ACES OF THE ONE YEAR WAR

While the Zeon Aces data was compiled and is copyrighted ® 1998-2001 by Mark Simmons, the majority of this information can be found in the various MSV model kits and in some of the Entertainment Bible sourcebooks.


Top Federation Pilots
 
Number One is NOT Amuro Ray, but O-4 DENNIS A. YOUNG
KILLS: 149 MS and 3 ships to his credit
PILOTS: RGM-79GS GM Command Space Type and RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom.
 
Number Two is O-1 AMURO RAY
KILLS: 142 MS and 9 ships
PILOTS: RX-78-2 Gundam.
 
Number Three is O-4 REED WOLFE
KILLS: 68 MS and 4 ships
PILOTS: RX-77D Guncannon, RGC-80 GM Cannon and RGM-79SP GM Sniper II.
 
Number Four is O-2 CHARLES KISSINGHAM
KILLS: 52 MS and 2 ships
PILOTS: RGM-79 GM.
 
Number Five is O-1 LONG KOU
KILLS: 43 MS and 3 ships
PILOTS: RGM-79SC GM Sniper Custom.
 
Number Six is O-5 FRANKLIN KOVOTNY
KILLS: 43 MS and 1 ship
PILOTS: RGM-79GS GM Command Space Type
 
Number Seven is O-2 HEINZ BAIN
KILLS: 37 MS and 2 ships
PILOTS: FA-78-1 Full Armor Gundam.
 
Number Eight is O-1 DELIS HANOVER
KILLS: 32 MS and no ships
PILOTS: RGM-79 GM.
 
Honorable Mentions:
LT. COMMANDER SAMUELA
The Federation's top fighter ace. As RGZ-91 notes, he was nicknamed "The Black Devil of Texas."
 
LIEUTENANT JG TEXAN DIMITRI
The Federation's number two fighter ace, credited with 34 victories during the Odessa campaign and 301 over the course of the One Year War. As RGZ-91 notes, he was nicknamed "Ladykiller."
 
LIEUTENANT GARY ROGERS
GM Light Armor pilot mentioned in the MSV kit manuals.
 
LIEUTENANT JG FRANCIS BACHMEYER
RGM-79SC pilot mentioned in the MSV kit manuals.
 
ENSIGN JACK BAYARD
RGM-79 pilot and leader of the "Jack the Halloween" team. Introduced in Gundam The Ride, he reappears as an AEUG pilot in Green Divers.
 
CHEIF PETTY OFFICER ADAM STINGRAY
The second in command of the "Jack the Halloween" team, who also appears in Gundam The Ride.
 

The Zeon Pilots
 
O-5 BRENIS OGGS
KILLS: 193 MS and 8 ships
 
O-5 NORDITT BAUER
KILLS: 191 MS and 4 ships
 
COLONEL CHAR AZNABLE
Registration Number PM0571977243S. Assigned to Space Attack Force, then Mobile Assault Force.
It's stated that Char was born in UC 0057, which doesn't match his known age during the One Year War; perhaps this was a fiction to get into the Dukedom military (at any rate, this birth date is reflected in his registration number). We're told that he entered Side 3's Aznable family in 0075, and enrolled in officer training school that same year. After graduation, he joined first the training battalion and then the Space Attack Force.
 
After a strong showing in the One Week War, Char was given an MS-06S Zaku II - an extreme rarity at the time, one would think, since other aces were just then being given F type Zakus - and painted it in his signature colors, then went on to earn his "Red Comet" nickname in the Ruum campaign. Probably didn't hurt that he had the best model of Zaku in town.
 
Discharged from the Space Attack Force in October 0079, Char was promptly recruited by Kishiria and placed in charge of a submarine group in the Earth Attack Force. He subsequently returned to space as part of the Mobile Assault Force; MSV TECHNICAL & HISTORY reports that he commanded the autonomous 300th Squadron, an elite Newtype unit, but they may be basing that on the novels. In the animation, he commands the 34th Mobile Suit Corps at the Battle of A Bao A Qu, then promptly ditches them to duel the Gundam.
 
THE BLACK TRINARY (GAIA, ORTEGA AND MASH)
Assigned to Mobile Assault Force.
The famous Black Trinary first met in UC 0076, as part of Zeon's pre-war mobile suit training battalion. The three members - Sergeant Gaia, Sergeant Major Ortega and Sergeant Major Mash - were all members of the Mobile Training Battalion's 2nd Company, D Platoon, but they didn't immediately gel into the formidable team they eventually became. At the time, they all used MS-05B Zakus painted in "dark sea blue".
 
At the start of the war, a team led by Gaia was assigned to the unsuccessful initial attack on Side 5. For the Ruum campaign, Gaia - now promoted to 2nd lieutenant - formed a team with his old friends Ortega and Mash. Piloting MS-06C Zaku IIs in their trademark black-purple-'n'-gray colors, the trio wreaked havoc on the Federal Forces with their patented "jet stream attack" and captured General Revil. They were subsequently upgraded to the MS-06S model, then to the MS-06R-1A High Mobility Zaku. The trio were stationed with the Mobile Assault Force's 7th Division, 1st Mobile Suit Battalion.
 
Then, in October, the Black Trinary were given thorough land combat training, equipped with pre-production Doms and sent to Earth to help stave off the Federal Forces' Operation Odessa. We all know what happened to them after that...
 
LIEUTENANT RANBA RAL
Assigned to Space Attack Force.
I had to include him in this list, even though all the available background info on him is from EB 39, which I can't accept as a reliable source. At any rate, the convention is that he fought in the Battle of Ruum in a blue MS-05, earning the nickname "Blue Giant" (y'know, like a star).
 
LT. COLONEL ELLIOT LEM
Registration Number MT029668322Z. Assigned to Zeonic Corp.
Born in UC 0039 at Side 1, this famous engineer ended up working at Zeonic Corp., the creators of the Zaku. As the development of the mobile suit progressed, Lem became one of the first test pilots and ended up writing the Zaku pilot's manual. He later tested the prototype MS-06RP High Mobility Zaku, of which you'll find a picture on page 11 of EB 39 (it's misidentified as Eric Mansfield's). After the war, the fickle Lem went to work for the Federal Forces, lending his expertise to their mobile suit development efforts.
 
MAJOR ROY GREENWOOD
Registration Number PM045898156G. Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Born at Side 4 in UC 0045, Greenwood was of German descent (his family's original name was "Grunwald"). In 0078, following the accidental death of his wife Katie, this father of two moved to the Zeon Dukedom and enlisted in the armed forces. As a member of the Mobile Assault Force's 1st Mobile Infantry Division, he participated in Operation British and lost his left eye for his trouble. He missed the Ruum campaign while recuperating, and then returned to duty as a member of the Earth Attack Force's 5th Terrestrial Mobile Division. Jeez, give an eye for your nation and they still stick you in the foreign legion.
 
Deployed in North Africa, Greenwood commanded the 5th Terrestrial Mobile Division's 1st Mobile Suit Battalion, A Platoon - also known as the Karakal unit, of Zaku Desert Type fame. He was stationed at the Alexandria base until the end of the One Year War. His subsequent whereabouts are unknown; guerilla warfare continued in North Africa for some time after the end of the war, but it's not clear whether Greenwood (or any of the other 5th Terrestrial Mobile Division aces) participated.
 
1st LIEUTENANT IAN GREYDON
Registration Number PM0513384612G. Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Born in UC 0051 at Side 3. Before the war, Greydon was assigned to a support unit; with the start of the war, he was assigned to a mobile suit training corps to teach terrestrial mobile suit warfare. In March of 0079, his training corps was reorganized and sent into combat as part of the Earth Attack Force's 2nd Terrestrial Mobile Division; Greydon participated in the capture of the California base, and was stationed there afterwards.
 
In October 0079, Greydon was promoted to 1st lieutenant and placed in charge of a Zaku Cannon company. According to MSV TECHNICAL & HISTORY, Greyden's company didn't actually enter combat until the last month of the war, but he nonetheless managed to bag 34 aircraft, 71 tanks and 2 mobile suits in this time. He ended the war at Zeon's Cape Canaveral base (the California base presumably having fallen in the interim), and eventually returned to the postwar Zeon Republic.
 
CAPTAIN GERALD SAKAI
Registration Number PM0492378642A. Assigned to Mobile Assault Force.
Born at Side 3 in UC 0049. Sakai enlisted in the Dukedom military in 0073, and later underwent training as a reserve pilot and found himself a member of Zeon's first mobile suit corps. He received a field promotion to 2nd lieutenant during the Ruum campaign, then was assigned to a non-combat post as a technical officer at Granada. In the last month of the war, Sakai was assigned to the Ace Corps; since he was at Side 3 when the war ended, we can assume he was not one of the Ace Corps members who fought at the Battle of A Bao A Qu. During his career, he piloted the MS-06F Zaku II, MS-R09 Rick Dom, and MS-14C Gelgoog Cannon.
 
1st LIEUTENANT THOMAS KURTZ
Registration Number EX0570042196G. Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Born on Earth in UC 0057, Kurtz defected from the Federal Forces at the start of the war and joined the Dukedom military. He was assigned to the Earth Attack Force's 5th Terrestrial Mobile Division, AKA the Zeon Foreign Legion, and sent to Africa. Here he used first the MS-06J Zaku II, then the MS-07B Guf, and was a member of the guerilla unit G-27. In the last month of the war, he was transferred to Granada to join the Ace Corps, and ultimately died at A Bao A Qu.
 
1st LIEUTENANT MARLO GAIM
Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Assigned to the Earth Attack Force's 4th Terrestrial Mobile Division and stationed in Asia. Gaim piloted a dark brown MS-07B Guf, and commanded a company that used the "China Lady" emblem.
 
1st LIEUTENANT CYRUS LOCKE
Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Assigned to the Earth Attack Force's 4th Terrestrial Mobile Division and stationed in Asia. Locke, a Guf pilot, used the "Guf Lady" emblem and was renowned by the Federal Forces as a tank-killer.
 
2nd LIEUTENANT ALFREDINO LAM
Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Assigned to a support company of the Earth Attack Force's 2nd Terrestrial Mobile Division and stationed at the California base. A member of Ian Greydon's Zaku Cannon company, Lam was known for his superb anti-ground support fire, but he was apparently not a Newtype. He ended the war in Florida (presumably at Cape Canaveral, like Greydon) and eventually returned to Side 3 (also like Greydon).
 
CAPTAIN KARMIC ROM
Assigned to Earth Attack Force.
Born at Side 2. Rom was assigned to the Earth Attack Force's 5th Terrestrial Mobile Division, 2nd Mobile Suit Battalion, where he led the raiding unit known as "Scorpio" in the western Middle East. He used the MS-07D, a never-seen Guf variant that one might suppose is a localized variant for desert combat. After the war, he emigrated to the under-reconstruction Side 7.
 
O-4 JOHNNY RIDDEN
Registration Number PM056330279A. Assigned to Mobile Assault Force.
KILLS: 185 MS and 6 ships
Born in UC 0056, a third-generation Zeon of Australian descent (his grandparents were among the very first emigrants to space). After graduating from naval academy, he joined the Mobile Assault Force as a mobile suit pilot. At the start of the war Ridden was a sergeant major, piloting an MS-06C Zaku II; after his success in the Ruum campaign, in which he sank three Magellan-class battleships, Ridden was made a captain and given one of the then-new MS-06F Zakus, which he painted in his new red and black color scheme and marked with his personal unicorn emblem. He soon earned the nickname "Crimson Lightning" (though the "RB" inscribed on his mobile suit makes me wonder if "Red Blitz" isn't the intended translation).
 
In the middle of the war, Ridden conducted many guerilla raids and sneak attacks on Federal Forces supply ships. One such mission, depicted in Comic Japan's "The Aces in A Year War" comic, shows Ridden and his wingmen Manson and Brux intercepting a Federal Forces squadron transporting GMs to Luna Two for field tests. This takes place on October 15, 0079, by which point Ridden had been promoted to major and given one of four experimental units of the MS-06R-2 High Mobility Zaku (the mobile suit with which he is usually associated).
 
In late October, Ridden was called up for test pilot duty. Giving up his R-2, he joined the elite Ace Corps. This group of 30 of Zeon's best mobile suit pilots conducted an extended series of test flights and training maneuvers with the pre-production YMS-14 Gelgoog (production of which began in October 0079, though the beam weapon production lines didn't start until the end of November). The Gelgoog test team was based on the Zanzibar-class mobile cruiser "Chimera", and they spent the last months of the war playing with their 24 pre-production Gelgoogs, trying out various equipment combinations and customizations (an additional Gelgoog was assigned to Colonel Char Aznable). Ridden commanded the 1st Squadron of the Ace Corps.
 
While most of Zeon's top aces were playing around with cool new hardware, effectively removed from the war (apart from one brief skirmish in the Corregidor shoal zone), the Federal Forces deployed their own mobile suits, launched Operation Star One and captured the asteroid fortress Solomon. The Ace Corps didn't enter the fray until the last days of the war, when many of its members were dispatched from Granada to A Bao A Qu to join the final battle of the One Year War. Johnny Ridden disappeared in this battle, and was posthumously (?) promoted to lieutenant colonel.
 
O-6 ERIC MANSFIELD
Assigned to Home Defense Corps.
KILLS: 156 MS and 3 ships
This fellow was assigned to Giren's defense headquarters, and his mobile suit bears the griffon emblem of the Zeon Home Defense Corps. Since his presence has been confirmed at the battle of A Bao A Qu, Mansfield must have been transferred from Side 3 along with Giren. As noted above, the High Mobility Zaku depicted in EB 39 isn't actually his. The new GUNDAM WEAPONS book reprints some color pages from an old Bandai publication (yes, CROSSOVER FANZINE 40!) which show you what his MS-06R-1A really looks like. It's in low-visibility gray, with an antenna on its left "ear".
 
O-3 SHIN MATSUNAGA
Registration Number PM055767441S. Assigned to Space Attack Force.
KILLS: 141 MS and 6 ships
Born in UC 0055, the oldest son of Side 3's Matsunaga family. He entered the war as a private first class, piloting a stock MS-06C. When his commanding officer was killed during the Ruum campaign, Matsunaga took charge of his unit and was given a battlefield commission. For his sterling track record - one Federation battleship and five cruisers destroyed between the opening of the war and the end of the Ruum campaign - he earned a promotion to lieutenant junior grade and an MS-06F, whose head and shoulder armor he painted white.
 
Matsunaga's exploits soon caught the eye of Vice Admiral Dozul Zabi. Dozul's knack for turning front-line "inspections" into excuses for entering combat put him in need of a personal guard, and Matsunaga fit the bill nicely. In accordance with regulations he was sent to officer training school, and after graduation he became a full lieutenant and was given one of the first MS-06R-1 High Mobility Zakus. Matsunaga painted his mobile suit in white and gray, and it became synonymous with the famous "White Wolf of Solomon".
 
Ironically, the White Wolf of Solomon didn't participate in the Battle of Solomon. He survived this notorious bloodbath by virtue of having been summoned home shortly before the Federal Forces' assault, though his Zaku - left at the fortress - was lost. When word of Dozul Zabi's heroic death reached Side 3, Matsunaga is reported to have cried like a baby.
 
LT. COLONEL GABBY HAZZARD
KILLS: 138 MS and 2 ships
COLONEL ROBERT GILLIAM
KILLS: 115 MS and 6 ships
These are two of the other MS-06R-2 pilots (the last one was kept at Granada for further testing). One was stationed at Solomon, one at A Bao A Qu - no idea which was which. GUNDAM WEAPONS boook dutifully regurgitates their victory tallies from EB 39, then goes on to note that said book probably isn't a very reliable source (told ya so!) - for starters, they're irked that EB 39 goofed up Gilliam's rank. Anyway, Gilliam's colors are blue and yellow with black highlights; Hazzard's, black and brownish-orange.
 
O-2 GLENNIS ESCOT
KILLS: 103 MS and 12 ships
 
LIEUTENANT JUNIOR GRADE MASAYA NAKAGAWA
Assigned to Space Attack Force.
This fellow's MS-06R-1A is pictured in CROSSOVER FANZINE 40 and dutifully recreated in the new GUNDAM WEAPONS book. All that's known about him is that he was assigned to A Bao A Qu's E (East) field defense battalion. His brown-and-yellow colors misled military historians into assuming his Zaku was a ground combat model, until they found pictures which showed its distinctive High Mobility-type legs.
 
SERGEANT FREDERIC BROWN
Assigned to Mobile Assault Force.
The ill-fated hero of MS SENKI is assigned to the Mobile Assault Force, 1st Mobile Infantry Division, 1st Battalion, B Company. This would put him under Kishiria's command. He participated in the One Week War and the Ruum campaign. In November 0079 he was transferred to Earth with his company to support Operation Odessa, and then fought in the attack on Jaburo, using a Dom in both battles. His last sortie was at the Battle of A Bao A Qu, piloting a Gelgoog. His last known rank, at the time of the assault on Jaburo, was sergeant.
 
LIEUTENANT ANAVEL GATO
Assigned to Space Attack Force.
Speaking of all these other aces, let's consider for a moment 0083's ace of aces. The question I pose for you: Did he actually fight in the Battle of Solomon? This battle was an utter bloodbath for the Zeons, and the write-up on Matsunaga implies that the only reason he escaped death was that he wasn't there at all - only a handful of Zeons survived the battle.
 
What about Gato's nickname? Remember that Matsunaga was able to make a name for himself as the White Wolf of Solomon just by virtue of being stationed there. It's likely that the Space Attack Force launched many an attack from this fortress over the course of the war, giving both Gato and Matsunaga ample opportunity to have their names cursed by the Federal Forces. In his dialogue, Gato mentions that he has gone forth in battle from Solomon many times.
 
And counter-evidence? The series itself offers little. While Gato makes several references to the fact that many of his countrymen's lives were lost at Solomon, he never once mentions having fought in the battle himself - at the very least, a curious omission. Even when he fires the shot that decimates the Federation fleet, he flashes back to the Battle of A Bao A Qu. If he had any memories of the rout at Solomon, you'd think this would be a good time to replay them.
 
Gato's behavior at A Bao A Qu is itself interesting. Had it not been for Delaz physically restraining him, he would have gone out again and fought to the bitter end. I find it hard to imagine that he'd have retreated from Solomon even when Dozul ordered his troops to flee - much less, that he wouldn't gripe about it later.
 
In all honesty, there are a couple of counter-claims. A sentence in the 0083 novelization, when Karius is introduced, states that Gato and Karius fought together at the Battle of Solomon. Since these novels were edited by the director, I guess I have to accord them some weight, even for such a throwaway reference. The MS WARS book also features an original picture of Gato preparing to launch at the Battle of Solomon. They undercut their case just a tad by showing him climbing into a Gelgoog, with more in the background - there were no Gelgoogs at Solomon.
 
So, I leave it up to your discretion. I rather like the idea that he missed this key battle, not just because it's such a glaring omission in his dialogue, but because it makes the chip on his shoulder that much more understandable...