That takes out a lot of pilots. I listed all US pilots(that I could find anyway) with 20 or more kills. This is not to slight the rest of the pilots that have flown in combat, regardless of their country or branch of military they flew with:
- Richard Bong 40
- Thomas B McGuire Jr, 38
- David McCampbell 34
- Gregory Boyington 28
- Francis S Gabreski 28+6.5 in Korea
- Robert S Johnson 27
- Charles H MacDonald 27
- George E Preedy Jr. 26.83
- Joseph J Foss 26
- Edward V Rickenbacker 26 WWI
- Robert M Hanson 25
- John C Meyer 24+2 in Korea
- Cecil E Harris 23
- Eugene A Valencia Jr 23
- Lance C Wade 23 Flew with RAF
- David C Schilling 22.5
- Gerald R Johnson 22
- Neel E Kearby 22
- Dominic Gentile 21.83
- Frederick J Christensen 21.5
- Raymond S Wetmore 21.25
- Kenneth A Walsh 21
- Walker M Mahurin 21+3.5 in Korea
- Donald N Aldrich 20
- Francis W Gillet 20 Flew with RAF in WWI
- Thomas J Lynch 20
- Robert B Westbrook 20
One thing that did surprise me was some of the famous pilots that didn't make this list. That list includes:
- Hubert Zemke, leader of the 56th Fighter Group, known as the "Wolf Pack" and feared by many German pilots
- Charles Yeager, pilot of several "X" planes
- George Welch Jr, one of the few to fly against the Japanese at Pearl Harbor
- Alexander Vraciu, who flew off the USS Enterprise at Midway and through the fierce fighting off of the Solomons
- John Thatch, inventor of the "Thatch Weave" and survivor of the USS Yorktown at Midway
- Edward "Butch" O'Hare, another veteran of the USS Enterprise that was lost during the first night intercept of Japanese attack planes while flying a Hellcat. Chicago's O'Hare Intl Airport is named after him
- Marion Carl, one of the earliest pilots assigned to the "Cactus Air Force", flying Wildcats from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal
- Don Blakeslee, commander of the 4th Fighter Group during some of the heaviest fighting over Europe