ted eventually rising to a similar stature.
* ''Film/BattleOfBritain'' contains a number of aces who are expies of real-life pilots like Adolf Galland (who was hired as an advisor for the film), Werner Mölders and "Sailor" Malan.
* For a more modern Hollywood's view of German fighter aces in World War One watch ''Film/TheBlueMax'' and ''Von Richthofen and Brown.''
* ''Film/ChainLightning'': Matt, who apparently is the best pilot alive. In the extended flashback sequence Matt leads a B-17 over Germany and manages to make it back alive despite being attacked by a German jet. Carl recruits him specifically because if Matt flies the JA-3, General Hewitt will sign off on the military acquiring the plane. Matt then makes a difficult flight from Nome to the North Pole to Washington, running out of gas but still making the landing.
* Frantisek Slama and Karel Vojtisek in ''Dark Blue World'', a Czech movie about Czech pilots serving in RAF during World War II.
* ''Film/DarlingLili'' features several World War I Ace Pilots, including the leading man Bill Larrabee, as well as the Red Baron himself.
* Both versions of ''Film/TheDawnPatrol'' contain a number of them, both within the R.F.C. squadron and in its nemesis, the high-scoring German ace.
* ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'' has Farrier shooting down several Stukas, including [[BigDamnHeroes taking one out]] over the titular beach [[ExaggeratedTrope while gliding on no fuel]] (having spent it all on getting there from the UK). [[spoiler:Unfortunately, his reward for his efforts is having no choice but to land in German-controlled territory, where he presumably spends the rest of the war as a POW.]]
* ''Film/FirstMan'' emphasizes the difficulty and danger of flights the Gemini and Apollo astronauts go through to show just how skilled they are. In the opening scene, Neil takes an X-15 to the edge of the atmosphere and avoids bouncing off into space.
* The main character in the 1926 silent film ''Film/TheFlyingAce'', as evidenced by the title. The film actually takes place after he's come back from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, but his flying skills nonetheless come in useful.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': While Laredo from the ShowWithinAShow is an example of this trope, his actor Tommy Weber isn't, which is shown when he first has to fly an actual starship (a copy of the show's ship built by the Thermians). Later on, though, he's told to practice flying, which he does by rewatching old episodes and getting the hang of the controls. Surprisingly, this works and he's significantly better during the final battle [[spoiler:when he's told to scrape a mine field in order to get the magnetic mines to drag behind the ''Protector'' in order to slam them against the BigBad's ship]].
* Ripcord from ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'', despite supposedly being U.S. Army Special Forces rather than a pilot ({{Handwave}}d early on by a [[ChekhovsHobby mention]] of him scoring really high in a flight training program, and wanting all along to go into the Air Force). He's even openly referred to as "Ace" once or twice by other characters.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'': [[Characters/GodzillaNotableHumans Kiriko Tsujimori]]. She somehow manages to wrestle the ''Griffon'', a fairly big and bulky prototype VTOL, onto a Shibuya rooftop even after the controls have been rendered almost inoperable. Later, she pilots the same VTOL up high enough for a satellite tracking system to lock onto it, then dives back down and slams it into Godzilla in a kamikaze attack, only bailing out at the last second.
** ''Film/GodzillaAgainstMechagodzilla'': Akane Yashiro, the pilot of Mechagodzilla, is a HumongousMecha variation of this trope. She was able to force Godzilla into a stalemate, in a damaged mech no less.
** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseMonarch Lauren Griffin]]. Her Monarch profile says she was picked to join Monarch's G-Team because of her proven skills as a pilot when under fire. In the film proper, she manages to keep an Osprey with a downed rotor aloft whilst flying underneath Ghidorah's hurricane, and she manages to make a hard landing in the ''Argo'''s hangar bay ''whilst dodging a discarded other Osprey and cargo bay doors''.
* Another early film fighter ace is von Rauffenstein (played by Erich von Stroheim) in ''Film/TheGrandIllusion'', although the dogfight in which he downs two of the film's protagonists is not shown.
* ''Film/TheGreatWaldoPepper'': Most of the main characters, but the German ace Ernst Kessler is the one they all are trying to match.
* Captain Steven Hiller in ''Film/IndependenceDay'', who managed to take out an alien fighter ship surrounded by an impenetrable force field using some tricky flying and his parachute, in a dogfight that destroyed the entire rest of his squadron. Later, he pilots another alien fighter ship in execution of a plan that would lead to the destruction of a mothership a quarter the size of the moon, and containing probably several thousand colony ships and the vast majority of the alien race.
* Cooper in ''Film/{{Interstellar}}''. At first only an InformedAttribute, he later proves to be an Ace Pilot when docking onto the wildly rotating spaceship without losing consciousness and when pulling off the SpaceshipSlingshotStunt around the black hole.
* ''Film/IronEagle'' is all about this as well, as a FollowTheLeader to ''Film/TopGun''. Doug Masters is so good that he can outfly veteran pilots as a teenager with no formal training.
* Captain Brieux in ''Film/TheIslandAtTheTopOfTheWorld'', who maneuvers his CoolAirship the ''Hyperion'' through some impossibly tight spaces, and keeps her aloft during the worst of weather.
* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': George's brother Harry becomes one during the war, single-handedly shooting down two kamikaze that were about to ram a transport carrying troops. Had he not been there, as George finds out during the ItsAWonderfulPlot sequence, every man on that transport would have died.
* ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'': Ellie Andrew's fiance, King Westley, is described as one of the best pilots in the country. He displays his prowess by [[JustForTheHeliOfIt arriving at their wedding in an autogyro]].
%%* ''Film/IWantedWings'' has three: Jeff, John, and Al.
* Alex in ''Film/TheLastStarfighter'' is a variation. He is a gunner, not a pilot, on what is essentially an outer space weapons platform (which lacks the maneuverability of the typical Ace Pilot vehicle), but he basically fulfills this trope.
* ''Film/LostInSpace'' -- Major Don West gets assigned to the expedition because of his piloting skills (and problems with authority). Bonus points because the General who assigns Major West to the expedition is none other than Mark Goddard... the ''original'' Major West from the TV series!
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'': Loki claims he is this and proves it by being able to safely steer through a small crevice in an Asgardian rockface at high speed which is just ''barely'' wide enough for the ship -- a lesser pilot would've crashed.
** ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'': Prior to getting her powers, Carol was a [[MilitarySuperhero USAF pilot]]. She and her friend Maria are both skilled aviators, though Maria has more actual piloting to do once Carol discovers [[{{Flight}} she can fly]]. [[spoiler:Carol gets herself and Nick Fury safely to Louisiana just as she's reclaiming her memories, and Maria defeats the Kree soldier Minn-Erva in an AerialCanyonChase.]]
* ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings'' is about the pilots of a rinky-dink South American airline who routinely have to make hazardous trips over the Andes and back in rickety propeller planes. In the climactic action sequence one pilot manages to get his plane back over the pass and through a storm, after a bird comes crashing through the windshield and one engine and the nose catch on fire. He lands safely.
%%* Rafe and Danny of ''Film/PearlHarbor''.
* ''Film/RedTails'': Lightning and Easy are the best pilots in the squadron, but everyone is a fighter pilot.
* ''Film/TheRightStuff'' has gobs of them, not just the Mercury astronauts and Mr. Ace Pilot, Chuck Yeager himself, but peripheral characters such as Slick and Scott Crossfield. They were doing stuff back in the Fifties that would make Travis Pastrana wet his pants even today. Made even more awesome because it's ''all true''.
** Hell, Pancho Barnes, the lady who owns the bar that Yeager frequents, was doing that stuff back in the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]].
%%* Wash from ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. But then, he ''is'' a leaf on the wind.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Han Solo flies around in what seems like a [[CoolStarship junky ship]], hardly able to fly, and yet he manages to evade and confuse Imperial fleets, while wittily insulting C-3PO and flirting up the Princess. The Millennium Falcon is often referenced as one of the better in the galaxy: it looks like a scrap heap because Han believes functionality is more important than looks. But regardless of the upgrades, the fact that Han outflies fighters in a transport remains very impressive.
** Luke Skywalker, who has a Death Star to his credit in his first time flying an X-wing.
** Luke's father Anakin Skywalker, who was outflying professional fighter pilots by the time he was 9! Obi-Wan referred to him as "the best star-pilot in the galaxy". He only gets to show off his skills once in the original trilogy (as Darth Vader in the attack against the first Death Star), but shines more in the prequels.
*** Special mention goes to an the incident in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' where Anakin pilots General Grievous's flagship to a crash landing on Coruscant. The film makes it look like a simple, if rather large crash. The novelization explains exactly how much work Anakin was doing to keep the ship from breaking up, including using the Force to open and close hatches to tweak its descent by ''millimeters''. Keep in mind this is something the size of a Star Destroyer with ''no engines''. It's justly considered his greatest feat of piloting.
** Wedge Antilles one-ups Luke: He has ''two'' Death Stars on his plane. (Luke was doing something more important [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi during the second one]], but [[ExactWords nonetheless]].) Wedge's first silhouette is because he attacked the place and lived to tell about it, something that can only be claimed by two other people: Luke Skywalker and Keyan Farlander, both of whom are TheHero (the latter is the FeaturelessProtagonist of the ''VideoGame/XWing'' video games) and both of whom are ''also'' Force-sensitive.[[note]]In the Disney continuity, said Y-wing pilot is not Farlander but rather one Evaan Verlaine; she arguably belongs on here as well.[[/note]] Wedge really does deserve some BadassNormal points here. Aside from the two Death Stars he also has so many fighter kills that his ground crew chief switched to painting on kill marks for whole squadrons instead of single ships because he ran out of room on the X-Wing's flank.
** Lando Calrissian, the Millennium Falcon's previous owner, who also helped fight the second Death Star.
** Poe Dameron in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is described in the opening crawl as one of the Resistance's best pilots. [[spoiler:When he comes back with TheCavalry after being presumed dead, he Steamrollers ten TIE fighters in ten seconds, making him possibly the most literal "instant ace" in the franchise! Also, when sprung from the brig on a First Order Star Destroyer and asked if he can fly a TIE Fighter to get them off the ship, he responds that he can fly anything. He proves this right by having instantly figuring out the controls of a fighter he's never flown before, and even instructing Finn on how to operate the controls of the [[GuyInBack back-seat turret]] despite only getting a brief glimpse at those controls while climbing into the pilot seat.]]
** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' Rey steals a starship that hasn't flown in decades (and was basically falling apart before it was abandoned) and absolutely embarrasses several TIE fighter pilots while navigating through a junkyard on Jakku. And she does it all without a copilot, which Han never managed. Justified in that she is later revealed to have latent Force powers.
** Kylo Ren proves to be a pretty damn good pilot himself during the pursuit of the Resistance fleet in ''Film/TheLastJedi''. Pretty appropriate considering that he's related to three of the other aces on this page. He leads an assault on the Resistance's flagship and comes through unscathed despite the heavy crossfire. Kylo Ren takes out the Resistance's entire complement of X-wings with one missile, completely crippling their ability to fight back. Then, he gets a clear shot at the bridge of the flagship, and would have taken out the Resistance's entire senior leadership, if not for [[spoiler: the Force and the fact that his mother was on the bridge.]]
* Amber of ''Film/SuckerPunch'' in the dream sequences. She not only pilots bombers, but she has also piloted a MiniMecha.
* ''Film/TestPilot'' is about just that, a test pilot who pushes experimental planes to the limits of their performance and beyond. It's a dangerous job.
* ''Film/TopGun'' may be the quintessential modern Ace Pilot film, featuring the eponymous advanced flight combat school that you don't even get into unless you're already "the best of the best". Iceman in particular is described as a Steamroller. To paraphrase Goose, he just stays on you and harries you until you make a mistake. Viper and Jester at one point collaborate as a Plugger and Bushwhacker/Sniper respectively, with Viper drawing Maverick off while Jester sneaks up on him from behind. Maverick doesn't really have any single style since he flies almost entirely on instinct, even stating at one point, "You think, you're dead."
* ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' features its own set of characters who are ace pilots. In particular, Hangman flies mostly like Maverick does in the first film, but he also has a penchant for using his own wingman as bait while he moves in to ambush the opponent while he's distracted, making him somewhat fitting the Bushwhacker style. Rooster, meanwhile, flies more cautiously and would often waits for the right moment to strike his opponent - which may or may not come, meaning that he would make a good Plugger if he learns to keep himself more composed and capitalize on his advantages. Phoenix and Payback don't really show a particular style, but their personalities during training imply that they seem to prefer to attack their opponents directly, making them closer to Steamrollers. As for Maverick himself, [[spoiler:he qualifies as an official AcePilot by the end of the film when he shot down two more enemy planes, which adds up to the three kills he had in the first film, making him qualify the fifth confirmed kill needed to become the first ace pilot of the 21st Century.]]
* ''Film/WingCommander'' has Christopher "Maverick" Blair and Todd "Maniac" Marshall. They're both rookies aboard the TCS ''Tiger's Claw'', but Maniac shows his skills early on, despite some authority issues. He's also chosen by the wing commander to escort an assault team on a Kilrathi command-and-control ship. Meanwhile, Blair not only manages to jump a fighter thanks to his Pilgrim heritage but also lures a large Kilrathi warship to a gravity well while doding fire before pulling away. Their wing commander "Angel" Deveraux also has her own moment to shine when she chases down a cloaked torpedo and blows it up before it can strike the ''Claw'', barely managing to survive when the blast wave catches up to her.
* The very first [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]]-winning film, ''Film/{{Wings|1927}}'', has Jack, a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI ace.
----
* ''Film/{{Always}}'': Quite a few among the aerial firefighters, but Pete stands head and shoulders above the rest, with Ted eventually rising to a similar stature.
* ''Film/BattleOfBritain'' contains a number of aces who are expies of real-life pilots like Adolf Galland (who was hired as an advisor for the film), Werner Mölders and "Sailor" Malan.
* For a more modern Hollywood's view of German fighter aces in World War One watch ''Film/TheBlueMax'' and ''Von Richthofen and Brown.''
* ''Film/ChainLightning'': Matt, who apparently is the best pilot alive. In the extended flashback sequence Matt leads a B-17 over Germany and manages to make it back alive despite being attacked by a German jet. Carl recruits him specifically because if Matt flies the JA-3, General Hewitt will sign off on the military acquiring the plane. Matt then makes a difficult flight from Nome to the North Pole to Washington, running out of gas but still making the landing.
* Frantisek Slama and Karel Vojtisek in ''Dark Blue World'', a Czech movie about Czech pilots serving in RAF during World War II.
* ''Film/DarlingLili'' features several World War I Ace Pilots, including the leading man Bill Larrabee, as well as the Red Baron himself.
* Both versions of ''Film/TheDawnPatrol'' contain a number of them, both within the R.F.C. squadron and in its nemesis, the high-scoring German ace.
* ''Film/{{Dunkirk}}'' has Farrier shooting down several Stukas, including [[BigDamnHeroes taking one out]] over the titular beach [[ExaggeratedTrope while gliding on no fuel]] (having spent it all on getting there from the UK). [[spoiler:Unfortunately, his reward for his efforts is having no choice but to land in German-controlled territory, where he presumably spends the rest of the war as a POW.]]
* ''Film/FirstMan'' emphasizes the difficulty and danger of flights the Gemini and Apollo astronauts go through to show just how skilled they are. In the opening scene, Neil takes an X-15 to the edge of the atmosphere and avoids bouncing off into space.
* The main character in the 1926 silent film ''Film/TheFlyingAce'', as evidenced by the title. The film actually takes place after he's come back from UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, but his flying skills nonetheless come in useful.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': While Laredo from the ShowWithinAShow is an example of this trope, his actor Tommy Weber isn't, which is shown when he first has to fly an actual starship (a copy of the show's ship built by the Thermians). Later on, though, he's told to practice flying, which he does by rewatching old episodes and getting the hang of the controls. Surprisingly, this works and he's significantly better during the final battle [[spoiler:when he's told to scrape a mine field in order to get the magnetic mines to drag behind the ''Protector'' in order to slam them against the BigBad's ship]].
* Ripcord from ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'', despite supposedly being U.S. Army Special Forces rather than a pilot ({{Handwave}}d early on by a [[ChekhovsHobby mention]] of him scoring really high in a flight training program, and wanting all along to go into the Air Force). He's even openly referred to as "Ace" once or twice by other characters.
* ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'':
** ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'': [[Characters/GodzillaNotableHumans Kiriko Tsujimori]]. She somehow manages to wrestle the ''Griffon'', a fairly big and bulky prototype VTOL, onto a Shibuya rooftop even after the controls have been rendered almost inoperable. Later, she pilots the same VTOL up high enough for a satellite tracking system to lock onto it, then dives back down and slams it into Godzilla in a kamikaze attack, only bailing out at the last second.
** ''Film/GodzillaAgainstMechagodzilla'': Akane Yashiro, the pilot of Mechagodzilla, is a HumongousMecha variation of this trope. She was able to force Godzilla into a stalemate, in a damaged mech no less.
** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseMonarch Lauren Griffin]]. Her Monarch profile says she was picked to join Monarch's G-Team because of her proven skills as a pilot when under fire. In the film proper, she manages to keep an Osprey with a downed rotor aloft whilst flying underneath Ghidorah's hurricane, and she manages to make a hard landing in the ''Argo'''s hangar bay ''whilst dodging a discarded other Osprey and cargo bay doors''.
* Another early film fighter ace is von Rauffenstein (played by Erich von Stroheim) in ''Film/TheGrandIllusion'', although the dogfight in which he downs two of the film's protagonists is not shown.
* ''Film/TheGreatWaldoPepper'': Most of the main characters, but the German ace Ernst Kessler is the one they all are trying to match.
* Captain Steven Hiller in ''Film/IndependenceDay'', who managed to take out an alien fighter ship surrounded by an impenetrable force field using some tricky flying and his parachute, in a dogfight that destroyed the entire rest of his squadron. Later, he pilots another alien fighter ship in execution of a plan that would lead to the destruction of a mothership a quarter the size of the moon, and containing probably several thousand colony ships and the vast majority of the alien race.
* Cooper in ''Film/{{Interstellar}}''. At first only an InformedAttribute, he later proves to be an Ace Pilot when docking onto the wildly rotating spaceship without losing consciousness and when pulling off the SpaceshipSlingshotStunt around the black hole.
* ''Film/IronEagle'' is all about this as well, as a FollowTheLeader to ''Film/TopGun''. Doug Masters is so good that he can outfly veteran pilots as a teenager with no formal training.
* Captain Brieux in ''Film/TheIslandAtTheTopOfTheWorld'', who maneuvers his CoolAirship the ''Hyperion'' through some impossibly tight spaces, and keeps her aloft during the worst of weather.
* ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'': George's brother Harry becomes one during the war, single-handedly shooting down two kamikaze that were about to ram a transport carrying troops. Had he not been there, as George finds out during the ItsAWonderfulPlot sequence, every man on that transport would have died.
* ''Film/ItHappenedOneNight'': Ellie Andrew's fiance, King Westley, is described as one of the best pilots in the country. He displays his prowess by [[JustForTheHeliOfIt arriving at their wedding in an autogyro]].
%%* ''Film/IWantedWings'' has three: Jeff, John, and Al.
* Alex in ''Film/TheLastStarfighter'' is a variation. He is a gunner, not a pilot, on what is essentially an outer space weapons platform (which lacks the maneuverability of the typical Ace Pilot vehicle), but he basically fulfills this trope.
* ''Film/LostInSpace'' -- Major Don West gets assigned to the expedition because of his piloting skills (and problems with authority). Bonus points because the General who assigns Major West to the expedition is none other than Mark Goddard... the ''original'' Major West from the TV series!
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'': Loki claims he is this and proves it by being able to safely steer through a small crevice in an Asgardian rockface at high speed which is just ''barely'' wide enough for the ship -- a lesser pilot would've crashed.
** ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'': Prior to getting her powers, Carol was a [[MilitarySuperhero USAF pilot]]. She and her friend Maria are both skilled aviators, though Maria has more actual piloting to do once Carol discovers [[{{Flight}} she can fly]]. [[spoiler:Carol gets herself and Nick Fury safely to Louisiana just as she's reclaiming her memories, and Maria defeats the Kree soldier Minn-Erva in an AerialCanyonChase.]]
* ''Film/OnlyAngelsHaveWings'' is about the pilots of a rinky-dink South American airline who routinely have to make hazardous trips over the Andes and back in rickety propeller planes. In the climactic action sequence one pilot manages to get his plane back over the pass and through a storm, after a bird comes crashing through the windshield and one engine and the nose catch on fire. He lands safely.
%%* Rafe and Danny of ''Film/PearlHarbor''.
* ''Film/RedTails'': Lightning and Easy are the best pilots in the squadron, but everyone is a fighter pilot.
* ''Film/TheRightStuff'' has gobs of them, not just the Mercury astronauts and Mr. Ace Pilot, Chuck Yeager himself, but peripheral characters such as Slick and Scott Crossfield. They were doing stuff back in the Fifties that would make Travis Pastrana wet his pants even today. Made even more awesome because it's ''all true''.
** Hell, Pancho Barnes, the lady who owns the bar that Yeager frequents, was doing that stuff back in the [[TheRoaringTwenties 1920s]].
%%* Wash from ''Film/{{Serenity}}''. But then, he ''is'' a leaf on the wind.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Han Solo flies around in what seems like a [[CoolStarship junky ship]], hardly able to fly, and yet he manages to evade and confuse Imperial fleets, while wittily insulting C-3PO and flirting up the Princess. The Millennium Falcon is often referenced as one of the better in the galaxy: it looks like a scrap heap because Han believes functionality is more important than looks. But regardless of the upgrades, the fact that Han outflies fighters in a transport remains very impressive.
** Luke Skywalker, who has a Death Star to his credit in his first time flying an X-wing.
** Luke's father Anakin Skywalker, who was outflying professional fighter pilots by the time he was 9! Obi-Wan referred to him as "the best star-pilot in the galaxy". He only gets to show off his skills once in the original trilogy (as Darth Vader in the attack against the first Death Star), but shines more in the prequels.
*** Special mention goes to an the incident in ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' where Anakin pilots General Grievous's flagship to a crash landing on Coruscant. The film makes it look like a simple, if rather large crash. The novelization explains exactly how much work Anakin was doing to keep the ship from breaking up, including using the Force to open and close hatches to tweak its descent by ''millimeters''. Keep in mind this is something the size of a Star Destroyer with ''no engines''. It's justly considered his greatest feat of piloting.
** Wedge Antilles one-ups Luke: He has ''two'' Death Stars on his plane. (Luke was doing something more important [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi during the second one]], but [[ExactWords nonetheless]].) Wedge's first silhouette is because he attacked the place and lived to tell about it, something that can only be claimed by two other people: Luke Skywalker and Keyan Farlander, both of whom are TheHero (the latter is the FeaturelessProtagonist of the ''VideoGame/XWing'' video games) and both of whom are ''also'' Force-sensitive.[[note]]In the Disney continuity, said Y-wing pilot is not Farlander but rather one Evaan Verlaine; she arguably belongs on here as well.[[/note]] Wedge really does deserve some BadassNormal points here. Aside from the two Death Stars he also has so many fighter kills that his ground crew chief switched to painting on kill marks for whole squadrons instead of single ships because he ran out of room on the X-Wing's flank.
** Lando Calrissian, the Millennium Falcon's previous owner, who also helped fight the second Death Star.
** Poe Dameron in ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' is described in the opening crawl as one of the Resistance's best pilots. [[spoiler:When he comes back with TheCavalry after being presumed dead, he Steamrollers ten TIE fighters in ten seconds, making him possibly the most literal "instant ace" in the franchise! Also, when sprung from the brig on a First Order Star Destroyer and asked if he can fly a TIE Fighter to get them off the ship, he responds that he can fly anything. He proves this right by having instantly figuring out the controls of a fighter he's never flown before, and even instructing Finn on how to operate the controls of the [[GuyInBack back-seat turret]] despite only getting a brief glimpse at those controls while climbing into the pilot seat.]]
** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' Rey steals a starship that hasn't flown in decades (and was basically falling apart before it was abandoned) and absolutely embarrasses several TIE fighter pilots while navigating through a junkyard on Jakku. And she does it all without a copilot, which Han never managed. Justified in that she is later revealed to have latent Force powers.
** Kylo Ren proves to be a pretty damn good pilot himself during the pursuit of the Resistance fleet in ''Film/TheLastJedi''. Pretty appropriate considering that he's related to three of the other aces on this page. He leads an assault on the Resistance's flagship and comes through unscathed despite the heavy crossfire. Kylo Ren takes out the Resistance's entire complement of X-wings with one missile, completely crippling their ability to fight back. Then, he gets a clear shot at the bridge of the flagship, and would have taken out the Resistance's entire senior leadership, if not for [[spoiler: the Force and the fact that his mother was on the bridge.]]
* Amber of ''Film/SuckerPunch'' in the dream sequences. She not only pilots bombers, but she has also piloted a MiniMecha.
* ''Film/TestPilot'' is about just that, a test pilot who pushes experimental planes to the limits of their performance and beyond. It's a dangerous job.
* ''Film/TopGun'' may be the quintessential modern Ace Pilot film, featuring the eponymous advanced flight combat school that you don't even get into unless you're already "the best of the best". Iceman in particular is described as a Steamroller. To paraphrase Goose, he just stays on you and harries you until you make a mistake. Viper and Jester at one point collaborate as a Plugger and Bushwhacker/Sniper respectively, with Viper drawing Maverick off while Jester sneaks up on him from behind. Maverick doesn't really have any single style since he flies almost entirely on instinct, even stating at one point, "You think, you're dead."
* ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' features its own set of characters who are ace pilots. In particular, Hangman flies mostly like Maverick does in the first film, but he also has a penchant for using his own wingman as bait while he moves in to ambush the opponent while he's distracted, making him somewhat fitting the Bushwhacker style. Rooster, meanwhile, flies more cautiously and would often waits for the right moment to strike his opponent - which may or may not come, meaning that he would make a good Plugger if he learns to keep himself more composed and capitalize on his advantages. Phoenix and Payback don't really show a particular style, but their personalities during training imply that they seem to prefer to attack their opponents directly, making them closer to Steamrollers. As for Maverick himself, [[spoiler:he qualifies as an official AcePilot by the end of the film when he shot down two more enemy planes, which adds up to the three kills he had in the first film, making him qualify the fifth confirmed kill needed to become the first ace pilot of the 21st Century.]]
* ''Film/WingCommander'' has Christopher "Maverick" Blair and Todd "Maniac" Marshall. They're both rookies aboard the TCS ''Tiger's Claw'', but Maniac shows his skills early on, despite some authority issues. He's also chosen by the wing commander to escort an assault team on a Kilrathi command-and-control ship. Meanwhile, Blair not only manages to jump a fighter thanks to his Pilgrim heritage but also lures a large Kilrathi warship to a gravity well while doding fire before pulling away. Their wing commander "Angel" Deveraux also has her own moment to shine when she chases down a cloaked torpedo and blows it up before it can strike the ''Claw'', barely managing to survive when the blast wave catches up to her.
* The very first [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]]-winning film, ''Film/{{Wings|1927}}'', has Jack, a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI ace.
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