Is Johnny Cloud a Superhero? Let's check out his Combat Record

Last time, I list the three basic criteria that define who is and who is not a Superhero.

Does Johnny Cloud meet these criteria? Well, let’s apply these three superhero criteria to Johnny Cloud to see where he lands. 

Let’s start with his combat record. Cloud had at least 156 kills – and yes, I counted them. He downed 81 Me-109s, 47 Fw-190s, and 28 bombers of various types. Plus, he destroyed tanks, railroad cars, and terror rocket bases. Now keep in mind that a fighter pilot only needed five kills to be recognized as an Ace – the honor was not an official one, but it was widely used during both World Wars. So, Cloud was an Ace 30 times over.

We can compare this tally to REAL pilot George Preddy of the 352nd fighter group with 26.83 confirmed kills over Europe – 23.83 of them in a P-51. Note that he had two partial credits: one-half a kill plus one-third. Of course, many German pilots had over 100 kills, but most of these were on the Eastern Front against slow and poor handling Soviet fighters. In contrast, Allied pilots were up against Me-109s and Fw-190s, two advanced killing machines that were not easy targets.

Other American Aces included REAL pilot Richard "Dick" Bong who downed 40 E/A in the Pacific where he flew a P-38. He was followed closely by REAL pilot Thomas McGuire who tallied 38 kills, also in a P-38. The top REAL ace over Europe was Frances Gabreski with 28 kills in a P-47 (plus another 6.5 victories in Korea).

Preddy did rival Cloud over Europe in number of kills in a single day. In early August 1944, he claimed six Me-109s while escorting bombers to Berlin. Thirty bandits attacked the formation, but Preddy dove behind them, and at 300 yards, he shot down one, two, then three … six in all by the time the melee was over. He out-climbed, out-turned, simply out-smarted the enemy – and so, amazing combat feats did happen in actual warfare.

As we have seen, Cloud’s highest kill total was six on a single mission – but three of them were bombers. This all happened during his second sortie in AAMOW #82. There’s more: Cloud once nudged a terror rocket with his wing into a swarm of five Fw-190s, destroying them all in a single blast in AAMOW #99.

Still, we expect the numbers to be off the charts for a comic book Ace like Cloud. Certainly, Sgt. Rock destroyed more than his share of Tiger tanks and aircraft with just hand-held weapons! But, there is more to Johnny Cloud that nudges him into superhero territory ...