On 2007-06-11 11:05:06 -0400, Amir - Iranian F-4 pilot
said:

Hi,
The best f-14 pilot in all over the world is the Jalal Zandi, the
iranian f-14 pilot.
He gained 12 confirmed air to air kills in war with iraq that is
marvelous,

This is one of those infamous questions that defies a definitive
answer, as the answer will change from minute to minute on any given
day.
Putting an Iranian flown Turkey in killing proximity to a slew of Iraqi
pilots might not be the ultimate criteria for defining the world's
greatest fighter pilot.
Getting the answer to a question like this one is virtually impossible
unless the exact criteria for definition has been set; and even then,
another pilot given another criteria might easily meet in the air and
defeat on any given day the winner of the first criteria :-)
No, I'm afraid one simply can't just stand up and make a blanket
statement that one pilot is the best of the best. Many in fact who were
considered at one time the best of the best, suddenly ended up dead;
killed by one of those not considered the best of the best when the
poll was taken first time around.
I had a sign hanging over my desk for many years that sort of addresses
this issue. Granted I was dealing not with the combat situation, but
teaching a flying scenario to other pilots that is one of the most
dangerous in aviation.
The sign read as follows;
"Jim was the finest stick I've ever known in my life. He was one
horrific flying son-of-a bitch. He could do things with an airplane you
wouldn't believe.
In all his entire career, Jim only made one mistake with an airplane
that I can remember.
Jim's dead!"

Lesson learned here is that you can easily be the best of the best one
second,but not necessarily the next. :-)

Dudley Henriques